I picked up some black high temp (1200 degree) ceramic engine paint and want to paint my calipers as easily as possible. If I remove the wheels, tape off the rotors, rotor hat, lines, and anything else important, can I leave the calipers fully mounted or is it better to hang them on some wire and paint them disassembled, ie- no pads, remove the wire clip... The only problem I can see with leaving them on is will I have trouble removing that retaining wire clip on the front of the caliper. Any advice?

 

I would just tape everything that you don't want painted and keep the calipers and everything else on; with a small brush, you can be extremely accurate and get into lots of tight areas.

And don't worry, the retaining wire clip easily snaps on and off.

 

I am about to do this Wed. for the rears when installing my BBK. You can pick up the expensive G2 caliper paint for $30 shipped on ebay. Usually it's like $50. Anyways, to get a perfect coat and to make sure everything important IS masked off...I will be removing my caliper. Plus, I'm installing brake lines so I guess I have to.

 

I painted my fronts by taking them apart some what. Left them on the car and hooked up tho. I just removed the pads/springs/and one side aka removing them from the rotor mounting point.

The backs I painted in place and didn't disasemble or remove at all.

I don't have a pic handy but they ended up about as good as you can get them. Make sure to get a wire brush before hand to clean them up.

gl.

 

pick up caliper paint at Auto Zone. 19.00

 

I painted mine with some black engine paint, took the wheels off, put on several coats, let it dry so as to not drop on the wheels and took the car out for a ride, cooked the paint on, (5.00 for a can of black glossy engine paint)and I touch it up when it starts to wear off a bit.
I painted the parts on the rotor that tend to rust, and it's held up quite nicely.

 

Pete, you should have painted them with gold leaf! LOL(helps having a lift and air tools eh?) Jock

 

For something a little different, try the high temp paint that comes in different colors. Finish it with a high temp clear.

If you leave the calipers on the car, use newspaper and tape to mask off everything!

 

i think for the best results you should remove the calipers. I took the calipers off my civic and had them powdercoated, the I used a high temp clear to protect them. Turned out very nice!

 

yeah Jock, it's a bit helpful

the way i did it, it was very quick, and very inexpensive. Really, what's the worry with a bit of black paint going astray on your brake hose, it's just getting covered with black dust anyway, and I painted the rotors too, so no taping necessary....lol...

 

i just did this 2 days ago. i am very pleased with the outcome. it took right around 4 hours (from jacking up the car to the last coat) when done, let them dry for 24 hours before putting the wheels back on and driving. i also rotated mine and added some air to all 4 tires. if you do that, don't forget to reset your flat tire monitor, if you have run flats. i posted some pics! enjoy

 

I've painted my calipers three times so far. High heat such as track sessions with lapping or Driving school events can discolor bright paint even ones that are designed for high heat (I used the Duplicolor Red from Walmart- cheaper about $20). I've used the same one can now for three separate painting jobs on my MINI.

Each time I jacked up my MINI on four stands. I didn't mask anything and I took off the wire clip first time and then just painted around them the next two (these were touch up sessions- not the entire caliper was painted but about 85% of it was). I did sand and prep alot for the first painting and only minimal sanding to smooth the surfaces for the other paintings.

I don't like painting the clips because you need to remove them with a pliers and somethings the paint chips off plus I don't like getting paint in the little holes for the clips- gets a little stuck.

You don't have to paint ALL of the caliper- you can choose to paint most of what you can see and then limit the paint- this saves for some time and mess, especially the front caliper inside and under the car. With bigger rims you can see more but I have 15 to 17" rims so it's not bad.

You can put tape and newspaper under the calipers to catch stray paint but I don't, I neatly paint each caliper three coats quickly then let it dry for about 4 hours. Then I reassemble the wheels and let it sit in the garage for 24 hours.

Right now I do street driving and autocross and the paint is fine. If you do lots of canyon driving or get the brakes heated up you might find your paint color tending to get dull. Not sure if clear coat would help. Black might not stay black- it might turn brown- I've seen Willwood brakes do that when used on the track.

I had to repaint about once yearly due to track lapping sessions a few times per year.

I like my red calipers. I've also seen Yellow (not sure how hard it is to keep clean). Not many blacks in my area. Gold or blue would look nice. I've seen pictures of orange and green. The new MINIs with silver look pretty good as is so no rush to paint them unless you have energy.

 

Call Scott at Central Coast Coopers (805-487-4748). He has the caliper painting down to a science.