Painting calipers

[jcostantino]

Ok, I looked around and I couldn't find any details on caliper prep and paint.

Anyone have suggestions on what type paint to buy? I just want something I can brush on to the calpiers when I do the 96 brake upgrade. I guess green to match my car would be great.. I could go for silver or black too..

Should I do any prep work? My calipers (car has been in Florida all its life) are in good shape with a light coat of the standard rust on them. I will be replacing the hoses with braided line and flushing the whole system and it's GONNA be hot out so if I can save an hour or two then that's great.

Jeff

 

[megaplay]

I did mine by sand blasting them lightly first then used good old fashion high temp paint. This should be available in almost any color. They are a PITA to keep clean from the brake dust. Good luck.

 

[mholhut]

A good scrubbing with a wire brush should be sufficient to rid the calipers of any loose debris. Then hose them off with some brake cleaner. The safest way to go is hi-temp engine paint. I've seen the results of road-course racing on calipers painted with regular paint, and it wasn't pretty.

 

[Blue95ATX]

Dont paint them yellow, its sucks to keep them clean. Painting the rears may be a little trickier than the front because of the ebrake cable.

 

[Blue95ATX]

Any light color may suck to keep clean.

 

[stevetatro]

I did very little prep work to my calipers, and painted them "Ford Blue" with high-temp engine paint, and they've kept their color very nicely for over a year now.

Good luck!

 

[jcostantino]

I'm gonna go to Pep Boys and have a look at their paint section. I really just want to buy a 1/2" brush and a can of paint because that would be MUCH easier instead of masking and spraying the calipers. They would be removed from the car (at least the fronts) when I do the braided hose anyway. If I can't find a corresponding green high temp color, I'll paint them silver... I'd go for the red or yellow if I had some quad piston Brembos or something

Jeff

 

[DeaconBlue]

I taped my calipers and mounting brackets up, cleaned them off in the media blaster, blow them clean with compressed air, washed them off with brake clean and allowed them to warm back up to room temperature. I then used VHT brake caliper and drum paint on them. Rated to 900 degree F and darn near indestructible, this stuff is great. Check out;

http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=search.asp%3FType%3Dbykeyword%26Part%3Dbrake%20paint%26Search.x%3D1%26SearchType%3DBoth

 

[jcostantino]

Does anyone think that Por-15's ColorCoat enamel will be ok to put on my calipers or does that not have enough heat resistance? Por-15's webpage doesn't list its hear resistance on their webpage but it is listed under their High Temps section. I'm torn between their Ford Green ColorCoat and the Brilliant Aluminum Por-20 (which I KNOW would be good enough for the brakes at 1400o)

Jeff

 

[Wildstar]

I cleaned them with brake cleaner, wiped them off good and painted them with "Ford Tractor Blue" paint from Tractor Supply. Looks good, went on easy with a brush, and survived the scorching day at Hallet last year.

I don't know if anyone made a tractor the right color for you, but the paint is great...

 

[srfdude]

For non-racing applications, I don't think heat is a big problem. Brake fluid boils around 400 deg., depending on the variety used. And for normal street use that is rarely if ever approached. OTOH, whatever you use has to be brake fluid proof, not chip easily, not come off with the power washer, etc.
Mike

Here is an email response about this paint I got:

>you wrote:
>I am going to paint my calipers, for non-racing applications. I'm not
>sure how hot they get, but the paint needs to be impervious to brake
>fluid. Which of your products do you recommend, and is there a
>required primer or surface prep involved? Thanks,
>Mike Thompson

ANSWER: I am not aware of any paint that is impervious to brake fluid.
We
have plenty of customers that have used the POR-15 on their calipers
with
no problems. Make sure the calipers are not leaking when you apply the
paint. Prep the surface with our Marine Clean and Metal Ready. Both
products are sprayed on then rinsed with water after 15-20 minutes.
Allow
the surface to dry then apply two thin covering coats of POR-15 to the
surface. Thank you, Mike

<small>[ April 02, 2002, 03:45 PM: Message edited by: srfdude ]</small>

 

[hanshua]

I painted my calipers with high tepm engine paint... its the stuff thats good to like 500F... and brakes dont get that hot i dont think... mine have held up very well....

I took the front calipers off to paint them... but left the rear ones on, and masked/newspapered/was very careful with the spray. They actually look look the same as the front from what you can see of them... youd only know if you were doing brake work..

Painting the calipers to look nice isnt gonna be a quick job... its going to need alot of coats... id give it a minimum of 3 (dont try to get it perfect on the first coat, or youll make it look like crap) and give it some time to dry before you apply another coat... priming isnt necessary...