I want to paint calipers - suggestion/tips!

[projekt3]

Painting calipers - obviously a easy and solid touch for any car. I've done a bit of research on it, and seems like you can screw yourself if not done properly - so if anyone has some "how-to's" on how they painted theirs (anything to type of paint, prep, and so forth would be great!)

[projekt3]

I forgot to mention - I'm looking to paint mine red

[mit-gee-mui]

3rd link near bottom of page.
:FYI smiley (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?22335-How-to-paint-Calipers)

[cwp_sedan]

3rd link near bottom of page.
:FYI smiley (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?22335-How-to-paint-Calipers)

:thumbsup

[PearlM3]

Go to simply tire....the only charge like 80 bucks, and you don't have to do all the stupid work, taking one tire off at a time, painting it, letting it dry.Unless you have a hoist, or 4 jacks, it's going to take you probably 4-5 hours, and Simply Tire will do it in under 1.

[Rob23]

i don't know what you mean by screw yourself but all you do is sand them and paint them, you can get a kit from canadian tire called dupli-color caliper paint kit. just follow the derections and you'll do fine.

[mazdabetty]

I'm sorry but $80 is way too much to pay for something that can be done fairly easily yourself.

I agree with the comment above, I use VHT caliper paint ($13 at CT) and mine always look freshly painted. Only needed one quick touch up after last winter.

[Soyabean]

Also try to use the ones where you apply with a brush vs spray can. The reason being if you are fairly inexperienced with this, you may need to make a large portion of your car to prevent any overspray

[projekt3]

Ha sorry, first time joining a forum - I tried looking for a thread on painting calipers, but didn't see it so that's why I started my own.

Yeah, I had a friend do his cavalier and bought the stuff from Canadian Tire, but I wasn't too sure what the paint quality was ect...

I like to think that if I am going to put money into my car that I should do it right and not a half ass job.

Anyways back on topic, so if i just cover the wheel well/rotars/disc with newspaper, and sand the calipers - Do I just simply spray the entire caliper?

[projekt3]

Do you know where you can get the brush stuff instead?

[Noisy Crow]

I used the Duplicolour brush kit to do mine. (The kit is pretty basic...tin of paint, aerosol can of brake cleaner, wood stir stick, paintbrush, a small roll of masking tape. I would suggest buying an extra couple of brushes.)

Very easy to do... the only tricky part is cleaning the calipers. I used a toothbrush and a brass-wire drill attachement to clean mine, along with the caliper cleaner that came with the kit.

I ended up using most of the caliper cleaner in the kit... probably overkill, but I wanted good adhesion
I had lots of left over paint, so I'm good for touch ups
I did not put on decals... I didn't have enough time to let the paint fully cure, so I will have to do those later
I did two wheels at a time... jacked up the side of the car, pulled the two wheels, added jack stands to keep the car off my head. I would have done all all four at once, but I don't have four jack stands.
I only worried about getting the parts that were visible through the wheel looking decent.
I used a hot-air gun to partially cure each coat
When I put the wheels back on the calipers were still tacky, so I had to be really carefull not to hit them with the wheel.

[dave2010GT]

I did mine by my self, took about 2 1/2 hours with taping and doing one tire at a time.

I went to CT bought some high heat gloss black break caliper paint and that was it. Mine is a 2010 and they were very clean so I didn't need any wire brushing.

However I did use a cleaner which I can't remeber the name of, which I sprayed on first before painting.

[aris]

Do you know where you can get the brush stuff instead?

Canadian tire sells it

[projekt3]

Thanks guys - appreciate the input!

[Souls]

$5 spray bomb from Cdn tire... took all of 30mins barely. did this to my previous VDubs too.. never ever, ever had any issues from NOT using official caliper paint. I touch up after winter - no big deal.... I do it when I change out my winter/summer tires.

[mido]

VHT from CT works wonders... Still shiny after about a year or so... I got tissue paper from dollarama and covered everything up except the caliper itself. Tissue paper works best since its so thin you can shove it into small cracks easily. Buy some caliper decals from ebay, they make it look that much better.

[FoXy]

I painted mine myself with G2, put the car up on jacks and did all 4 at the same time with my bf. Then got some caliperrrrr decals from Sechemedia and put those on... instant badasssssss :P

[Gizzmo_jr]

don't put to much effort or time, after winter you'll probably be redoing them.

Lots of newspaper, for the ground and masking everything else off.

[projekt3]

I am thinking of going with the brush on caliper paint instead of the spray cans.

I've heard mixed reviews about dupli-multicolour caliper paint.

I've heard VHT is decent. Any suggestions/preferences??

The consensus seems to be you have to touch up the calipers after winter anyways, and it's not that big of an issue (at least not now) because I change my own tires, and I would just do it then.

[3Sheets]

Dupli-Color and VHT are both produced by Sherwin-Williams.

I did the hand-paint with Dupli-Color from Canadian Tire. Car was new so calipers were pretty clean to start, but you still have to clean off the brake dust. I used both the spray cleaner and soap/water with a small wire brush. Sanded a little.

You'll likely need extra brushes as the paint dries quickly. I could only do one caliper at a time, so needed a new brush as the paint had dried before I could start the next caliper.

I did two coats per - by the time I reached the opposite end of each caliper, the paint was dry enough a start the second coat. I didn't bother taping off or masking - just painted carefully and I only painted what would show through the wheel. I didn't use decals because no one will be interested enough to look that close.

It took 2-3 hours because of having to do one caliper at a time, but it was a hot/dry day so I didn't have to spend any time waiting for the coats to dry.

I give the calipers a regular wiping/washing (lots of space with only five spoked rims [and I wipe them off too]) so the dust and dirt doesn't have time to get baked on or eat its way into the paint.

Its basically as simple as 1,2,3. Hope that helps encourage you.

[p-o-g-i]

I've used spray cans... high heat paint. Never had any issues. Prep work is what is the most annoying. Masking off everything to make sure paint doesn't get on anything you don't want to get it on :)

[code_red]

just wondering, has anyone used brake caliper covers instead of painting them? like these http://www.ioffer.com/i/brembo-red-brake-caliper-cover-set-front-rear-new-111990402?source=eisi

if so were u pleased or dissatisfied with them?

[zoso]

i Did mine recently with a brake job, painted rotors as well, I took the caliper off and taped all the parts on it i didnt' want to paint, used a knife for a good fit on the tape.

Because the caliper was off, i used a small stool to rest it on under the fender and papered everything else with newspaper, and give them a quick spray with the caliper paint from CT. They are loaded with rust i used some brake cleaner and a wire brush, but i'm planning on changing them next summer, and give them a good painting before i install them.


Also painted the hub and inside of the hub of my rotors and the outside, to protect from rust (hopefully)