Quote:
Originally Posted by volvocamper
Did you take calipers off and strip them down to paint or do them in situ (if in situ did you paint with brush or spray pls?) You said you wd provide details of how you did it and that wd be really useful.
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Hi
I did not remove the calipers to paint them, as, to be honest, you really dont need nor want to paint all of the surface as you will interfere with the surfaces that the pads ride on, and, its really not necessary to get the effect you are looking for!
I use a small wire brush and some brake cleaner in a can - like this stuff... which is less than £2 a can from most motor factors.
Any generic brake cleaner will do - you will soon see the brake dust running off the caliper etc...
This stuff dries within 2 mins as it evaporates off.
I think I mentioned already, I always use Smoothrite paints for this - and have never had any discolouring with the heat and it certainly stands up to repeated power washing. You may want to freshen it up every 3 years or so - if you still have the car!
To apply the paint, I use a 1/2" brush and also an artists brush for the tricky bits.. like this one... its about 10mm wide by 2-3mm thick...
I would remove the springs from the calipers where possible - like on the rear calipers where it is a 2 second job.
I would also clean and paint the discs and back plates too - again, brake cleaner and a wire brush first....
When you do the discs I always go over onto the actual braking surface so that there is no rusty margin left visible. A quick round the block trip is all that is needed to remove the excess paint.
The disc edges can be tricky as they corrode much faster than you expect, so take your time and remove the flaking rusty bits before you paint.
If you are fitting new discs, then its even easier to do it off the car.
One last tip - clean up the paint in the disc centre so that the wheel mates with metal and not on paint, as this can lead to vibrations as the wheel no longer mates cleanly - its only a few thou' but it can make a big difference.
Hope that encourages you to have a go!
David