Painted Brake Calipers?

[zeeya2000]

Have always done this on my older vehicles growing up. Seems to give it a clean look instead of that old dull black or rusted caliper looking out at you from behind your wheels.
Some may like and some don't, just put it here in case anyone wanted a cheap way to clean up the wheel area.
Seen a red Z06, I think you call it, one of those bad vettes the other day and it had the calipers that were red with CHEVROLET OR CORVETTE on them. can't remember and it made me think, hey i used to do that..... so i did it once more.
Red calipers in the front and and the big housing behind the back wheels got black. Best to use high heat paint to make it last longer. Did on my 2001 red yukon and it still looked good after 58,000 miles when i dumped it for the AV..........

 

[StrobinAvalanche]

Very nice mod zeeya . . . I think I may do this one/

 

[zeeya2000]

You can also paint them the color of your truck. It just may be hard to find high heat paint in the color you are looking for. I may go back and redo the front later to black. They do seem to stand out. Already had someone come up today and ask what kind of brake system had i installed on the old beast.
Did get a little paint on the rotors, but it dissapears quickly. Like i said, I did this on my Yukon and got a little bit on the rotors, gone in couple of stops and did not seem to damage the rotors in anyway. Had over 50,000 miles on the pads when i got rid of it and they still looked great, Pads that is........
Hope you like......................Cheap visual mod, and it gives you a chance to clean up the back of your wheels while you are at it.
ZEE-YA

 

[StrobinAvalanche]

Yeah I think I may paint it the color of my Av.

 

[Alaska_AV.]

Hay Zeeya, Them your new wheels? Looks hot as all get out!!!!

 

[gpfahler]

Great mod, I remember doing this as well when I was a kid.

 

[spectron65]

Can somebody elaborate a little on how this mod is done--you know, the steps after wheel removal?

Some of us are idiots and need a little more detail.
Cmon guys, when I do a mod and write it up, I am VERY DETAILED so it would help all interested members.

Not everybody is mechanically gifted like you guys are. Some of us are downright retarded (like me).

I am really interested in doing this mod--I have painted so much in my truck so why not the brake calipers.

Please help, anyone?

 

[vetman]

Hey Zeeya, Not bad looking at all. I've been wanting to do this on my '96 vette. Never really thought about it on the AV but it does look really nice. Both Ecklers and Mid-America corvette magazines offer kits in a variety of colors to do this very thing. Don't even have to take the caliper off.

BTW, Hope to see ya next weekend in Houston.

Vetman

 

[zeeya2000]

Spectron, all i did was take electra clean and spray down the rotors real good and then wiped them down.
Then i painted them while on the vehicle, and yes i am messy and got a little on the rotors, but it was gone after a couple of miles.
Did this on a couple before and has never caused any problems with pads. Burns off quick.
Just make sure you clean em the best you can and wipe down real good and put at least 2 coats, let dry till tacky between coats.
Hope this helps. I know there are some on here that would probably take the calipers off and soak em and bead blast em and so on, but i am not that mechanically inclined so i just left em on................
ZEE-YA

 

[spectron65]

zeeya,

Thank you. I was under the impression you took off the calipers. But now I know it can be done with them on, just need to put down rags to catch drips so not to become too messy.

With all calipers still attached, it actually is not a hard mod to do, you can even coincide it with rotating your tires to kill 2 birds with one stone. Definitely have to do over a weekend when I don't have to drive the AV and let it sit for the paint to dry ( or use my spare car in the meantime).

I looked at what part of the brake calipers is visible with the wheel on and very little of it is actually seen and i can see how you can get away with just painting it while the calipers are still on.

I am definitely going with red for maximum effect and give it a corvette-like appearance.

Your calipers look good--so do your killer wheels

Now to look for a non spray paint high heat ceramic based red paint...what brand did you use?....where did you get it?

 

[zeeya2000]

don't be mad Spectron, I used spray paint, just used a few rags and a little tape to cover a few items. It dries in about 15 minutes when setting out in the bright sunlight at 80 degrees.
I just bought the regular high heat engine paint at Auto Zone. Don't remember the name and used it all up....... Can gone........If i stop by the Zone i will check.
I know they make some high heat paint (nonspray) that you can buy, i will keep my eyes open.
ZEE-YA

 

[Brick76]

I did this on my old Grand Am, I loved the look, but be careful where you let the paint go, I had a problem with one of my calipers not releasing all the way, in the end....New calipers. I thought I was careful, but I must have missed a spot when taping it off. I would do it again in a second though, it looked awesome.

 

[spectron65]

Once I am finished with my bedslide mod, painted brake calipers is definitely next on the list so I did some more research. I found this cool link where a Grand AM owner explained in detail how he painted his....


http://www.grandamgt.com/calipers.html

The pictures alone will tell the whole story. Gotta love it--totally doable mod!

Brick76--was it you who posted this?

 

[spectron65]

This is the paint I am going to use....

Duplicolor Red High Heat Ceramic Paint rated to 1200 degrees

 

[spectron65]

If you are wary of using a spray paint can and would like to use a paint can and paint brushes instead, check out this link...

http://www.eastwoodco.com

They have special kits under "specialty coatings" where you can choose from 6 different brake caliper colors. The kits include paint that you mix yourself, special cleaning agents and solvents, etc.

Cost is about $47.99 enough to do a set of 4 calipers.

 

[Brick76]

no, I'm too lazy to take them off. I taped the crap out of everything and masked the fender with paper...I went with yellow. It was my bee car complete with yellow tip on the antenna. It may sound weird, but I thought it looked good, got lots of compliments too.

 

[ygmn]

I painted mine today after cutting lawn.....

they are bright red....I used $3.99 brake caliper paint...

I also painted the rotors where thay could be...........I like the look hope it holds up in the long run.....I also cleaned the inside of each wheel when they were off.....No tape just cleaned and then degreased and then paint all over everything since you can only really see the outboard parts.....

pics tomorrow...hopefully......

Easy mod and good time killer plus you get to check your brake pads...and mine original stock pads are still hangin in there.....about 3/16" friction material....

 

[Alaska_AV.]

I love this mod

 

[brsofla]

Just a quick question.

If you're gonna' paint the brake calibers, do they have to be removed from the wheel or can they be painted in place?

Holla' back, yo!

 

[Prince_FuFu]

I painted mine while still on the AV.
Just removed the tire/wheel, and covered as much as I could with newspaper and masking tape. Pretty easy to do, and it looks cool when done.

Rob

 

[brsofla]

Cool dog...They look great...I'm thinkin' of gold (matches other trim)...Whadda' ya' think?

 

[ygmn]

Just a quick question.

If you're gonna' paint the brake calibers, do they have to be removed from the wheel or can they be painted in place?

Holla' back, yo!

merged it with orignal how to paint brake caliper thread......

you have to remove wheels or you risk overspray on the wheels.....

 

[dunes_av]

did this mod to mine yesterday, used the same paint as spectron, red high heat ceramic rated for 1200 degrees.... masked off and sprayed them on the truck.

Cost...

Brake cleaner ..... 2.99
Paint................... 4.99

so it cost me basically 2 bucks a wheel to do.... now that is a cheap mod....

 

[AV2500]

Today when I did a tire rotation I took everyones advise and painted my calipers!

Heres a picture!

 

[AV2500]

1 more picture!