I'm get around to painting my calipers this weekend. I bought the high temp black and the clear spray paints. My question is...................

After I do a couple coats of black do I need to let the black fully dry before I put the decals and the clear coat on? Or can I do a couple coats of black quickly, put on decals, then couple coats of clear right away? It says on the cans all coats must be put on within one hour or you have to wait something like 12-18 hours for next application.

 

If i remember correctly I waited approx. 10 minutes between coats of paint, then waited till they dried (approx 1 1/2hrs), applied the decals, then the clear. I didn't drive the car after that for at least 24 hrs. My calipers have held up very well.

 

question:

i wanted to attempt to paint mine as well but i realized theres really no way to avoid not sparying the brake line, pads, shim plates, etc.

how do i go about not spraying all that?

i thought about removing the whole caliper off the car to spray it but wasnt sure if its really worth the effort to do that.

 

If you dont want to remove the caliper then I would just tape everything off except the caliper. Use some newspaper and basically tape off the whole fender well with newspaper. that is the easiest way to do it with no overspray. I helped a friend paint his calipers black and we didnt want to remove the calipers so we just taped everything off. It took a while but it was worth it because there was no overspray. And we waited about 3 hours or so in between the final coat of paint and the first coat of clear. Not sure what the directions were but this worked great.

 

I have seen some brush on kits. I have no idea if they work as well But no over spray.

 

These are my worries exactly. Painting the calipers assembled on the car will cause you to paint the spring clips, springs, ect......

So next time you go to change your brake pads or something won't those parts be all gunked up with paint and maybe not function properly. I know many many people have done it this way but I was worried it would cause future problems or cause you to buy new parts later. I understand the best way would be to fully disassemble evrything but thats a pain in the ***!

 

I was thinking about doing this as well, and since im getting goodridge brake lines ill probably end up taking the calipers off anyway and then paint them. My question is: exactly what decals do you guys use, where do you get them from, what size are they. Also, do you just pick up the high temp paint from the parts store or do you use the caliper paint that is spacifically made for painting the calipers, and the spray clear over that??

 

I picked up a kit made by Dupli-Color intended just for calipers. It includes a spray brake cleaner, masking tape, a stir stick and a paint brush along with a can of paint. In addition to cleaning the calipers, I went over them with a stainless steel brush. Applied two coats of paint waiting the required ten minutes between coats. I then left the car sitting on jack stands for 24 hours. I applied the decals and reinstalled the wheels. Looks great. Whatever paint you decide to use, be sure it will stand up to some heat.
Good Luck
Bill

 

I did mine 3 months ago and used a brush, simply spray in a small container and use the brush to paint it.

 

I used the G2 brush on caliper paint and it was perfect. Very easy, no mess. Only thing is if you wanted to put stickers on (I didnt) then it would be best to clear over them, so you would have to worry about overspray of the clear anyway.

 

I recommend taking them off and spending the time to do the proper prep-work. Just see how mine turned out
Dang, I should of made a DIY or something. Don't worry. I will for my next mod.

Rebuilt, repainted, and new decal applied.






This was the condition when I first got them.





EDIT: Lol, I always get off topic. Anyways I used the VHT brake caliper paint spray can. I also oven cured it a 500F. Here's the procedure I did. A mini-DIY for getting "BBK quality paint finish" if you will.

First the prep work. Sand the HELL out of everything till you get bare metal. I used a dremel with the sanding wheel to speed things up. However, you still have to use elbow grease to smooth out the rough spots. Anyways this takes about 30min per caliper.

Mask everything off first that you dont want to get paint in. Brake line hole, drain port hole, caliper pots, bolt holes, etc.

Spray good even coat of paint. Wait 10 mins and spray another later. Wait 10 min, another layer.
Let it sit in the garage overnight. The next day throw the calipers in the oven. Don't preheat, just put the calipers in and let the oven warm up to 300F. Leave it at that temp for about 10-15mins. Then raise the temp to 400F for 10mins. Then up to 500F for 10mins. After time is up, shut off oven and remove calipers and set somewhere on garage floor. Or on some surface that can take 500F of metal. Wait till it cools down to where you can handle the calipers without oven mitts. It will still be quite warm, but go ahead and rinse it under the sink or put it under water so it can drop to room temp quicker.

Now sand down the paint to get rid of all the un-even and rough spots. This make the paint surface nice and glossy like the real BBK paints. After this wash the calipers thoroughly with soap and then dry them off.

Now it's time for the second helping of paint. Same procedure as about. Good layer 10mins, good layer 10min, good layer 10min. Dry overnight and pop in oven next day. Heating and cooling procedures same as above.

Since the paint will be incredibly smooth and glossy after all this work. You can stick the vinyls on directly without having to clear on top. If you're still **** about it then go ahead and clear it(I didn't). If you do use clear, make sure it can take the heat. You want at least a 500F paint. Then throw it in the oven for about 300-350F for 20mins(only if you sprayed clear). Don't go too hot because you might melt the vinyl.

After all that work, you can finally install them on the car. This is the amount of work I put into painting my car parts, and they look amazing afterwards. It's up to you if it's worth your time to do so. You could also take it to a shop and they will paint it to this quality for about $200-250.

Damn, I just got off topic again. =P

 

jeff, lets see them on your car!

 

I used a duplicolor brush-on kit.

The kit comes with enough paint to do as many coats as you like, no overspray, no dissassembly. It's only been fifteen months or so, but it shows no signs of wear.

 

jeff, great write up. your calipers looks great

 

Ok guys, I didnt want to create a whole new thread about this topic, so I ran the search.

Over the past weekend I painted my calipers with gold G2 paint and applied black Lexus decals followed by clear enamel high temp paint from pepboys.

I did mask off the brake assembly, but I think I got a bit over zealous with the application of the paint on the shims, pads, and lines (yea ) and definitely with the clear coat.

Here is the problem. I'm getting massive vibrations from all my wheels, along with squeaking and a bit of banging. Its pretty bad. It doesnt happen as I'm accelerating, but is VERY prominent when I release the accelerator and start coasting, or come to a red light in "D' with my foot on the brake. This is REALLY annoying me. I verified with three friends that its coming from the brake assembly, and I'm pretty sure I got a bit of paint and lots of clear coat all over the brake assembly. My pads are kinda old as is, so wats the best way to remedy this situation? I was just gonna take it to a shop, get new pads, have them resurface my rotors and have them clean out the rest of my brake assembly.

Any advice?