Painting the calipers

[X5rolls]

Originally Posted by m5james

Why are people ordering paint to do this? Caliper paint is readily available at Schuck's/O'Reilly's, Autozone, etc right there on the shelves for about $9 a can. I did red and black, spent maybe $30 for all 4 corners it still looks great without any chipping. The biggest gains you'll get from this whole job is doing a thorough prep and taking your time masking areas where the pads make any contact with the caliper, rubber boots and bleed screw nipple, hosing to the caliper and then masking off the vehicle for overspray. I've seen the brush-on kind before, but a spray will float itself much better and leaves a consistant coat thickness, and without the potential for brush lines. The hardest part of the whole job was the dirty cleaning work and having the patience to let it cure since I wanted to hurry up, throw the wheels back on and check out how much better it looked. They clean 10x easier now since the finish is so smooth, so even with stock calipers, it was still worth it.

I didn't check Autozone but a few places I looked didn't have caliper paint. I searched and found the kit at Tire Rack and figured I'd go that way. I'm not the greatest painter and because it went on with a brush I figured I could screw it up less :-0 The caliper paint kit I used had a paint hardener and it was pretty consistent after the 1st coat filled the rough surface evenly. I think the kit was $36 bucks.

[m5james]

Yeah, I had a hell of a time finding it myself, it was never labeled very clearly.

[Ldiggs910]

I used the G2 brush on paint and it came out pretty good but I let my mechanic do it while he was changing the rotors.

The following summer I bought another kit and cleaned the already painted rotors and repainted. AMAZING results. Maybe it was the year of curing, the double coat, the fact I mixed and applied the paint more carefully, or a combination but they look great. I too get compliments asking if I had custom brake/wheel work done.