[DIY] Painting brake caliper

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!

I think there's already one of these but you can never have too many, here is my version.

Aim: to paint brake calipers
Required: degreaser, brake caliper paint, newspaper and masking tape. this is the paint and degreaser I used.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4571/dsc01193pm5.jpg

Step 1: Jack up the car and take the wheel off and this is what you have

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/2189/dsc01174cq9.jpg

Step 2: Give the calipers a clean by spraying it with degreaser and let it dry up or wipe it off.

Step 3: Use newspaper and masking tape to mask off all the parts that you don’t want paint on. You can use bits of newspaper to fill the holes up.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8081/dsc01177kd9.jpg

Step 4:Spray the brake paint on the caliper giving it a light even coat. Let it dry a bit for 10 – 15 minutes. Give it an additional 2 to 3 coatings with 10 – 15 minutes in between. I’ve painted it without doing the pad plate thing before and thought that it didn’t look as nice/right so I sprayed it as well.

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/8620/dsc01178uf7.jpg

Step 5: Take off all newspaper and tape, then put the wheel back on. Repeat for the other three wheels.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5706/dsc01179ka0.jpg

Before

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/3121/dsc01172qt8.jpg

After

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/9829/dsc01182at8.jpg

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n...y/DSC01224.jpg

very nice gonna do this to my crx. just gonna wait for a sunny day.

i found from doing two of my cars...
if you use a paint brush it turns out much easier plus theres
not as much hassle with masking off all the areas..
so just spray the spray paint into a paint roller thing thats what i did..
just a tip to others..

What happens.. if you change your pads.... then you have to strip this paint off then re paint? or you gonna leave the break pad colour showing =]

When you replace the pads, the brake pad colour will show. So it only shows that the calipers are painted. Whereas with this, some parts of the pads have been painted.

These looked so hot yesterday at the JDMST meet :)

i could always mask up the rest and just spray the new brakes if need be..

heres another pic
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n...y/DSC01224.jpg

nice work bro, i wana do this too

canwe have some pics from a little bit further away?

Would it be a good idea to primer it at all or not?

you don't really need it and not unless it's High Temp Primer then yeh not really necessary as the paint will stay on for a while

might as well remove them., sandblast it or wirebush on a drill.
overhaul the seals and dust cover while you are at it if you got time.
painting the backside of the brake pad is too dodgy. ;)

its only 2 bolts to remove the caliper bracket and then you can prep it properly and redo the entire surface. then another 2 bolt for the sliding pins

:cool:

What wheel nuts are they? Look nice

cool... i'm gonna definitely do this.. how long does it take to dry.. ?

great idea... i am going to do it to my car... would look good with my blue lug nutz...

thanks for the DIY and tips

edit: where can u buy the brake caliper & drum paint?? can u get it from any autobarn supercheap auto store??

and wats the code for that blue colour u got?? or is der only 1 blue???

thanks in advance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mars_panas

edit: where can u buy the brake caliper & drum paint?? can u get it from any autobarn supercheap auto store??

and wats the code for that blue colour u got?? or is der only 1 blue???

thanks in advance

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yeh go 2 either of those bro and they'll have it, wide variety of colours also

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kazam

yeh go 2 either of those bro and they'll have it, wide variety of colours also

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cheers :thumbsup:

If you can get your hands on the VHT caliper paint, then sweet. I used it on maybe 3 brake set ups (including mine) and they haven't faded or scratched off. Make sure you prep the surface well

how long does this process take.. ? i bought some brake caliper paint and it says you should apply several coats, waiting 15mins in between coats and it takes 30mins for touch dry and 24 hours for hard dry.

Am i able to drive the car after an hour of applying? or would i have to wait til the next day?

all done..

Here's the results... this was the first one i did and made the mistake of not taping it all nice and neat.. : )

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4301/dsc02223ez7.jpg

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3917/dsc02224uo8.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6518/dsc02225xg6.jpg

Great DIY, all up cost under $20.... thanks finalazy..

Damn thats a pretty good job there man.

I've been waiting to do this for a bit, but I can't get my wheels off. Just got them on and I think the place put them on too tight. Guess I might have to jump on them. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by M@lew

I've been waiting to do this for a bit, but I can't get my wheels off. Just got them on and I think the place put them on too tight. Guess I might have to jump on them. :D

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u use breaker bar?

looks mad with the rims, to make it last longer i put some clear coats on top of my one.

hahaha
andy you sickient

not as sik as me

Quote:

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Originally Posted by doosra

how long does this process take.. ? i bought some brake caliper paint and it says you should apply several coats, waiting 15mins in between coats and it takes 30mins for touch dry and 24 hours for hard dry.

Am i able to drive the car after an hour of applying? or would i have to wait til the next day?

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yes u can drive it pretty much once its touch dry..

Well managed to do it today, but I've noticed I've painted a bit of the brake pad (the part under the caliper that I forgot to cover) Any tips on how to fix it? Just paint it back? Use a brush?

UPDATE

Found out that using a toothbrush to apply a small amount of paint thinner then using newspaper to scrape it away works really well. :D

excellent guide :D

dead easy to do, alot of fun, made a day of it and after doing my gfs car we did mine :D

watch for overspray and avoid painting if its too humid, takes forever to dry lol

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...p/DSCF3896.jpg

yellow on a green car.. hmm..

nice one EK1.6LCIV.

This is such a satisfying mod.. cause it's so cheap and easy and makes a big difference in appearance. = )

im thinking to spray them gloss white, on a white car, wat u guys think? i hardly ever see white ones around

It'll look nice at first, but later on it'll look like crap i reckon cos of all the brake dust or mud.

so u jsut clean em

white calipers on a white car? :thumbsup: unique

yeh i haven't seen em b4 so i thought i'd give em a shot

wouldnt they just turn black from the brake dust?

repainted mine black so its subtle and doesnt stand out

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kazam

yeh i haven't seen em b4 so i thought i'd give em a shot

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Well when you do them, post pics.

