Painting calipers
01-18-17, 11:48 AM
#61
I figured most decals were being left on, as nearly everyone's looked pretty much flawless compared to mine. Lesson learned for the next go-round.
Not sure if anyone answered this question. The original sticker (at least on a 2012) was a silver/white Lexus on a black caliper. not sure if it was a sticker or painted on, but my solution was not to remove Lexus, but lightly sand it with fine grit sandpaper, then paint over it. In my case I was staying with a black caliper so admittedly this was easier; I just had to apply a light coating of high temp black. Next was to apply a Brembo sticker; Large sticker on front and small sticker on rear to match the available flat space on the different size calipers. Finally a couple coats of clear gloss.
This process is so quick and easy (without removing calipers) that even if there is chipping or fading a few years down the road, its easy to re-do them.
Did mine about 6 months ago and they still look like this.
EDIT: Sorry MPSonic, i think i misunderstood but then re-read this. from what you're saying i guess some people use a sticker as a "template" for a color and then remove it? if that's the case, yes i imagine that would be tricky. one problem with "Brembo" emblem is the very narrow cross slash in the letters, it would be hard to maintain it. Anyway i think many of us just got the sticker from an eBay site, placed it on, and glossed it. not sure if it is a hi-temp sticker, but as i say, holding up pretty nicely so far...
This process is so quick and easy (without removing calipers) that even if there is chipping or fading a few years down the road, its easy to re-do them.
Did mine about 6 months ago and they still look like this.
EDIT: Sorry MPSonic, i think i misunderstood but then re-read this. from what you're saying i guess some people use a sticker as a "template" for a color and then remove it? if that's the case, yes i imagine that would be tricky. one problem with "Brembo" emblem is the very narrow cross slash in the letters, it would be hard to maintain it. Anyway i think many of us just got the sticker from an eBay site, placed it on, and glossed it. not sure if it is a hi-temp sticker, but as i say, holding up pretty nicely so far...
01-18-17, 03:29 PM
#62
I did my calipers 2yrs ago using VHT Burnt copper, VHT High Heat Primer and VHT 2K Clear, I also wet sanded calipers using 400, 600 and 800 grit paper. Here are pics of calpiers after 2 NY winters and summer. These pics were taken in Dec 2016 when I switched to my winter rims and tires. MY F is DD and so far they've held up pretty good considering its DD from North East. It's all about prep, that's where I spent most of time. Painting of the calipers was pretty straightforward and went fairly quick.
I need to do this and thats my biggest concern.
01-18-17, 05:35 PM
#66
You could remove the caliper, leaving the brake fluid line attached and hang the caliper form the spring with wire. You would need to mask off the wheel well and fender for over spray.
IMO, in the long run you will get better results of you completely remove the caliper.
IMO, in the long run you will get better results of you completely remove the caliper.
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kbtoiz (01-18-17)
01-18-17, 05:56 PM
#68
^^I did the same masking when I painted my old is350 brakes.
In regards to the decals changing colour.. That's bound to happen if you track hard. I doubt any street driving will cause discoloration. Even stock "Lexus" lettering will change from white to gold if you heat them up enough; ask some of the track guys here and they'll tell you.. The gold club is quite exclusive.
In regards to the decals changing colour.. That's bound to happen if you track hard. I doubt any street driving will cause discoloration. Even stock "Lexus" lettering will change from white to gold if you heat them up enough; ask some of the track guys here and they'll tell you.. The gold club is quite exclusive.
01-18-17, 06:16 PM
#70
I'd plastic off the entire car if you have a roll of visqueen available dexter kill room style. The clear coat floats in the air pretty bad without a downdraft system. I did mine off the car, in my shop, and there was clear coat overspray everywhere. Basically just lay a sheet over the car down to the floor, then cut out the wheel wells, tape up inside the fender, do the basic covering of the rotor and what not and spray away.
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kbtoiz (01-19-17)
01-18-17, 07:53 PM
#71
Whereabouts in VA are you? A friend of mine (& fellow IS-F owner) recommended this place in Manassas: http://ascoweb.com/
I called & they quoted $75 each to powder coat brake calipers. One caveat to that price is you must hand them the calipers ready to go (all pistons & seals removed). I don't know what additional (if any) labor that shop you mentioned was including. Also, I neglected to ask ASCO about removing the old paint beforehand, so that might be an additional charge to blast clean them.
