Painting brake calipers

[Bill_G]

The calipers on my '97 Vectra have lots of surface rust, and as it really detracts from the car's appearance, I thought I'd clean and paint them, but the only caliper-specific paint I can find is supplied in spray cans, and I want to be able to use a brush. Can anybody suggest a suitable type of high temperature paint which will tolerate the heat, and the best place to buy it? As I live in Brisbane, somewhere local would be useful. Thanks in advance for any suggestions (apart from the obvious). :)

[CAL.16V]

vht brake caliper paint

repco, autobarn, american race spares ect...

comes in a range of colours and is in a can but works well

[JasonGilholme]

If you don't want it in a can you can spray the contents of the can into a container and work with that. might be dodgey though. If you wanna paint them I reccomend spraying becauase you get a better finish.

If it was me I would just sand them back and polish them up a bit. It would last alot longer then any paint will and if you get any more **** on there its easier to clean off.

[Bill_G]

vht brake caliper paint
repco, autobarn, american race spares ect...
comes in a range of colours and is in a can but works wellYeah, that's the stuff they sell at my local Supercheap & Repco stores, but they tell me that it only comes in spray cans. However, I completely forgot to try Autobarn, and I'd be very surprised if they didn't have caliper paint in pots. Thanks for jogging my memory.

[Bill_G]

If you wanna paint them I reccomend spraying becauase you get a better finish. If it was me I would just sand them back and polish them up a bit. It would last alot longer then any paint will and if you get any more **** on there its easier to clean off.Thanks for your suggestions Jason, but even if I wanted to spray the calipers, I'd still prefer to buy the paint in a pot, and use my own spray gun to paint them. Just sanding them back to bare metal won't prevent them from developing surface rust again; one way or another, they'll still need to be painted, and after painting the inside of my house last year, I'm pretty sure that my paint brush will do as good a job as any spray-paint can. BTW, if you have a K'archer or similar, keeping them clean is not a problem at all. :)

[MatsHolden]

Thanks for your suggestions Jason, but even if I wanted to spray the calipers, I'd still prefer to buy the paint in a pot, and use my own spray gun to paint them. Just sanding them back to bare metal won't prevent them from developing surface rust again; one way or another, they'll still need to be painted, and after painting the inside of my house last year, I'm pretty sure that my paint brush will do as good a job as any spray-paint can. BTW, if you have a K'archer or similar, keeping them clean is not a problem at all. :)

If you paint them, be very careful with a high pressure hose like a K'archer as it will peel it off. Just on the paint issue, I've never seen it in a tin myself; always in the aerosol cans.

[Bill_G]

If you paint them, be very careful with a high pressure hose like a K'archer as it will peel it off. Just on the paint issue, I've never seen it in a tin myself; always in the aerosol cans.Indeed, the K'archer can be a vicious beast in unschooled hands, but common sense should tell the user not to put the nozzle too close to the object being cleaned (the manual certainly does!). At over 1500psi, I'm well aware that it will strip duco, and even destroy tyre sidewalls if held too close, so I'm not overly concerned about damaging my own paintwork. As far as the paint goes, I too have only seen caliper paint in aerosols, but I'm pretty sure that I've seen high temperature engine paint in tins (but not recently), and I'm not convinced that they're not the same product, after reading the labels on the VHT caliper paint and the VHT engine paint (both aerosols). Anyway, I should get down to Autobarn either today or tomorrow, and if I learn anything new, I'll post it here.

[CAL.16V]

if you want it not in a spray can o to an automotive store.. at ppg auto paints down here in sydney they will mix you up a high temp paint in 100's of colours

[Bill_G]

if you want it not in a spray can o to an automotive store.. at ppg auto paints down here in sydney they will mix you up a high temp paint in 100's of coloursThanks for the suggestion, as I'd completely forgotten that when I first bought my JR Vectra, I had my local Autobarn mix up a small pot of Tourmaline Green according to the GM paint code, and even though it is a 3-pearl paint, the match was perfect. It didn't even occur to me that they'd be able to mix a high-temperature base, but now that you mention it, I'm certain that they will.

