Caliper/Drum Painting
 

If you are either low in funds, bored, or just want an easy mod, caliper and drum painting is just for you. I'd like to begin with stating that this tutorial may cause bodily harm, harm to your vehicle, or any type of other problem. I won't be held accountable for any of these misgivings, nor do i recommend that you do this if you are shakey at hand.

First of all, you'll need caliper paint. I suggest going to walmart and buying Duplicolor's pack for 15 dollars, which consists of paint, a brush, caliper cleaner, and masking tape. You'll also need a jack and a toothbrush to clean the caliper.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...g/supplies.jpg

Make sure you can accomodate a sturdy area which you can properly set up the jack; i suggest some sort of garage for optimal ventilation and lack of dust particles.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ting/step1.jpg

The first step is to clean the caliper. To do this i suggest you lay down newspaper, find a toothbrush, and clean according to your respective package. make sure you scrub vigorously, cleaning everything as if you were cleaning a pair of sneakers. A clean caliper is an obvious necessity to a good finish.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ting/step2.jpg

Secondly, begin painting. You can mask off the areas which shouldn't be painted if necessary, unless you trust your hand. You're going to want to thinly paint this area, let it dry, and repeat the steps atleast three times; or whenever it looks thick to you.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ting/step3.jpg
Let it dry.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ing/caldry.jpg

Great, you're done with your first caliper. :clap: Head over to the other side and repeat the steps. After that, you WILL (if you bought duplicolor's pack) have AMPLE paint to do the drums. I even spilled nearly a fourth of the can and i still had enough.

To prep the drums is the same as the calipers. Just make sure you don't paint the studs, and the area your wheel will be resting (in my opinion, you shouldn't paint this area, so you wheel wont get paint on it etc).
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ting/drum2.jpg

After you prep it (by cleaning with the caliper spray and brush) begin to paint. Like aforementioned, try to avoid the palce your wheels will be placed. This should be a little more difficult for free-handers. You may want to mask this area off.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ting/drum1.jpg

Finally, let the drum dry. It may take longer for the drum to dry since it's larger. I used a fan to speed up the process.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ng/drumdry.jpg
After, repeat the steps to do the other side. Allow one hour to dry before putting on wheels, and make sure you let it dry for ATLEAST 3-4 hours prior vehicle use. I just left it in the garage for the night before i used it.

Congragulations, your finished (hopefully :rofl: )
I hope this helped anyone who wants to do a inexpensive, good looking modification which will keep on pleasing you :clap:

Finished Product:
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...ing/finish.jpg

Copyright Andrew Smith

Good tutorial.
Thanks.

Feel free to add this to the tech section.

WOW! very bice how to. tech section please

may i see a shot of the drums and side shot please, maybe a close up too?

rear drum: https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...onbox/rear.jpg

please say no to painted to rear drums!

heres mine, same kit and everything, i am about to get some yellow and red, and get a orange color and redo it though.......... make sure you build up a couple of layers, i did a thick single and the rear is chipping a little here and there...... but anyways..... my darn rim is in the way, but u get the jist of it......
http://image40.webshots.com/40/7/58/...2CSUNXr_ph.jpg

To each their own. Personally, i could care less what you like, but i'd have to say it goes well with my color scheme.

Now added to tech section.. feel free to amuse yourselves.

Nice! I'd love to see some pics of painted calipers on tCs

Why don't you do it? :D

Why would you want to paint your drums? If anything i'd try to avert attention away from drums; they look bad enough without paint.

why would paint your drums? seriously....its really not a "perfomance part"....

Why wouldnt someone? Not even going to waste my time with SL forum complainers :come:

Awww, some people don't like the drums painted and you throw a hissy fit. :silly:

Could you not read this? Guess not, because i've already addressed those who oppose what i like. Thanks for your time though?

is it just me or does that paint job look really shotty ? ... i mean u can clearly tell it was BRUSHED ON .. you can see paint strokes in the paint ...

im giving you 2 thumbs up for the effort... but wouldnt it have been better to soray them rather then brush them ? ... i assume you would have gotten a much cleaner look

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...nbox/drum1.jpg

Im sure this is a reference pic....... of course he put on another coat.... :blah:

wouldn't u think he would have then posted it then ?? if there is another pic id like to see ,,,as would others to see actually how clean it comes out because those pics arent very flattering

Thats the first coat, i didn't take a picture when it was finished. I figured you'd get the idea.. Too lazy to take my wheel off and take another pic.

Cool. I was thinking about painting my calipers racing satin black using that same caliper paint kit from duplicolor and now that i see this tutorial it really makes me want to do it. :P

looking good.. (adding to my favorites)

nice writeup. any reason u used the brush method over the spray. i have never used the brush, but i have the spray..and it worked well also.

ya know why people paint their brakes? becasue they wish they could dish out for brembros

I used engine enamel sprayed it in a cup and then used a brush to apply , now I gotta find some engine enamel in a bronze color.

the reason i painted the drums on my old car was because if i didn't, they would be all rust within a couple of months....

well I guess since right now, there aren't any "brembro" brake kits available for scion, technically, all of us are wishing we could dish out for the kits.

I'm guessing the _brembo_kit (note the single r) for the tC's will be out around the same time as the TRD s/c.... ;)

Re: Caliper/Drum Paint Tutorial (PICS)
 

Very cool article, bud. Thanks! :clap:

Oh, and thanks for ignoring the naysayers' comments: :blah:
1. Most of us realized you probably painted another coat on the drums.
2. Painting the drums is a personal choice -- who gives a sh** if it's not considered a "performance part"?

I can't wait to dive into this on my silver tC. It's just crying for blue calipers! And I'm no youngster... :tap:

Gosh... why is everybody being so stinkin negative?? He was just trying to help... geez... lighten up guys...

Word! :clap:

Yeah -- what he said!

I am definitly going to use this setup thanks for the write up.

My 05 Xb front capilers are a light green color. I was thinking a flat black would be better.

im thinking about doing this to my super white TC but im not sure of the color. i like red because its very sporty on white.
also thinking Blue because i have blue LED interior lighting and it would go well. and the other color i think would be BLACK. just a midnight dark black to go with my White/Black exterior look and go with the dark 5% tint...

what you guys think???

i like it a lot. nice write up. how much does that duplicolor caliper kit cost?

At this place (Advance Auto Parts), the whole kit is only $14.94. Nice!

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...=SEARCHRESULTS[/url]

To each his/her own. I didn't think I was into it, until I did mine.

https://photobucket.com/albums/y142/...l/P4170033.jpg

No pic of the front caliper :doh:

:P

looks good keith,next time you are around the neighborhood give me a call....

Thanks for the great write-up bro. It was a good prep. Im reading this while I wait for my third coat to dry in my garage. Going to try and go for 5.

I'm using the same kit. The bristles on the brush start to come out after a while. If you have some paint thiner, goof off, acitone, etc... use a cap full and plenty to clean the brush off between 25+ minute drys. Use plenty of water to clean off the solovent and your ready to go again.

I recommend taking off your calipers to paint. The tC is not hard at all. I rested mine on a small bucket. BTW: The front rotors come pretty easy to if your thinking about a rotor upgrade later.

Wow Super Job!!!! I just got some wheels put on my box today :love: I got Sport Max Racing 940 in black and they do look sweet on my Yellow box. Now what colors do these kits come in???