-Mike
I called & they quoted $75 each to powder coat brake calipers. One caveat to that price is you must hand them the calipers ready to go (all pistons & seals removed). I don't know what additional (if any) labor that shop you mentioned was including. Also, I neglected to ask ASCO about removing the old paint beforehand, so that might be an additional charge to blast clean them.
-Mike
Mike,
Wow that's awesome! They are 10 minutes from me! I called them and they said to come in and check out their colors. She said they have 300 there to choose from. They also completely strip the calipers as far as pre existing finishes. At 70 a caliper I think that is a much better price point than the one I was looking at which charged $610 which did not include any caliper rebuild/tear down (which isn't hard just takes a little time), plus shipping both ways at about $50-60 due to the sheer weight of these that's just going up too high. Going on their website it seems like they know what they are doing. They do a lot of military type coatings as well. I'm impressed. I am going to go visit tem to see their colors and talk to them sometime this week! Found a couple reviews on a bmw/misc car forum and they too recommend them.... damn now the decision is harder...ahah IF I can find a color that looks like the burnt copper honestly I will probably have them just do it. Even though there are many people/brembo stating one should not powder coat their calipers due to it keeping heat in the caliper. I'll post an update shortly!
-Nigel
Last edited by nigel821; 01-18-17 at 08:08 PM.
01-18-17, 11:31 PM
#72
Just checked, Rimguard in Raleigh charges me $225 total....That was removing all 4 calipers, painting them, clear coating them and putting on decals. I got this done back in June and they are still like the day I picked it up! They just require you to leave the car for 24 hrs.
I'll post pics of mine first chance I get.
For you guys in NC/VA, it's well worth the trip to this place to get your calipers painted. They offer powdercoating as well for just a few dollars more.
V.
I'll post pics of mine first chance I get.
For you guys in NC/VA, it's well worth the trip to this place to get your calipers painted. They offer powdercoating as well for just a few dollars more.
V.
01-19-17, 04:54 AM
#73
Mike,
Wow that's awesome! They are 10 minutes from me! I called them and they said to come in and check out their colors. She said they have 300 there to choose from. They also completely strip the calipers as far as pre existing finishes. At 70 a caliper I think that is a much better price point than the one I was looking at which charged $610 which did not include any caliper rebuild/tear down (which isn't hard just takes a little time), plus shipping both ways at about $50-60 due to the sheer weight of these that's just going up too high. Going on their website it seems like they know what they are doing. They do a lot of military type coatings as well. I'm impressed. I am going to go visit tem to see their colors and talk to them sometime this week! Found a couple reviews on a bmw/misc car forum and they too recommend them.... damn now the decision is harder...ahah IF I can find a color that looks like the burnt copper honestly I will probably have them just do it. Even though there are many people/brembo stating one should not powder coat their calipers due to it keeping heat in the caliper. I'll post an update shortly!
-Nigel
Wow that's awesome! They are 10 minutes from me! I called them and they said to come in and check out their colors. She said they have 300 there to choose from. They also completely strip the calipers as far as pre existing finishes. At 70 a caliper I think that is a much better price point than the one I was looking at which charged $610 which did not include any caliper rebuild/tear down (which isn't hard just takes a little time), plus shipping both ways at about $50-60 due to the sheer weight of these that's just going up too high. Going on their website it seems like they know what they are doing. They do a lot of military type coatings as well. I'm impressed. I am going to go visit tem to see their colors and talk to them sometime this week! Found a couple reviews on a bmw/misc car forum and they too recommend them.... damn now the decision is harder...ahah IF I can find a color that looks like the burnt copper honestly I will probably have them just do it. Even though there are many people/brembo stating one should not powder coat their calipers due to it keeping heat in the caliper. I'll post an update shortly!
