W. David

I've been pondering over the idea of painting my brake calipers and adding the lexus sticker....I've seen this on tons of GS and IS calipers, and IMO it's a very easy, good looking mod. Just curious if anyone's done it on their ES, and if so, give me some pics!! Thanks in advance.

juan01

mezoom has painted calipers I think... that was a long time ago though, I don't remember try the search

squarehat

Painting them is definitely doable--I'd recommend using a brush on kit such as G2 or Folia Tec for longer lasting results. I've done it, and steviej has also painted his calipers with the brush on kit.

The open back design of the ES front calipers (you can see part of back of the brake pad) means there's much less room to put a "Lexus" sticker than on a closed back caliper like on the IS/GS. I decided against the stickers, because at least on my '96, I would have had to put them on the angled part between the top and side of the caliper, and I didn't want them on an angle.

steviej

iTrader: (1)

as mentioned by squarehat (ps, thanks for remembering me), I did paint all four of my calipers as well as the hubs. I did not put any sticker on because it won't look the same as the IS or GS. The main reason I did it was to hide the obnoxious rust that does develop on the hubs and the corrosion color that does develop on the calipers.

Here is the before:

steviej

iTrader: (1)

here is the after. I also used the G2 kit from tirerack.com. It took a total of 48 hours. 24 for the front and 24 for the back. It actually takes about 2 hours to paint but I let it dry solid before remounting the wheels.

here is the after:

steviej

iTrader: (1)

lastly, the final product. Mind you this is the front wheel and the other two pictures were the rear, but the calipers look the same. I must also point out that if you look at the calipers, there isn't much space to put the round sticker. The IS and GS calipers have a perfect spot to put this.

I hope this helps you.

steviej

juan01

nice one stevie

johnnyt

Did you get all 4 calipers and all of the hubs painted off one can of g2?

steviej

iTrader: (1)

no, but only due to how I staged the entire weekend.
I raised the front end and did them first. let them dry 24 hours, remounted the wheels, lowered it, then repeated the process in the rear.

However, if I supported the car on four points with jack stands, I probably could have.

The limiting factor is the paint itself. Once your mix the reactor/hardener into the pigment solution, you only have about 2-4 hours to work depending on the ambient temperature of your work space.

I spent the money, boutght two cans and took my time. The entire process can be done with the materials that come in the kit. The only thing that didn't come with it was a wire brush to get most of the rust off.

Keep in mind, when you hit the brake calipers with the cleaner, the metal will cool. If it is humid when you do this, the calipers will then sweat and painting them will be difficult.

steviej

GATO

iTrader: (1)

Hey, W. David, I have done this simple mod.....at first I was going to take off the calipers and have them powder coated but what a hassle that would be.
So, I decided to paint them. It took quite a while but definitley worth it the hubs were getting rusted and was going to paint them but decided to get the brembo rotors and the hub came silver in color

anyhow, I did purchase the "Lexus" stickers but it was kinda corny.
I did use the small black "L" stickers and placed them in the back part of the rear windows...it looks neat when inside the car looking out.

GATO

iTrader: (1)

here is another pic..hope this helps/// definitley makes everything look much cleaner

W. David

thanks for the pics Gato, I'm kinda starting to agree with you that the Lexus sticker on the brake (atleast our brakes) looks a little corny. I think its well suited on the GS and IS, but we just don't have the same size of caliper, which makes the idea seem a little too "rice" for my liking. I would kinda like something there though, but I don't want it to look terrible either. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what I can come up with.