Best Caliper Paint

[ravengolfer]

I have a guards red Boxster and looking to repaint my calipers red. Suncoast Porsche sells a High Performance Caliper paint but it is a brush on and I am thinking brush mark. Should I risk the brush marks or is there a good spray paint for calipers? Also, I am replacing pads and rotors at the same time should I remove the caliper to paint them or is this an un-needed pain? Thanks for any help.

[jinijazz]

I really like Duplicolor High Temp Engine paint. (Spray).

I've seen some people did nice job with brush, but still didn't look rirght inperson. Big no no to me.

[Chris_in_NH]

this is what happened when i used a brush-on kit:

and here are the results using Duplicolor (hi-heat) spray paint.

any questions? ;)

[Dovetail986]

this is what happened when i used a brush-on kit:

and here are the results using Duplicolor (hi-heat) spray paint.

any questions? ;)

I agree with Chris, I just finished replacing my rotors and pads and I painted the calipers while I had everything apart. I used VHT High Temp caliper paint and it worked fine. A lot more prep work but I am happy with the results.

Before:

During:

After:

[ravengolfer]

Thanks Guys! That is a great example of how not to paint a caliper. I will be using the Duplicolor High Temp spray paint.

[Paul Fraser]

I'm trying to find a UK supplier of this paint but am not having much success (have contacted the manufacturer).

Repainting my cloudy black calipers on the Boxster is on my list of fantasy jobs to complete real soon.

[Chris_in_NH]

I'm trying to find a UK supplier of this paint but am not having much success (have contacted the manufacturer).

Repainting my cloudy black calipers on the Boxster is on my list of fantasy jobs to complete real soon.

i would imagine that any brand of hi-temp spray paint will work perfectly, especially if you're going to paint them black. just run over to the hardware store and see what they have. keep in mind, you'll also want to pick up a can of hi-heat clear coat (lacquer) if you want that shiny, rubbery look.

you'll also want to pick up some brake cleaner from the auto parts store, some sandpaper to rough-up the caliper/remove dirt (maybe even a wire brush), and some caliper decals from eBay or elsewhere.

i painted my calipers right on the car using my patented garbage bad method. when i started prepping the first caliper to paint, it took a while to mask-off with tape and newspaper, so for the other calipers - i got creative. i took a single garbage bag and split it on one long side and the bottom to make a big plastic sheet. by tucking the middle of a long side over the rotor but under the caliper and wrapping the plastic around the back of the caliper (taping where needed), i was able to mask the area very quickly and clean-up was a breeze. here's a pic: (i covered the rest of the car with an old blanket to protect from overspray.)

[Paul Fraser]

Thanks for the how-to Chris.

Duplicolour don't sell in the UK/Europe because of another company using the same name.

[986Jim]

Brilliant. Thats exactly how I'm doing mine... I'll photograph it this summer with a full step by step. This seems to be something that people do and ask about a lot, be nice to have a really well documented version of how to do this just for fun. It's easy to do, nobody needs instruction, but I'm an amature photographer so I just enjoy taking pics of stuff...

[djomlas]

dude, i have no idea how u managed to screw up to the point that you did w the brushon kit.

i did all 2 of my calipers in short period of time w GREAT results, best part was not masking anythign off

[986Jim]

OK I have since done this and decided I would update this thread.

I used this: http://www.duplicolor.com/products/caliper.html

It's a brush on ceramic caliper paint. It took 4 coats on each caliper to really get them solid looking. I didn't have to mask anything and the paint dries really fast. I had my car on the hoist, pulled off all 4 wheels then just walked around painting. After I did all 4 calipers I could go back to the first one and it was already dry again ready for another coat. Dries in 5 mins to the point where you can touch it. I just kept walking around till it looked good, and 4 lap later here it is. I also put on the xenonmods caliper stickers from Ebay.

It was streaky at first but once the paint was a few layers thick and it drys it completely smooths out. I have things powder coated all the time for my business and I swear this looks just as good.

[niebyl2002]

I was yesterday at Sears looking for some tools. On my way to register I saw a tool label that said Powder Coat Gun. Gun is a size of the heat gun. It cost around $180 plus you can buy six different color (red, black, blue, gold, yellow and I don't remember). Color is just a powder you put in the gun. You plug the gun to power and .... powder coat whatever you want. (I think)

I was wondering if anybody ever heard about it or maybe used it?