-Nigel
-Mike
01-19-17, 05:28 AM
#74
I'd plastic off the entire car if you have a roll of visqueen available dexter kill room style. The clear coat floats in the air pretty bad without a downdraft system. I did mine off the car, in my shop, and there was clear coat overspray everywhere. Basically just lay a sheet over the car down to the floor, then cut out the wheel wells, tape up inside the fender, do the basic covering of the rotor and what not and spray away.
01-19-17, 12:35 PM
#75
Welp went to the powder coating and body shop today just to bounce ideas off. I was quoted $370 to paint the calipers any color in their book which was like thousands of colors..lol I'd have to seriously look and it would probably spend an hour just doing that..lol He was a little concerned at the chips in the existing coating and was talking about feathering the new paint on to it so it would be smooth but who knows. They painted my ranger hood a few years back and there was no issues. He explained about using a urethane paint/clearcoat. They know what they are talking about which is good.
Went to see the powder coaters at ASC. They went above and beyond any customer service I have had in a while. We talked for over an hour on the process/brands/pros/cons/different types..etc. He even took me in their warehouse and was showing me all the other projects and walking me through things. Very cool that they just bring you in like that, I'd suspect most companies don't do that at all simply for liability reasons. It was cool. Standard calipers are $70 a pop. Since the AMG calipers are rather large it would be a little more. Of course the powder coat color that I picked out is expensive...lol It would raise the price to about $120 per caliper. They would media blast the parts but not take it down to bare metal as he said that would give a bad end look. So we would be at about $480-500 with tax to get it powder coated. I LOVE that they are local. He said they can pretty much get whatever color I wanted but it might cost more only because if they don't stock it they'd have to order whatever the minimum amount is. But out of the hundred plus they had on display it would be no problem.
I will add that both places said they could not do the AMG logo on the calipers after they did their things, and recommended decals. That's fine, I might even not put anything on them at all, or use the brembo logo since I think that looks nicer than the AMG on the caliper but who knows.
However, I see on this thread and even on a MB thread:
http://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/5...alipers-2.html
The results look excellent for the VHT paint. I'm probably going to paint the calipers honestly. It will be a fun project. Sanding will get a little long in the tooth but oh well. The most expensive part is going to be making a small paint booth inside the garage and the 2-stage clear coat. Other than that I guess time is on my side.
My biggest concern was the longevity of doing a spray job and worst of all it would be very annoying to prep/put all the time into it only to use a wheel cleaner that takes off the finish/paint of the calipers. But I think I won't run into that using the 2 stage clear.
Excellent info in this thread!
-Nigel
Went to see the powder coaters at ASC. They went above and beyond any customer service I have had in a while. We talked for over an hour on the process/brands/pros/cons/different types..etc. He even took me in their warehouse and was showing me all the other projects and walking me through things. Very cool that they just bring you in like that, I'd suspect most companies don't do that at all simply for liability reasons. It was cool. Standard calipers are $70 a pop. Since the AMG calipers are rather large it would be a little more. Of course the powder coat color that I picked out is expensive...lol It would raise the price to about $120 per caliper. They would media blast the parts but not take it down to bare metal as he said that would give a bad end look. So we would be at about $480-500 with tax to get it powder coated. I LOVE that they are local. He said they can pretty much get whatever color I wanted but it might cost more only because if they don't stock it they'd have to order whatever the minimum amount is. But out of the hundred plus they had on display it would be no problem.
I will add that both places said they could not do the AMG logo on the calipers after they did their things, and recommended decals. That's fine, I might even not put anything on them at all, or use the brembo logo since I think that looks nicer than the AMG on the caliper but who knows.
However, I see on this thread and even on a MB thread:
http://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/5...alipers-2.html
The results look excellent for the VHT paint. I'm probably going to paint the calipers honestly. It will be a fun project. Sanding will get a little long in the tooth but oh well. The most expensive part is going to be making a small paint booth inside the garage and the 2-stage clear coat. Other than that I guess time is on my side.
My biggest concern was the longevity of doing a spray job and worst of all it would be very annoying to prep/put all the time into it only to use a wheel cleaner that takes off the finish/paint of the calipers. But I think I won't run into that using the 2 stage clear.
Excellent info in this thread!
-Nigel