I'm a 3 week newbie. I know very little about modifying my tC. I'm trying to learn as I go. I think I want to paint my calipers. I know I need heat resistant paint, is there a particular kind or brand that anyone recommends? What kind of applicator?

 

I just went to buy some VHT, i think that's what they're called, or VTH, high heat resistant paint, i got race red. I'm going to do mine tomorrow, tell you how it goes. Temp is 900 F/450 C. First time doing this myself

 

yeah, please let me know how it goes, how long it takes, whether or not a novice can get it done

 

It's easy, unbolt the rims, unbolt the calipers. make sure you use degreaser and wipe the dirt off that, if your car is new don't worry about it. I would put it on a jack in my opinion, don't press on the pedals, other than that paint away and put them back on. The brand i'm using 30-45 min. then able to touch but 20 min. inbetween coats.

 

Dupli Color makes a brake caliper painting kit. You can get it at any autoparts store. (I got mine at AutoZone for $15.) It comes with degreaser, paint brush, paint, etc. I find painting the calipers by hand much easier than spray painting. (Unless you can remove the calipers completely.) You don't have to 'mask off' as much. If you get the kit, just be sure to get better brushes!! (Home Depot.) Lastly, you better have a lot of time on your hands. Painting takes forever because you have to apply LOTS of coats. (A simple solution is to jack up the front, takes off both tires, paint a coat on 1 caliper, then go to the other side and paint 1 coat on the other caliper. Then just go back and forth between the calipers. Ditto for the back. After painting, you have to let the paint set for AT LEAST 8 hrs.) It took me awhile, but it was definitely worth it! Click my Profile for a rim/tire/caliper pic.

 

Clean the calipers COMPLETELY or it WILL flake off.

Otherwise, just take your time, and it'll look great.

 

Just one tip: paint them silver or you look like "a guy that can't afford Brembos but really wants the look"

Do not rice your TC....

 

So many people on these forums hate!!!
Jeez let him do whatever he wants!

This forum is just "Rice this and rice that!"

Personally, I think red would look good.

 

LOL...he is right though. When you paint them red you are just drawing more attention to the stock brakes. I laugh whenever I see it, but then again I work for a high performance brake company so Im a little jaded. To each their own I guess...good luck.

 

Any red brakes draw attention, stock or Brembos.
So does it really matter?

Not everybody has 1K to get brakes, some people have real financial obligations.

 

Red does draw attention, but when you have a BBK, you want to show it off and its worthy of the attention. To me, the wimpy stock calipers shouldnt be shown off at all...but thats my opinion. Even if I did put a BBK on my car, which I porbably wont, I would get black or silver...but thats just me.

 

^^^ True. They are wimpy... just a tad.

 

Hmmm...let me think about this...$15 to paint calipers, or $1K+ to buy Big Brake Kit? If my math is correct, that's $985+ that I can spend on other mods. Like the song says, I'll "take the money and run." Unless somebody wants to give me a Big Brake Kit, I'll leave my PAINTED CALIPERS on, thank you. IMO, they look much better then the funky-dirty-grayish-blue-stock calipers. And if you think red calipers is a bad thing, the new Acura TSX has GOLD/SILVER METALLIC paint on their calipers. I should know because I have one! Have a nice day!

 

So where's the hook up......what kind of deals you got....help us out and we can get rid of thoses "whimpy" calipers......Personally i probably will paint mine black

 

I never said to go buy a BBK, but the whole deal with colored calipers came from showing off high performance (porsche, corvette, etc) or big brake kits. If you want to paint your calipers as an accent then go right ahead, but in MY opinion it's cheesy. You are drawing attention to a stock part as if it was an upgraded aftermarket part which is the most basic form of "riceiness". If the car had really nice perfomance brakes on it that looked impressive to begin with (like your new TSX), it would be a different story, but our calipers are small and unimpressive so again I ask..why show them off.

Im not saying you are wrong for doing this, but in MY opinion its silly.

 

no comment

 

I second the recommendation of the Duplicolor Caliper kit.

Instead of drinking the Haterade, I look at it like this. I'm not trying to draw attention to my wimpy stock brakes, I am hiding the ugly OEM color they used. My wheels required me to do something about the nasty gray color they came with.

 

PREACH IT!!!

I see where you are coming from Instigator... try not to take my replies the wrong way.

 

Hey, bud, we are making you a favor trying to save you from embarassing yourself.... and us all...
Keep it real. TC has wimpy small brakes, let's not draw anybodys attention to it.
You want the WRX and EVO crowd to laugh at you at stop lights?

I love my TC for what it is, please do not kill the fun for me...

 

No problem man...its cool...its your car and your opinion and I have no problem with that.

As far as what TheScionicMan said, I agree that the stock caliper color isnt great, but it can be painted a nice gloss black or dark gray just as easily as a bright yellow or red. I will probably end up painting mine black when I change my pads next.