Is it worth it to paint the calipers
either myself - cost of paint/jacks/stands/tape

or by a pro shop - for about $150

....

dont let a shop paint em.. lol if you cant do it.. then just leave your car stock... get a friend with a garage and do it yourself...tape off everything around it and paint... spray paint isnt that indimidating once you get used to it.. get that high heat crap and go to town.....

You need this: (pepboys your best bet)
1.high heat paint
2.jacks (do 2 wheels at the same time)
3.newspaper or plastic bags(tape off the area)
4.steel brush(get anything on the caliper the break cleaner wont pick up)
5.brake cleaner(clean before paint)
6.tape(duh)


edit*- i see your a jersey boy ... if u dont have em painted by summer than come down to maryland and ill hook ya up...i have painted calipers on at least 6 or 7 cars so its no sweat..

the results start in the prep work...
if you take them off the car it will be easier to clean, sand, grind smooth. and painting into those tight nooks, is better done off the car....

my vote is to take them off.
but instead of painting , try powder coating....

Heres a link to a picture of my brakes painted with the G2 kit it cost me about $40 dollars to do all 4 brakes.

Note: I've never tried to post a picture before I guess this will work. Anyway just thought you may want to see a picture.


**edit** dgHotLava---i fixed your picture link
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid155/p2928a666f7a96da2a74c9aa51ec22d37/f56ad4c4.jpg
*That did'nt work so well I guess you have to me a member of imagestation to view the image. I'm new to this stuff Anyway I tried.

thanks for the input... i like the silver/metalic calipers but i think im gonna color match the tC or atleast attempt to with the high temp paint...
what would you rank all the prep work as in taking off the callipers from 1-ten scale>.
and anyone have a lil guide for taking off tiresand wheels.. and callipers.
and hints on reinstalling

the results start in the prep work...
if you take them off the car it will be easier to clean, sand, grind smooth. and painting into those tight nooks, is better done off the car....

my vote is to take them off.
but instead of painting , try powder coating....
powder coating...?? explain...

if you need a guide for removing your tires, this is out of your league...
for me i consider this a 4-5 on the 10 point scale...
it will require rebuilding the calipers and bleeding the brake system....both of which are simple to do, but need to be carefull doing it...

powder coating is a more durable finsih than paint. it goes on in powder form (hence the name)
it then gets baked to bond the powder to the part.

i have done this on many vehicles and find it to be much better +last longer than any paint.

powder coating is a more durable finsih than paint. it goes on in powder form (hence the name)
it then gets baked to bond the powder to the part.

i have done this on many vehicles and find it to be much better +last longer than any paint.

...powder coating>.. how much does it cost to be done. or can it be done on your own

there are kits to do this yourself... (not recomended...could ruin your oven....)
the cost is simalar to a pro painting them...

here is a link to a good write up about the process...
http://my.execpc.com/~davewrit/Powder.html
its a little long but full of information...

power coated calipers? wow i didn't know that could be done. one more thing to shop around for.

Anything Metal can be powdercoated. Also you don't have to even remove your calipers to paint them. Its really simple, just take off the wheel and tape everything up then spray away.

I used krylon on all my cars...they all lasted years...screw high temp the calipers never get hot. Try it out touch your calipers after a day of driving, the rotors are hit but the caliper is pretty warm.

all u need is a jack, jackstands, simple green degreaser, high grit sand paper and time...

Step 1
Jack up the car, remove wheels.
Step 2
Scuff metal with high grit (i used 800)
then clean with simple green and water, allow to dry
Step 3
Mask off areas you dont want painted and Paint!
Step 4
repaint (i use 3 coats)
Step 5 allow time to dry and remount and enjoy

total cost...
5 bucks for paint
5 bucks for simple green + sand paper

http://img139.exs.cx/img139/7945/brakes9jm.jpg

i am not saying that paint won't do....
just that it looks extra sharp to sand and grind down the rough castings. then powder coating will look like a mirror...

NICE JOB, daemonite!!!!! :bow:

NICE JOB, daemonite!!!!! :bow:


i got subaru colors on my scion hehe...
indigo blue pearl with gold calipers looks sweet :P

Subaru colors??? I wouldn't say that TOO loud, peeps might shun you! :silly:

paint them yourself. it's not too hard. just did mine last weekend.

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/243/243702/folders/186957/1396862Image00002.jpg

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/243/243702/folders/186957/1396865Image00004.jpg

painting them is a breeze, but the calipers still look rough...
get out the sanding and grinding tools.... make them look smooth first...

Do you have an example picture of the "smooth" caliper. I thought the sanding was used to create scratchs in the metal in order for the pait to adhere more easily to the caliper.

http://img139.exs.cx/img139/7945/brakes9jm.jpg

if you look at the caliper in the picture you see the texture from the castings (when the parts were made).
notice how rough it looks.
when i mentioned sanding/grinding i am talking about smoothing out the rough surface.
true that sanding helps the paint 'stick', but you also need to shape the parts before painting...

here are some after shots from powder coating...
http://www.bauer-racing.com/throttlebodies/Brakes/Calipers%20and%20Rotors.jpg
http://www.bauer-racing.com/throttlebodies/Brakes/Rear%20Brake%20Calipers.jpg

Alright thats what I thought. Can you produce similar results with painting them? I would rather save the money of having a professional do anything, and do it myself. It doesn't matter how much I have to sand and how long, I just want to know if I can produce similar reults as far as smoothness.

