jdm71488

Should I take my calipers off to paint them. I know I could mask off everything and spray, or even take a brush to them, but I'd like to take them off and do it right...

opinions anyone?

A32Matt

just take the wheels off and paint. won't hurt anything. my neighbor did that on his specv and turned out great. didn't mask anything off. if you get paint on the rotors, it will burn off the first time you hit the brakes. make sure you use a high temp. paint and apply a clear coat to it to keep it from fading.

96maxdaddy

did the same thing but I did mask off the shock and spring, The rotor , and around the wheel well. They turned out great. Just be careful for overspray.

jdm71488

well I already have sprayed them black, but I want to take them off and get the whole caliper... I just feel like it would look better if I did it this way. Anyone have instructions on how to take the caliper off?

Str8ballin

I painted mine on the car, used a quart of rustoleum gloss black. Used a small model car brush to get in the cracks. Worked reallly well. Just a suggestion.

jdm71488

would that be better than taking them off? I mean I want to get the whole thing and maybe if you posted a pic of them painted with a brush I might be swayed...

Brudaddy

iTrader: (2)

Don't take them off the car. It is a pain.
I did this this past weekend, and messed up my nice paint job of the calipers.
If you take them off, then the pads start to fall out and everything that you couldn't clea off the pads, gets into your paint. It is not good.

Just tape everything off with newspaper and paint away. If you get a Duplicolor Brand high temp paint from AutoZone it works really well. The clearcoat can be found at Autozone too, and makes it shine a lot. The gloss is cool on the calipers.

All you see of the caliper is the front and top, so don't take off to paint the whole thing.

Just make suer you scrub it really well with some degreaser. Then, let it dry and paint away.

Read the Clear Coat paint carefully....it takes longer to dry than the other colors. Trust me.

Remember, with spray paint, less is more. Spray just a little paint on there, to where it barely looks like you sprayed any. Keep doing this kind of light coat, and by the time that you get to about 5 layers, it will look awesome. Otherwise, it clumps and does not dry quickly enough.

If you must get them off, There will be two larger bolts and two smaller ones on the back of the caliper. You want to remove the larger ones (19mm on my car, I think) and then just slide the caliper off of the rotor.

Don't let the brake line (hose) hang and support the weight of the caliper, it is not good for it. That is why I say that it is just easier to paint it on the rotor.

You are going to want to do the rears this way too, unless you want that hellish job of taking off the rear caliper. I mean, you have the e-brake and all....not fun.

Ludacris

iTrader: (11)

I did my rear calipers this weekend (bc I couldnt take the d@mn front wheels off for the second time) Just put newspaper around the rotor and areas in the wheel well that I thought might get overspray and sprayed the paint on. I used engine enamel...you guys think it'll hold up?

Brudaddy

iTrader: (2)

It should. I think that stuff can handle like 500 degrees. The kind that I used can go up to like 1200 degrees. You should be good. If not, you are not out that much....just a few bucks and some time.

Maxpower96

how long do u have to let the paint dry before being able to drive away with the car? was gonna do this next week

Brudaddy

iTrader: (2)

With the dupli-color colors, only like 15 min. each coat. However, with the dupli-color clear coat(which gives it a gloss that is as good or better than the GR - 2 kit), it needs like an hour.
They are cheap at Autozone and are good quality sprayers. Very easy to use.

I would set apart about 3 or so hours to do it right.
1. take wheels off(I did front and back of one side then, front and back of other side.)
2. clean calipers with engine degreaser
3. Let dry
4. tape off with newspaper and masking tape
5. apply paint, light coats of probably about 5 or so
6. Apply clear coat, let dry
7. put wheels back on and repeat for other side.

It helped me out to get a blow dryer and speed the process along. I needed the paint to dry quicker with all those coats I was painting.

Ludacris

iTrader: (11)

Yea the engine enamel is 500 but I saw the brake paint at like 1000+ thats why I asked...and if it starts peeling off Its gonna involve more than just time and a few bucks. Broke ANOTHER wheel stud off when I tried taking the front wheels off. So right now i only have the rear calipers painted and I am riding on 4 out of 5 lugs on the driverside front wheel. Anyone have any idea why my front wheel lugs keep seizing?

jdm71488

Thanks all!!!

Brudaddy

iTrader: (2)

It is probably just because of the humidity, Ludacris. The humidity is crazy here, and I had one do it a little while back.

To keep it from happening more, get some penetrating spray or anti-seize stuff and spray a little in to the lug nut or on the lug stud before you put back together. It should prevent it from still happening.