Brake Caliper Painting

MetzgerMeister

Right, I've had my car a while now and think it's about time to do it up a bit. Calipers could relly benefit from a paint.

Thing is though, I painted them on my last car with proper caliper paint but after a while it started to chip off in places and looked manky.

Has anyone any tips on how to do this job properly so the paint lasts? I'm thinking gun metal grey would suit perfectly. The car is black and I don't want to paint them red or black

I'd also rather use spray paint as I used a brush that came with the kit (ETECH Caliper paint) and it left lines all over the place. I'm looking for a close-to-perfect job this time.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

I sprayed the caliper on my integra red with a spray can of hammerite and it lasted perfectly for 3 years. I just gave them a bit of a clean before I sprayed them and that was it!

Live4Ever

BDJW wrote: »

I sprayed the caliper on my integra red with a spray can of hammerite and it lasted perfectly for 3 years. I just gave them a bit of a clean before I sprayed them and that was it!

Did you take them off and do it? How easy is it to take a brake caliper off?

MetzgerMeister

Live4Ever wrote: »

Did you take them off and do it? How easy is it to take a brake caliper off?

I left mine on last time but this time I will be taking them off. I found you only can do half the job they should get when left on.

It can be tricky though since you're going to have brake fluid all over the place. Then you have to bleed the brakes when they're all on again. Unless you are a mechanic or know exactly what you're doing, get someone who does know to do it.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Live4Ever wrote: »

Did you take them off and do it? How easy is it to take a brake caliper off?

I left them on. I just masked up the area around them. If you compared 2 cars side by side, one done the way I did it, and the other car done by taking the calipers off and spraying them, you wouldn't notice the difference

Gary ITR

BDJW wrote: »

I left them on. I just masked up the area around them. If you compared 2 cars side by side, one done the way I did it, and the other car done by taking the calipers off and spraying them, you wouldn't notice the difference

Would you feck off... You painted the back of the pads too if I remember right :pac:

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Gary ITR wrote: »

Would you feck off... You painted the back of the pads too if I remember right :pac:

I never said I masked them up very well :pac:

Gary ITR

Forget painting them, get yourself some uprated pads and a set of braided lines, then you'll have a different feeling in your brake pedal rather than something you can't see when the car is moving

si_guru

You need to be sure they are very,very clean... I used some brake cleaner on mine. I guess you can buy that at a motor factors (I was given some by a friend).

If you are spraying something metal, I find the paint adheres better if that thing is hot!

I notoced in a Fabia vRS (I think) that the calipers are not painted, they have plastic covers.

EPM

Gary ITR wrote: »

Forget painting them, get yourself some uprated pads and a set of braided lines, then you'll have a different feeling in your brake pedal rather than something you can't see when the car is moving

I wonder where you'd get such things...:p

Gary ITR

EPM wrote: »

I wonder where you'd get such things...:p

LOL well we dont stock Mazda stuff but I'm sure we could source them, I certainly wasn't shilling though

EPM

Gary ITR wrote: »

LOL well we dont stock Mazda stuff but I'm sure we could source them, I certainly wasn't shilling though

I was just curious;)

keithclancy

Gary ITR wrote: »

Forget painting them, get yourself some uprated pads and a set of braided lines, then you'll have a different feeling in your brake pedal rather than something you can't see when the car is moving

Or just change the Fluid to remove the spongy feeling.

Gary ITR

keithclancy wrote: »

Or just change the Fluid to remove the spongy feeling.

The rubber hoses expand under heavy braking and add to the spongey feeling, braided lines made a massive difference to my car along with 5.1 fluid

unkel

Painting your brake calipers you say? Wrong forum, lad

keithclancy

Gary ITR wrote: »

The rubber hoses expand under heavy braking and add to the spongey feeling, braided lines made a massive difference to my car along with 5.1 fluid

Dont you have to replacing brake caliper,master cylinder seals, hoses and some other bits when you go from Dot4 to Dot 5 or 5.1 ?

AFIAK the spongy feeling in the Brake Pedal is down to contamination (Air/Water) in the Fluid.

mickdw

keithclancy wrote: »

AFIAK the spongy feeling in the Brake Pedal is down to contamination (Air/Water) in the Fluid.

Yes it can be but any expansion of the brake hoses when under pressure will add 'softness' to the pedal hence the braided hoses offer an advantage.

Gary ITR

keithclancy wrote: »

Dont you have to replacing brake caliper,master cylinder seals, hoses and some other bits when you go from Dot4 to Dot 5 or 5.1 ?

AFIAK the spongy feeling in the Brake Pedal is down to contamination (Air/Water) in the Fluid.

Not at all, if all of the above are in good condition then it'll be fine

keithclancy

Gary ITR wrote: »

Not at all, if all of the above are in good condition then it'll be fine

http://www.dnd-automotive.com/chassis/brake-fluid.htm

Silicone also has slightly different physical properties and compressibility, making it unsuitable for ABS systems calibrated to work with DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid.

Didn't think it was just a simple switch beyond flushing

Matt Simis

I always paint my calipers. They came from the factory painted too. Keeps the rust off. Use a heavy wire brush to remove flakey paint, clean off then paint. Proper caliper paint (available in Halfords) is really thick so I wouldnt be too pushed about sanding, but if you are a perfectionist you should do that before painting too.

CJhaughey

DOT 5 is silicone DOT 5.1 is Glycol not silicone.
You can move from DOT 3 or 4 to 5.1 but not DOT 5

MetzgerMeister

unkel wrote: »

Painting your brake calipers you say? Wrong forum, lad

I'm not painting them to make them stand out (i.e. not red). I'm painting them a subtle colour (gun-metal grey) to make them look tidier, lad!

A car's calipers, in my opinion shouldn't be stand-out colours unless they were like that from the factory.

Matt Simis

einheisserschre wrote: »

I'm not painting them to make them stand out (i.e. not red). I'm painting them a subtle colour (gun-metal grey) to make them look tidier, lad!

Mine are red and are meant to be that way!

sean1141

i used hammerite smooth whit a brush. as said cleaning them the first time is most important. use a wire brush and some brake cleaners

tossy

feck painting them get a set of these

Plug

tossy wrote: »

feck painting them get a set of these

I saw a chap with them in his lovely 5 series(or fiver lad) but the idiot put the big ones on the back and the small ones on the front:rolleyes:

Monty.

What do the rules of Felt say about colours ?

tossy

Monty. wrote: »

What do the rules of Felt say about colours ?

There is no rule of 'felt (yet) on colours but i imagine calipers as close as possible to your county colours would suffice