Heres a link to a picture of my brakes painted with the G2 kit it cost me about $40 dollars to do all 4 brakes.

Note: I've never tried to post a picture before I guess this will work. Anyway just thought you may want to see a picture.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2131967869&idx=3
*That did'nt work so well I guess you have to me a member of imagestation to view the image. I'm new to this stuff Anyway I tried.

where'd this kit come from???? I may be interested..

you can produce similar results with painting...just be prepared to spend about 80% of the time sanding, grinding, polishing.
then when you paint them, put on a lot of paint...(just watch for runs)

sounds quite simple, just time consuming

Just goggle the G2 paint kit I got it for 34.99 with free shipping. I know I didn’t grind or smooth out anything but they seem to look fine to me without doing that I guess they would look better if you did. Remember to buy a paint that’s made for brakes like the G2 kit not only is it a high heat paint but I would not want to take any chances on messing with my brakes plus the G2paint brushes on so you have more control. See what happens when you use a brake cleaner on a brake that just has krylon spray paint on it (Sorry daemonite) the paint will rub right off (Trust me I know) also what happens if you are using your brakes enough that they do get hot and the paint melts. I wouldn’t want to clean that mess up. I would recommend buying the G2 kit I used it on my last car and it held up fine. I guess the best way it powder coating but that takes a lot of time taking the calipers off, pistons out along with the seals prepping them the powder coater etc. and I’m not driving a show car all I wanted was for the brakes to have some color and look good. Anyway that’s my 2 cents.

Thanks dgHotLava for fixing my picture link.

anyone that has painted their calipers..
could you give me a method
what tools you used..
and prices of the material you used?..
ty

anyone that has painted their calipers..
could you give me a method
what tools you used..
and prices of the material you used?..
ty

small ___ little bottle of krylon paint - 2.50
big bottle of krylon paint - 4.50
sand paper 600 grit - 59 cents
sand paper 800 grit - 59 cents
car jack + two jack stands - 14.99 @ kragens on sale
bottle of simple green - 1.99
newspapers - free
tape - 39 cents
optional clear coat - 3

find a nice flat spot, turn off your car and pull the e-brake. If you have a stick shift, put it into gear and pull the ebrake. Automatics, put it into park and pull the ebrake.

first, i loosened the front tires bolts with the tire iron that came with the car, just loosened them slightly so they budged. Then jacked the right side up and put a jack stand there and then the left. Make sure you read your manual to find out where to put the jack stands and where to use the jack!

Then I removed the bolts, you wanted to loosen them before putting the car up high because its easier. Now take off the wheel and put them aside. Then sand the metal a bit with some 600 grit then some 800 grit. This will make scuffs for the paint to adhere to. Then clean it up with simple green degreaser and dry it off well. I dried mine with a shop towel and let it dry further for 15 minutes just incase. Then started to mask off areas i dont want painted with tape and newspaper. Then started painting. 1 thin coat first to cover up the metal then went to the other side and did the same. Relaxed for 15 minutes and came back for coat 2. Let it dry for about 15 minutes and put the wheels back on. Tighten as much as you could while the car is on the jacks. Then put the car back on the ground. Tighten some more and put some newspaper under your brakes inside the wheel just incase.

Repeat for the back.

You can also use clear coat the next day once all the paint is dried completely. This will add gloss and more protection to your calipers.

once you are done, dont drive the car for

check out www.duplicolor.com

they have lots of great stuff, too!

Here you can kind of see the yellow spring through the wheel. Let me know what ya think. (This was supposed to come after the next one. Don't know why it got all messed up.)

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/2285000-2285999/2285824_10_full.gif

A few questions. First, I plan on just taping and spraying. There's some little nooks and crannies on the actual calliper. Do I need to be careful or can paint get in there without problems? Also, I'm debating on colors. I'm either gonna do yellow, or color match them to the indigo ink pearl. Can you get iip from the dealership or anything? Here's my car. Let me know what you think I should do.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/2285000-2285999/2285824_5_full.jpg

I have the gold line springs and they're yellow, and if you look through the back rim, you can see the springs and it looks pretty sweet. That's why I'm considerin yellow.

Alright, sorry for the ten million posts, but here's a better picture of the yellow on blue.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/2285000-2285999/2285824_11_full.gif

14.99 duplicolor at pepboys, it has everything you need in the box.........It took me about 45 minutes to do mine black. I thought about going the route of smoothing them out and powder coating, I still may. I installed a powerslot/ AEM big brake kit as well so eventually I may do the work and get them powdercoated. But it is time consuming and the duplicolor kit works great if your just doing black, red I would recomend the powdercoating since the paint kits red always looks orange.

Go to autozone and het the caliper piant kit dupli somthing.. its 15 bucks i just did mine today... it was so easy took about 2 hours because i used the jack that came with the car.

Dont pay some one to do it way to easy.

2 out of 10 on the hard scale.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/miamibusta69/SSPX0300.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/miamibusta69/SSPX0298.jpg

go to ur local advance auto parts, or autozone, they sell brake painting kits for people like u who want to paint their calipers

I am planning on painting my calipers tonight. I bought the duplicolor kit a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first weekend it is warm enough outside and I am able to let my car set so the paint dries completely. I will post pics when I get it done.