Painting Calipers Question
 

I am intereted in painting my calipers. I have a 2000 base, ocean bluemetallic. black top, black interior.

I have next week off of work - and would have the time to do this myself. I don't want it to look crappy.

I had a few questions. I have rec'd some individual points from a few members on this forum, but wanted to toss out these questions to the members in geneal to see what the consensus is.

1) would you paint them RED or YELLOW? I've seen both. they both look good. Yellow stands out more and is more original. Red is more the "normal" color I tend to see. just lke the S models.

2) brush on vs. spray on. I have seen some kits online that you brush on. the couple of people who I have talked to here on this site BRUSHED the paint on and say it looks good. I haven't seen "up close" photos - but I get the idea that with the paint no kits, the paint will look glossy, even, and won't have a "brushed" on look with streaks etc in it. I have always thought that spray on applications would look better though....

it would be FAR easier to paint on as I could do it with the calipers still on the car instead of having to totally remove them and take them apart to spray. I'd rather brush it on, unless the results would be 100X better by spraying.

3) does anyone have a nice close up pic of a painted boxster caliper. I'd like to get an idea of exactly what parts TO paint and what parts NOT to paint.

4) any suggestions on what to use to mask off all those little "parts" that I should not paint? just use little pieces of painters tape and cover it up? i havea bunch and can tear i tup int o little pieces to cover up all the things I don't want to paint.

5) what exact size PORSCHE sticker should I use to put on the caliper? I see a lot of the parts stores have the caliper sticker but they have two sizes. do they both fit and would one look "right" and one look iether too big or too small / "wrong"?

6) any other suggestions?

feel free to post pics of your painted brake calipers. :) I'm open to ALL suggestions on how to do it or not do it.

thanks!!

This might help, though you may have read it already:

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/17551-caliper-painting-diy.html?highlight=painting+calipers

If you have a week off, why not remove them to paint them? When was the last time you changed the brake fluid? If it's time, you kill 2 birds as it were.

The G2 kit is pretty good, I went with red. It is an epoxy paint so you have a limited window once you add the catalyst (4 Hrs.) which is why removing the calipers maybe makes it a little easier. I was able to do 3 coats before the paint become too difficult to work with.

I got some bolts from Loews which matched the thread/pitch of the brake line taps on the calipers and mounted them on a 1X4. This way, I didn't have to handle them and could turn them over and such giving a really smooth finish.

But prep is the key to a good job. A wire brush and plenty of brake cleaner and rags. Plan on spending more time on prep (probably twice to three times as much) than actual painting if you want a good looking, lasting, finish.

IIRC, I went with the 6mm decals. 3 yrs. later, the calipers are still shiny and colorfast and the decals show nosign of degrading.

The only thing I wish I'd done was to paint the hats at the same time, consider this too.

http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/17919-painted-calipers-yellow.html?highlight=calipers+paint

Also see the thread above for final results

Hi Sean,
Here's some good step-by-step intructions if you wanted to pull your brakes and paint them with a spray can versus a brush.
http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site%203/Paint%20the%20Calipers.html

I did mines with G2 Brush, and would suggest doing this way as well. It was very very easy and G2 can withstand 900 degrees, while the spary is only rated to 450.

If I did again, I would buy a better brush at a craft store than the one that comes with it.

The decals you should get are 3 inch ones.

I also brushed all areas as seen here:

http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site%203...s/PICT1159.jpg

Some quick thoughts (as lots of others are in the archives):

- brush or spray, either works just depends on how clean/neat/patient you are...

- prep is the key - I'd advise at least 3 cans of brake cleaner to do the job thoroughly

- If you brush, definitely pick up some smaller brushes from a craft store

- punch out 4 piece of painters tape in a std notebook hole punch. it's the perfect size for the brake pad retaining pin ;)

- painters tape works well as does alum foil (in lieu of newspaper/plastic bags in protecting the rotors, etc.)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/...bb8c80a7b6.jpg

- when applying the decals, make sure the paint (spray or brush) has dried at least 24 hours.

- use either soapy water or painters tape to help center/align the decals on the calipers

Good luck and post some pics when finished

Here's the closest I have of my finished product.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/...2a6494fe60.jpg

This is the link to my caliper guide :)

I hope this helps you a bit.

http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/9797-new-rotors-calipers-painted-today-step-step.html?highlight=painted+calipers

One word of advice. Buy extra decals. There not that easy to put on some times.

Cesar/Crios -

i see that those little round things - are those the pins that go through the caliper - they are just below the "P" and the "E" in the Porsche decal in your big photo... are those supposed to be painted or are those supposed to be left black? you painted yours and it looks cool...but i wonder the next time i do brakes, if i'll have to bang that out and ruin the paint?

It was just easier to paint. Not sure what will happen when I change out the brakes, I'm sure I'll simple have to do some touch up painting, but till then, they look nice!

I'm going to pick up my paint kit in the next day or two.

still undecided if I'm going to do RED or YELLOW. I think YELLOW looks the best, but not sure if it's too " in your face ".. :)

another question - when I spray the heck out of my calipers with brake cleaner, and scrub them - does it matter if any of the cleaner gets onto the pads??? i'm NOT going to disassemble anything.. my brakes were redone w/in the last 6 months and the fluid was flushes..do my brakes are good and this is purely for cosmetics...and I want to do it in a day/easiest way possible... so i'm going to paint them wiht a brush, and just mask stuff off.

i also have rusted front calipers - so I'm goign to scrub and paint the hats while the wheels are off... my rear brakes have the OEM "black" finish, so I may paint the hats black to match those. or i'll redo ALL the hats in a silver finish.

RED or YELLOW - decisions decision decisions.

when I see Crios' car - I want to go yellow! it looks HOT!