I've read three nice how to's on painting brake calipers, and see there are many ways to go about doing the deed.

Looking at this one,
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=165637

The author explains how to remove the caliper, brake line, etc.. but then he still gets "overspray" with the paint. If he took the caliper off, why would he get overspray. Then I started to wonder if he even took the caliper off... It mentions him hanging it by a coat hanger. But if he didn't take the caliper off, why would he have to bleed the brakes? Understand where i'm coming from?

So the basic question of this thread: If I want to completely take off the caliper for painting, Its just a matter of unbolting it, then removing the brake line, then bleeding the line when i'm ready to put it back.. right?


Thanks,
Brett

 

Yeah or you could just do it the smart way. Duplicolor makes a kit found at most auto parts stores. It comes with a cleaner which is pretty much just brake clean and the kit is a brush on kit. I'll be doing mine in a couple weeks. No overspray and no need to bleed the brakes.

 

i saw something on that somewhere on here. that's the route i was going whenever i get around to it.

 

Yea, pretty much....
I did exactly what he did, it just makes it look more clean that way...The only thing is when you paint with color you have to coat it with white paint just so the colored paint comes bright...

 

Exactly like he did meaning the person I linked to?

I was told the end result looked much nicer if you used the spray, not the brush.. But I'm not sure if its worth going through with the brake bleeding and all that. But from the how to I linked to above, with that one-man bleeder, it seems fairly easy.


Brett

 

wow my names Brett whats upppp

 

I was talking about the link. Yea, the spray is best but mine turned out not as bright as I hoped for because I didn't white coat it first.

Bleeding isn't so bad, you just need someone to step on the brakes while you assemble it together or you can just run back and forth. It's up to you.

 

what upp


...but yea, I'm planning on doing it tomorrow, so i'll post pics when i'm finished. I'll check out autozone for white duplicolor paint for the first coat.

 

What color did you spray yours anit? Did you use caliper paint or engine paint?

 

Engine paint, should have shown you last Wednesday, mike.

 

i used brake cleaner to clean mine off and then i covered the inside of the fender wells and the sides of the car and the rotors with newspaper and hung the caliper by a piece of strong wire like coathanger wire and put several coats of red on there. they came out great with NO overspray and i didnt have to disconnect my calipers from the brake line. just dont let the caliper hang from the line cause itll mess the line up.

 

I didnt even know lol well if you goto the meet tonight (the sushi one) ill be there and you can show me. I wanted to do mine sometime, but its so cosmetic that ive passed over it to do other mods.

 

I'd love to go but I have work tonight, if you guys are doing something afterwards; make sure to give me a call.

If I'm willing to take apart my headlight to put on angel eyes, I'll definitely mess with the calipers, cheap mods.

 

i would get the kit. it comes with a brush and is a lot easier for getting the nooks and crannies. as long as you sand a little and make sure its very clean before painting, you should be g2g, i wouldnt take the calipers off the lines though, just use the kit, no need to mask anything off...dont even need to remove the caliper

 

I used the duplicolor brush kit, super easy, and I think they came out plenty bright...What do you think?

 

That was easily over a 2 years ago, with the flash on, and I'm trying to find a more current pic where you can still see the breaks.

This one is from last summer.



and it's a dialy driver...holding up pretty good.

 

Yea that looks great.. I just finished putting the whole caliper assembly back together. I had the whole thing off, just the brake line left, then couldn't figure out if i just unscrewed the brake line would the fluid come out, or what.. so i decided to rotate my tires and lubricate the brakes today, and leave the painting for another day. I was going to spray but yours looks nice, so maybe i'll just do the kit.

Brett

 

The best way is the one where you bake the paint on in the oven...but funk that stuff!

 

yes fluid would come out as well as air entering the brake line and caliper, resulting in you needing to bleed your brakes.

 

I am ready to bleed the brakes, but would the fluid just continue to come out, or would it stop at some point? Would I have to buy more brake fluid and refill the container under the hood?