[atmorris]

I was yesterday at Sears looking for some tools. On my way to register I saw a tool label that said Powder Coat Gun. Gun is a size of the heat gun. It cost around $180 plus you can buy six different color (red, black, blue, gold, yellow and I don't remember). Color is just a powder you put in the gun. You plug the gun to power and .... powder coat whatever you want. (I think)

I was wondering if anybody ever heard about it or maybe used it?

I'm pretty sure that powder coating is an electrostatic application process, then it is heated and cured. Not sure how the Sears thingie might work.

[niebyl2002]

Here's the link Sears Powder Coat Gun

Looks cool.

[Lyn]

I used red VHT high temp engine paint to overspray gray calipers. After I was satisfied with the coverage, I put new decals on and then oversprayed with VHT clear. It looked like a factory job, resisited chipping, cleaned up well and still looked great 2 years later when I sold the car. I prepped the calipers by cleaning them with methyl ethyl keytone (MEK), that you can get at Home Depot, and had to spray about 10 or 15 even coats on to get it right. It's a 2 day project to do it right, but VHT works wherever you want to paint things that get hot and was originally developed for headers. You can get it over the internet from Loper's Speedshop in Phoenix.

Lyn

[atmorris]

Here's the link Sears Powder Coat Gun

Looks cool.

Looks pretty neat. It is an electrostatic gun. You then just bake at 400 degrees to cure the paint. Kind of limited in the size of what you can do, because you need a curing oven, but probably works real well for small stuff.

[ravengolfer]

Here's the link Sears Powder Coat Gun

Looks cool.

Looks pretty neat. It is an electrostatic gun. You then just bake at 400 degrees to cure the paint. Kind of limited in the size of what you can do, because you need a curing oven, but probably works real well for small stuff.

After a failed paint job, I elected to have a power coat shop do my calipers. You can have all 4 sandblasted and coated for about $100.00. The only problem I experienced was they coated around the dust cover grooves and treads for the hardlines. I had to buy a tap to clean out the tread holes and do alot of sanding on the grooves, but it worked out great. Also, if you power coat or have it done I suggest breaking them completely down and with much care removing both dust covers and intern seals. You can not buy the seals and the dust covers cost $$$$ for all 4 calipers.

-michial

[FrayAdjacent986]

I think what a good process would be (since my car is a daily driver)..

Get a set of front calipers from a dismantler, and disassemble them. Then take them to a buddy's house and bead blast them, and then powder coat them in red. Rebuild/reassemble and then swap for the calipers currently on my car. Then do the same with my original calipers and sell 'em on Ebay. Repeat for the rear.

How does one go about getting the 'PORSCHE' label back on 'em? A stencil?

[986Jim]

http://www.xenonmods.com/

Click on brake caliper decals on the side then scroll down to Porsche. They are $7.99. You just paint your calipers and stick the sticker on afterwards. The sticker will not come off or have any problem with the heat from the brake at all. You don't even need to clear coat after to hold it on or anything. It just sticks there no prob. Couldn't be easier then that.

[Velryba]

I'm trying to find a UK supplier of this paint but am not having much success (have contacted the manufacturer).

Repainting my cloudy black calipers on the Boxster is on my list of fantasy jobs to complete real soon.

I used google.co.uk with brake caliper paint

spray:

http://www.speeding.co.uk/acatalog/Car_Acc..._Style_110.html

this looks like a paintbrush:

http://www.proven-products.co.uk/products/...r_paint_etc.htm

This is a good company to deal with:

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/Pro...amp;tlgrp=RD003

I used paintbrush a long time ago and it did the job perfect, but if you have time to do the masking :)

Edited May 11, 2007 by Velryba

[seafeye]

Just finished painting mine. Took off the calipers and cleaned and taped them off before paint. Cleaning took 90% of the time. Could be the Sam Adams slowing me down or just old age. Anyway all went well except dinged the drivers front caliper putting the wheel on. Dumb me!

[Dovetail986]

Looks great, I like the black on your base Boxster.

[seafeye]

Looks great, I like the black on your base Boxster.

Yea Yea, I told my wife i was going to paint them Red then she said "But your car isn't an S".

She isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so if she knew then....

So i painted them black.

[986Jim]

Looks great, I like the black on your base Boxster.

Yea Yea, I told my wife i was going to paint them Red then she said "But your car isn't an S".

She isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so if she knew then....

So i painted them black.

Just because you paint them red doesn't mean your trying to impersonate an S model. What happens if you get cross drilled rotors are you imitating an S then? How about an exhaust system with two tips instead of one? etc etc..

Do what you like, don't listen to others.