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Brake calipers and why you choose to paint them?

GR8racingfool

GR8racingfool

New member
This is a straight out serious question from me to you guys that if doable...in the long run will save you time, and money and have much better end results.

I ask you all this:

When you decide to paint your brake calipers, what are your goals for when your finished?

Meaning...what made you decide to do it?

Why did you choose that color?

Are you after having the caliper show up better through the rim both standing still and moving?

If there is anything else you care to add in, feel free to. I have a very nice idea I think many of the D.I.Y.'ers might like. The end result will be paint able, and powder coat able, polished, or even left nude.

~F~
 


Goals?
Mainly appearance as the stock calipers in most cars are as ugly as you. Oh wait, that wont work. As ugly as that thing from the movie Predator.

What made me decide to do it?
Appearance to start, but they are also easier to clean off as well. There's too much 'dark' in that area and painting the calipers makes it stand out a little. Though it can draw attention to it as well which if you have not cleaned the inside of your wheels, it shows up well when you are paying attention to it.

Why did I choose the color I did?
Ummm, well because it went with the rest of the scheme I had going on (Silver)

What would I do differently if I could do it again?
I would have probably opted to powder coat them or bought some that were, just for the durability more less. I would much prefer our brakes be aluminum, like the GA brakes which is why I have given such heavy consideration to switching to those brakes because at least naked those look better.

Thats all I can think of at the moment. You're not ugly by the way, I was just pickin' on ya.
 
Haven't done them on the Impala yet, but I have done them before. Though, I won't be painting the Impala's. They'll be powder coated.

GR8racingfool said:
When you decide to paint your brake calipers, what are your goals for when your finished?
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To be a subtle yet noticeable aesthetic improvement, to protect them, and to make them easier to clean.

GR8racingfool said:
Why did you choose that color?
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I'm going with silver on the caliper and black on the bracket. Why? I went with silver since my rims are silver (and any new ones will be polish, not chrome) as well as my car. But, I wanted to be careful to not go overboard with the silver and get the brackets the same color (since I don't think it looks good). But, uncoated brackets would look like ass next to coated calipers, so the brackets I decided would be black.

GR8racingfool said:
Are you after having the caliper show up better through the rim both standing still and moving?
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Show up better? Not really. They already show up pretty well with my stock rims, and even more if I go aftermarket. Plus they'll be F-body so that might be more noticeable. I don't want attention drawn to them, but I want them to flow with the theme of the rest of the car.
 
I painted mine because the stock ar small and ugly. I show my car and compete so I try to dress up anything I can. My main reason was for appearance at car shows. I chose red to stand out and since my car is red it sets it off nicely. Most people who dont know any better assume they are not stock due to being painted and glossy.
 
my goal was to hide the caliper and at the same time make it look cleaner. I painted mine black to go wit my theme as well but I painted them a flat black. What prompted me to paint them is they arent the nicest thing to look at.
 
Well first, I'm all about the details and I want to make the whole car look as nice as possible. With that said I cant stand dirty/rusty calipers and rotors. :th_thumb-down: The dirty/rusty calipers are the first ugly thing you see!! Especially if you have a nice wide open wheel. So I painted mine silver, I chose silver to make the car look more elegant. I got to tell ya, they look sweet against the chrome 04 wheels that I have. :D I use ceramic pads to cut down on the dust with the stock calipers and the 12" slotted rotors which fill in the inner wheel real nice. I wish our cars were like that stock, they aren't so I feel the need to clean them up. It pisses me off when you look at some foreign cars where the calipers and rotors never seem to get rusty. :th_angry2:
 


i had mine powdercoated because i knew they would look better that way, rust is butt-ugly. i also like how they pop now, and stand out. its good at car shows and stuff. plus i think it looks good.
 
Getting some good solid feed back from everone so far.

Next questions:

What did you spend "about" (rough guess) total in prep. work/chemicals plus the paint, primer, clear coat, or the brush on paint on kits you can buy, or powder coating?

If you were starting from scratch with a set of used stock brakes, how much time would you say you have invested in the project when it finally gets all said and done?

Did you feel that your free time was worth it for the end result you got?

~F~
 
easier 2 clean. nobody likes the rust look. alittle extra touch 2 the exterior!


i can't decide what color 2 do tho? my color car is in the sig................


help me out people.
 
i painted my Fbody calipers BBQ paint black, 5 bucks a can and it wont flake off. everyone does red calipers like a corvette, its not a vette, red is very played out. prep work was sprayed with brake parts cleaner to get the oil off
 
i paid 50 bucks cash and i got all 4 calipers(red), all 4 caliper brackets (black), and the cross braces, dogbones, and upper radiator mounts(red). but i got a deal, i passed out the guy's business cards and he hooked me up.

i re used my stock brakes, so my car was out of commission, btu i also was replacing the shocks and struts at this time. total downtime was one week.

i spent about 40 bucks total to buy the parts for the complete rebuild of all the calipers and brakets, and that took abotu 3 hours to put them back together.

the time was definately worth it, but the passenger side front caliper's powdercoating is cracked from and abnormal amount of friction (and therefore heat) that was on it for about a month (from that curb i hit). id liek to get fo bodies eventually and have them powdercoated as well, unless your alternative will work for those too.
 


I'm about ready to paint mine pretty much for all the same reasons stated above. I'm a lil' curious to see what you've got planned..so I'll hold off on doing it
 
Goal - Minimize break dust cleaning and make that area stand out a bit. Also painted the rotors black to hide rust.

Cost - $15 for the red kit at autozone $4.00 for the can of black spraypaint

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How hard was it to paint the calipers? Obviously you have to take the wheel off, but how was the fit? Also, you just sprayed the rotors? Interesting!!
 


is there a shop you can take it to that will quickly take the tires and caliper off to be paited? i dont have time or the will to take them off, but would love them to be red.. thanks..
 
Sorry, don't know what you mean about fit. It's just a light coat of ceramic paint on there so it doesn't add to the thickness of the caliper.

It took about 30 minutes each. I sanded the center of the rotors to get rid of excessive rust and then taped off the rotors where the brakes make contact. Used a tact rag to get any excess rust and brake dust off and then painted them black. 2 light coats each I think. Didn't have any clear coat at the house or I would of used it too. Then I sprayed the calipers down with brake dust remover and then used a wire brush and then resprayed with brake dust remover. Let dry and then started to paint. At first I didn't think it was going to look that good but then after I painted them and it had time to cure it looked great.

If you have the time and the patience you can take all four off and paint them at the same time but I was limited on time so I did them one caliper at a time while all four rotors were curing in the garage.

is there a shop you can take it to that will quickly take the tires and caliper off to be paited? i dont have time or the will to take them off, but would love them to be red.. thanks..
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Depends on where you live but I don't think there are many shops that would do it for you, unless you go to a custom paint shop but they would charge you way too much. For that kind of money you should just buy a new set and then have them powdercoated and then install them once you got them back. It's not hard to do just takes time and good weather if you don't have a garage.
 
03GPScottyd said:
Sorry, don't know what you mean about fit. It's just a light coat of ceramic paint on there so it doesn't add to the thickness of the caliper.
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The fit, me being a not so small guy, and not having all the tech equipment, can I paint all this stuff without taking the caliper off?
 
scoobyydooooooo said:
is there a shop you can take it to that will quickly take the tires and caliper off to be paited? i dont have time or the will to take them off, but would love them to be red.. thanks..
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If you can find a shop that'll do it, you would probably pay the same or more that to just go buy some more calipers, paint them, and swap them out. It would probably take a shop the same amount of time anyway. Did mine in a weekend. Prep work, painting, and dry time.
 
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