Painted mine today... will post it up soon....

Why is it that some people only paint the front brakes whilst others paint both front and rears?

Great DIY btw!

+rep!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DogAteCat

Why is it that some people only paint the front brakes whilst others paint both front and rears?

Great DIY btw!

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Some people only like the front ones coloured. In my case it's because I lack rear calipers. :p

ill be doing the front calipers red, should i paint the drums red aswell or will it look shit?

Drums are cool man...do it :p

I wouldn't...but ykno..personal choice. ;)

Heres mine including the other bits when i did the brake "upgrade"

http://i41.tinypic.com/2ytz9lw.jpg

And on the car, can't see much. It's not a Honda anyway.

http://i42.tinypic.com/16hrdr5.jpg

what if your calipers are already painted and you want to change it to a different colour? how would i remove the paint thats already on there? and by doing this would this wreck the pads, brakes etc.?

Could just paint over it, or give it a bit of a clean with paint thinner. Not sure how well that would work though since I did it within an hour of painting.

this is the dodgy way of doing it.


lazy

thank you

I'm glad you take it ok, cos its constructive criticism.

The proper way to do it is to take apart the brake system and paint the bits individually.

not that hard imo.

i'm thinking chrome brake pads.. supercheap had some high temp chrome paint but was like $50 a can.. its either chrome or gold.. but i think chrome will look much better on a silver car, (my calipers are brown stock not silver)

this is a good DIY, but i did proper. my friend took apart the calipers and then spray them.



http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0058.jpg

http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0059.jpg

http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0063.jpg


looks good for something that cost me 20 bucks! LOL!

nice post... just wonder how many bottles of spray did you use for the 4 calipers? 2 is enough?

I painted all four calipers with one can of septone. I did pretty thick coats too, so I'd say one can would be enough. Still got a bit left over as well.

Thanks mate, we just done it on last weekend. 1 can for 3 cars, wahahhaa.... will upload the photos soon ^_^

here my car~~

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...DSC_0006-1.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/DSC_0013.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/DSC_0018.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/DSC_0031.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/DSC_0042.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/DSC_0050.jpg

damm the euro looks nice wit red callipers

need to be careful using the jack like that to jack up 1 side of your car.

I could be wrong but it looks like the car is jacked up on all fours.

Anyway, it looks great.

+1 for taking the caliper off.

The most important step is CLEANING. If you don't clean the calipers properly the paint will look shit, and the only way to clean it properly is to fully submerge them in a bucket. It is also a good excuse for a break fluid change and bleed, or some new braided lines ;)

How do you take the calipers off? And is there anywhere i should avoid painting on the caliper? Great guide btw! im going to try this weekend ^^

Hey, I've been wanting to do this for so long,
Just didn't realise exactly how simple it was.

Didn't want to make a new thread, but wanted to show how mine turned out.
Note, this is like my 2nd post on here, let alone first DIY and I am by no means a mechanic. so, please forgive any level of n00b.


Car: 1996 Honda Civic VTi
Tools: Jack, degreaser, newspaper, tape, 'M3 Brake Calliper' paint from supercheap auto ($18.00)
then all the other general bits and pieces.

steps I took:

• I only had the spare tire jack, so I was doing everything the long hard way. jacked it up, took the wheels off gave them a proper clean and had to swap the rears for the front anyway, so was a good time to do it.

• drenched the caliper with degreaser (make sure you have something to catch the drips, mess etc) gave a good wipe down.

• masked just where I didn't want mess to get everywhere. I think some people go a bit over the top with masking, having newspaper covering the entire front quarter panel.. you have to be slightly retarded to be spraying on your bonnet. :confused:

• applied 4 coats on each, about 20-30 minutes in between to let it dry. again, stick with the obvious, don't apply too thick. avoid running. nice even coats. the colour really starts to come up in the 3rd or 4th coat. I didn't find it necessary, but you could probably run a 5th. I tried using a brush for the harder to spray parts, but didn't have much luck with it. so, would also suggest against that.

• make sure you have a good look around to see that you get all the places you might not initially see. as this was done in my garage, lighting was a bit of a di*k so I had a fluorescent underneath while working. definitely helped.

• take off all your masking, make sure you didn't get any on the disk (like I did) which you just rub off with a rag and thinner or something similar, you'll find it's pretty easy.

• put your wheel back on, and repeat for however many other wheels you wish to do. I only did the front two due to time and I couldn't really be bothered repeating the whole process manually jacking the car up.

• I'd suggest leaving it for a good few hours before driving on them. I left it overnight just to be sure.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7358.jpg
Before - the mess started.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7372.jpg
Before - after a quick clean, just used degreaser and a rag to scrub off as much of the grime as I could.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7377.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7378.jpg
I forgot to take a photo of my masking, but I didn't find it all that hard.
I had a little bit of paint drip on the disk, which came off with a little thinner + rubbing.


http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7386.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7393.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0/_MG_7399.jpg
The after shots.

I think it looks hot.
I was going to do them white, as the rest of the car is strictly black and white, but due to the rims I just figured red would touch them off quite nicely.

will probably do the back 2 in a few weeks.

let me know what you think! :thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3mhq...eature=channel

would high termparature engine enamel paint work on my break calipers its just i have these to spare got it for my prelude rims but never go to doing it..

^ yes it would.

*Bump*

Is there a guide out there with pictures still up? Thinking about doing my Arctic Blue Euro with red calipers