Paint Tips for Brake Parts

[fakieair]

Paint Tips for Brake Parts????

need a little advice

Going to paint calipers and rotor hubbs this weekend
other than cleaning and taping off parts you dont want paint on
what do I need to know?

1. What can I do about eliminating rust on the rotor hubb?--I was thinking sand paper but dont know what grit to use.

2. Do I need to prime or should I say is it worth my time to prime?

3. Im assuming that I need to aviod painting the face of the rotor am I right on that assumption?

4. Any other pieces of advice I might need to know.

I know, thanks to derrick, not to take the caliper apart.

also I only need a temporay solution ('bout a year) cause I do plan on going with the stoptech brake upgrade next winter slowdown.

Thanks

 

[BK's black P5]

One suggestion that should save you the hassle of masking for spray painting: spray the paint from the can into a jar, and then apply the paint with a brush. Make sure to clean the calipers well first, and yes, avoid painting the face of the rotors.

 

[Natey]

I just painted my calipers the other day, and I agree with BK about spraying the paint into a cup, then brushing it on. The reason for brushing is that it takes forever to tape everything off. I used a Big Gulp cup with a paper towel over the lid to minimize over-spray(as I filled it up) for my paint cup. Worked great.
To clean the calipers I used a wire-brush drill-bit from Ace Hardware, and my cordless drill. It took about 10min per wheel. Make sure everythings nice and shiny before you start painting.

Another trick that I found is to use a sponge-brush to paint with. The sponge brush won't leave those "lines" that you get after painting with a regular brush. Also it's a good idea to have a couple extra paint brushes around...

One more suggestion: Jack the car up so that you can do two wheels at a time, that way when you're done with one side, the other will be dry and ready for another coat. Back and forth. I did 4 or 5 coats with Duplicolor 1200 degree paint ($4.95)and the calipers look almost rubberized.

 

[fakieair]

Thanks
I guess brush it is, and a little bit of mineral spirits to clean up with, and with a little luck a good day to paint coming soon.


(drinks) heres to the first mod.....................gotta start somewhere right?

 

[Smilin Marty]

This seems like a better technique than mine. I did mine this weekend and taped everything off and had my caliper hanging and also taped up the fittings and rubber. Took me damn near 5 hours just for the front and also because it was so windy it made it hard to spray properly so I found my self spraying to close and that made the paint run. Not to mentions I only had 1 jack (3 ton floor jack) and no jack stands so I couldn't make good use of my time waiting for paint to dry. Unfortunately, I had already started this project when the wind kicked up and was commited. The good thing is that I still have the rear calipers to paint and those I can guarantee you will be done like Eggy suggests. I just need to buy more paint, sponge, couple of brushes and oh yeah, a big gulp. Hopefully, the wind will be calm this time.

Also, I have question, what does everyone think about painting the rotor that is exposed just above the place that has the lugs? I have a buddy who does shows and he told me this is the "in" look but I told him i'm not going for the show look but more of an higher performance look. Of course, he felt obligated to criticize my lack of understanding or failure to understand the scene, but I told him i thought too much paint in that area would take away from the look i'm going for. Unless of course, my good freinds and Protege5.com think I should paint the center part of the rotors to match the calipers.

All comments welcome.

 

[shackles10]

my caliper paint called for lacquer thinner after using a wire brush to remove all dirt and rust. i guess that degreases everything. anyways i used a small copper wire brush from menards (copper so no scratches) and a dremel tool. also used the spray into a cup technique (used a mason jar actually) and foam brush. i think how many coats you need depends on the color. i know i didn't need as many coats of my red as my neighbor did of yellow for his civic. i'll try to get some pics this weekend

 

[Smilin Marty]

I can't wait to finish my rear calipers because the front ones look bad ass! Bright red really stands out and it looks damn good overall. I'll have to go to my wife's work to borrow her digital camera so I can show them, but I'll do that when I finish.

Definitely gonna do the cup or mason jar technique. Sponge brush and copper wire brush sound like solid ideas. thanks for helping me already and I didn't even start this thread. hope I didn't HiJack it.

 

[joshua69247]

Here's a product you guys might want to check out.
http://www.g2usa.com/wheel.shtml
It's a brush on product. It's rather thick and doesn't leave any brush marks. I've never used it so I don't know how well it works. I used to own a '98 nissan 200sx and I saw it on a nissan site, here's the link if you want to check out what they have to say.
http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/november01/g2.shtml

 

[dmitrik4]

marty-

why not do the hubs in black or silver instead of red? that way they won't get rust spots, but it won't be too much color (which i agree would look bad).

i did my calipers black on my black RSX, they looked great. will do the same with my black Pro.











as an aside, i think red should be reserved for brembos. and never --EVER -- paint brake drums.:wtf: