I painted all 4 of my brake calipers and the front retainers (what are they actually
called?) with glossy yellow engine paint.. looks great! They came out perfect. I forgot to
bring home my socket set.. left it at a friends house.. and I already had the wheels off
so I just did a lot of prepping and painted with the calipers still on the car. I also
painted the shims, brake clips, and back of the pads.. but I don't expect a problem
loosening the paint when I need to remove the shims and clips.
Oh and the only place I could find Glossy Yellow engine paint was at Speed Unlimited in
Morningside, MD. It withstands heat to 550 degrees.
I have a lot of tips for anyone that does this: btw I have 5-star wheels with a lot of
open space.. some wheels don't show the calipers so obviously you wouldn't see the painted
calipers
1) buy normal engine spray paint.. not that $50 kit from the company that makes design
film. Get 2 cans.
2) clean the calipers first.. I used Simple Green and a scrub brush
3) the paint I used was quite thin and needed many coats.. apply at least 4-8 good coats
with 30 mins between applications. After those if you have spots that paint doesn't seem
to stick to, spray a lot of paint on a piece of plastic to get a puddle. Use something,
your finger will probably work best, to rub paint from the puddle to the parts the spray
paint kept running off of. This works great!
4) don't put the wheels back for many hours.. let it sit overnight if possible. Otherwise
be careful not to hit the calipers because it will remove the paint. Also wipe the
calipers after the first day to remove any dirt because they will not be completely dry
and dirt may stick.
Eric Eskandari <[email protected]>
'90 Coupe (Red)
Re. 2
Do not paint the bare calipers with engine paint because it will take forever and not
look too good. Prepare the bare calipers by cleaning them throughly and maybe a little
sanding. Then paint them
with Krylon or a similar high quality primer. You'll probably need two coats of primer.
Once the
primer is dry you can paint the calipers with any type of heat resistant paint and it will
immediately
stick. Do not try to do this without primer because engine paint is quite thin and the
whole job will
take way too long.
The easiest way to paint your calipers?
VHT high temp caliper paint. $7.00 a can. Do alittle sanding and in about 20 minutes I have one caliper done. Let dry overnight for best results. This stuff is cheap and it makes your car look bad ass. I made a stencil that spells "240sx" ans painted the side of the caliper in black. Looks sweet with 240sx on the side.
John Austin
Email: [email protected]