[Petey]

I have done this in the past. Used the high temp paint. Make sure you clean the area to be painted REALLY thoroughly first up. I just pour a little paint into a spray can top & use a small artists paintbrush to paint the areas I want covered. Let it dry the recommended time & put on a second coat. You'll find most of these paints are gloss and will finish up really well. You'd be hard pressed to tell they weren't sprayed on, unless you stick your nose right up there & look from real close.

[PaulyJ]

Now the other question is, what colour are you going to do them?

[Bill_G]

I have done this in the past. Used the high temp paint. Make sure you clean the area to be painted REALLY thoroughly first up. I just pour a little paint into a spray can top & use a small artists paintbrush to paint the areas I want covered. Let it dry the recommended time & put on a second coat. You'll find most of these paints are gloss and will finish up really well. You'd be hard pressed to tell they weren't sprayed on, unless you stick your nose right up there & look from real close.Appreciate the advice, Petey. Initially, I'd planned on cleaning and painting the calipers whilst on the vehicle, but given that it's about time the hydraulics were flushed, it won't take all that much longer to remove the calipers and do the job properly, as long as I do all four wheel at the same time. It will certainly make sanding them back to bare metal a lot easier with power tools, and painting them would also be a lot easier. If they do come off, I'll probably end up spraying them after all, but with my own spray-painting gear, so I'll still want to purchase non-aerosol paint, which brings us back to the original purpose of this thread, which was where to buy non-aerosol caliper paint, although I believe that said problem has now been solved.

[Bill_G]

Now the other question is, what colour are you going to do them?A bloody good question, Pauly. Originally, it was only my Vectra which was to have the calipers painted, but when my wife found out what I'd planned, she wanted me to do hers as well, so whereas it was once a simple choice, it has now become typically complicated. :) My Vectra is dark green, while hers (pictured in my avatar) is dark blue. Now on hers, I know that sky blue would look fantastic, but it would look crap on mine. I'd pretty much already decided on painting mine yellow, which I think would also look quite good on her car, but I have a feeling she'll suggest that it's a bit loud. I'd taken some side-on pictures of both cars, then used Photoshop to vary the colour of the calipers, and I must admit that on hers, sky blue does look really nice, but on mine, yellow is clearly the best choice. Ideally, I'd like to only have to buy one colour, but unless I can convince her that yellow is acceptable, I have a feeling I'm going to be out of pocket for two cans of paint. :)

[MatsHolden]

Are you sure about yellow? lol Just my opinion but I think it clashes and takes away from the car. Check out the pic below... hope you don't mind me borrowing your photo Crispy! lol:D

http://i4.tinypic.com/166g4nd.jpg

[1OPL2C]

LOL fluro green

[Bill_G]

Are you sure about yellow? lol Just my opinion but I think it clashes and takes away from the car. Check out the pic below...:DMaybe my eyes are going, but that sure looks like fluoro bright green to me! Besides, the spokes on the factory alloys are fairly wide, so it's not as if the colour will be "in your face", but as I haven't bought the paint yet, I'm still open to suggestion. :)

[CJB]

Are you sure about yellow? lol Just my opinion but I think it clashes and takes away from the car. Check out the pic below... hope you don't mind me borrowing your photo Crispy! lol:D

http://i4.tinypic.com/166g4nd.jpg

u bitch! hahahaha...

Leave my calipers alone :p

I was going to do them red, but I just got a new car instead - seemed less time consuming :p

[WLD-18L]

they look allright

[EL BURITO]

they look allright
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/WA04SXi/22_old_thread.jpg

[WLD-18L]

am i not ment to do this ?

[MatsHolden]

am i not ment to do this ?
lol don't take any notice mate. You're fine.

[Apex]

I painted mine with the Duplicolor brush on kit and they look great,. Much better than previous attempts with a spray can!

[EL BURITO]

am i not ment to do this ?
me having some fun.

[WLD-18L]

iam just thinking of painting mine aswell. i would rather paint it on than spray it tho.