how to paint brake calipers
 

2016 GS Fsport

Generally speaking there are 3 ways to do this, each one will give you a different level of results.

1) Best option - Remove wheels. remove calipers and clean with water or degreaser and a wire brush, spray paint with hi-temp caliper or engine enamel paint and hi-temp clear, or use a caliper painting kit. Best results with multiple thin coats.

2) Good option without removing calipers - Buy a caliper paint kit (something like G2 Caliper paint kit) and remove wheels. clean calipers with the cleaner they provide and a wire brush. Paint calipers with brush according to directions.

3) worst option - Remove wheels. Mask off EVERYTHING except calipers and clean with water or degreaser and a wire brush. Spray paint with hi-temp caliper or engine enamel and hi-temp clear. Best results with multiple thin coats. HIGH chance you miss masking something and get overspray somewhere that you don't want it, and potentially uneven coats of paint.

I did option 3 on an Audi that I had, final result was excellent. However, I am a bit OCD so I wrapped off the inner wheel wells, rotors, and fenders/quarter panel on the vehicle. I did one side at a time, about 5 coats in thin layers. End result - great, but still not as good as aftermarket calipers.

I did my 2gen calipers in silver with a Duplicolor brush kit.

I think I did five coats with 10-15 mins between. Results were awesome, no masking, easy job, looked great for nearly a decade (sold it that way).

If I did it today, I'd remove the calipers and spray them.

I painted my calipers and rotor hubs silver on my GS with a brush and Dupli color kit while they were on the car and it was pretty easy, really hard to find the silver color. They turned out really good, just cleaned them really well with a wire brush and brake cleaner, tried sanding them a little but it just was not making much difference. It did last, very happy with the results. I want to do a copper or brass color next. A high temp clear would have made them look a little nicer and likely kept a little more brake dust off of them.