How much should I expect to pay for a shop to paint my calipers? Is this something I could do myself without removing? If so, what type of paint/enamel is best?
And, here's some pics of my (P)ride.
Platinum w interior/exterior lights, illuminated kick plates.

Things I've done since I got her:
Sport rims
Sport spoiler
25% tint around
Plastidipped rear emblems
Weathertech floor liners front/back

Things on my radar
Drop of some sort: springs vs coils
Weathertech window deflectors
Sub/amp SA-8 vs SD-10 w Alpine MRV-500
Diffuser: Stillen vs OEM
Stillen front splitter











PlastiDipped emblems

 

For a good powder coated paint job from a shop you can expect it to be about $200. You could do it yourself, its not extremely difficult, but you would probably want to put the entire car up on jack-stands so you can take care of all 4 at the same time. Most people use VHT spray or brush-on kits available at any local automotive retail store or some big box stores.

Then the debate turns into spray vs brush. I feel that brush works better if you want to leave the calipers on the car, but buy a decent brush from home depot or somewhere like that, the one that comes with the kit sucks. You can take the calipers off and leave the brake line attached if you set it on top of a raised surface like a cardboard box or water bucket, then you could be better off spraying.

The hardest/most time consuming is the prep. If your calipers still look good, not rusted or too dirty then just get some brake cleaner, 600 grit sandpaper, and some isopropyl alcohol and give them a good clean before painting.

 

Thank you Clouded for the detailed input. Now that you bring it up, I may go with painting. Now to look up pricing and colors.

 

The brush kit is about $20, the cans are like $8. VHT has a lot of spray on colors in online stores, but in physical stores you'll most likely be limited to red, black, and silver. Duplicolor is another brand of paint and stores tend to carry more of their colors. I've only really seen the brush-on kits in black and red.

 

if you have the time and somewhere to do it (garage, level driveway) I say DIY is the way to go. in my case, theres a customizer near me that charges $150 to get them done, I would take it to him because I don't have anywhere to do it, and I get a warranty if for some reason it chips or whatever. Pics when done!

 

Just to this conversion g37sAttachment 8300

 

dude thats going a little extreme! you're talking about going from a maybe at most $40-$200 mod to a several thousand dollar mod

 

Lol yes but is worth it , you guys can go to autozone and get a can of paint works great thats what i did with my stock caliper is only 9 dollars works perfect do a few coats will last you years thats what i have in my frontier now for 5 years Attachment 8308