How to: paint rims, paint calipers, install rotors and pads
06-01-2007, 01:13 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston, Tx
Posts: 3
How to: paint rims, paint calipers, install rotors and pads
How to paint your rims and calipers, fix wheel/rim scratches and install performance rotors and pads.
Tools and items needed:
1. 21mm 1/2” long socket
2. 10-150 ft/lbs torque wrench
3. ˝” 4” extension
4. C-clamp or brake piston tool
5. 2 ton hydraulic jack
6. x4 2 ton jack stands
7. 5 lb sledge hammer
8. 3/8” 14mm, 16mm sockets
9. 1/2” – 3/8” reducer (for torquing the calipers)
10. Stainless steel wire brushes (small like toothbrush)
11. Star lug wrench with 21mm
12. Blue painters tape
13. Newspaper
14. Brake cleaner (a good kind)
15. x4 wire coat hangers
16. Soap and water
17. G2 caliper paint epoxy (comes in several popular colors)
18. Duplicolor brand paint (I used mirage)
19. Tack cloth
20. Micro-fiber cloth
21. Rags
22. 320 – 600 grit wet sand paper (get more of the low grit cuz you will go through it like water)
23. Sanding pads
24. Sunscreen or you will be sunburned like my dumbass lol
25. Pencil eraser
26. Mineral spirits
27. Bondo spot putty
28. Auto rubber gloves
29. I friggin BUTTLOAD of elbow grease
1. Make sure the E-brake is all the way up and if your like me and got a standard, put it in 1st gear.
2. Use your star wrench to crack all of your lug-nuts but do not loosen them all the way.
3. Use the hydraulic jack to jack up the side of the car and place 2 of the jack stands in the two corner jack points, then slowly release the hydraulic valve until the car sits on the stands. Make sure they are on the stands. Also make sure you have clearance to remove the wheels.
4. Take your jack to the other side of the car and repeat step 3. Now that you have a floating scion we shall procede.
5. Remove the lugs in a star pattern and remove all the wheels.
6. Take your torque wrench; put the reducer on with the 14mm socket and remove the 2 bolts located in the back of the rear caliper. (very close to the brake fluid hoses). The bolt will be on pretty tight so it will take some effort plus the torque wrench is fairly large and there isn’t a whole lot of room to work. I had the wrench up in the wheel well with a 4” extension so I wouldn’t nick the hoses.
7. Once you remove the bolts the caliper should slide right off. Now hang it using a wire coat hanger from your shock springs. Never let your calipers dangle from the brake lines. Hang it high so that you can remove the rotors. Repeat this step for the other rear caliper.
8. Open you car door (if your not already jamming lol) and release your e-brake.
9. The rear rotors should come right off, no banging. I have heard of people having to use a hammer but its rare since it’s a drum disk system. So if you have to; hit it with the 5lbs sledge on the side where the lugs are and it should break free. When I released my e-brake they practically fell off.
10. Rebolt the calipers back into position but just hand-tighten the bolts. It’s easier to clean them if they are stationary.
11. Remove the top on your brake fluid and place a towel around it because brake fluid eats paint, but leave the top loosly sitting on top so air can escape.
12. Use the C-clamp and place one end on the pad and the other end behind the caliper. Turn it until u cant any more. You are compressing the piston so you can remove the brake pads. Take note of any clamps and loose fitting parts around the pads and inside the calipers.
13. Move to the front and do everything mentioned above from step 6 – 12 except use a 16mm socket and you will have to bang the crap out of the front rotors to get them off using the 5lbs sledge. Hit the rotors on the side where the lugs are not the rotor edge.
14. Once all caliper pistons are compressed, remounted, and de-rotored, Remove the pads starting with one closest to you. Remove the back one second because it has a clamp that is a real “B” to get out. Once all 8 pads are removed keep them close for reforance with the loose pieces of metal where they go.
15. Remove all metal clamps from the calipers for cleaning, make a note of how you got them out and which side and where.
16. Remember that elbow grease I was talking about? Place a towel around the hoses because brake cleaner is bad for rubber and vynil. Take your stainless steel wire brush and brake cleaner and start scrubbing every square inch of the caliper until it look almost silverish. Like this:
This is no easy task, it takes about 2-3 hrs per caliper to get them this clean, it’s a good thing the rear calipers are a lot smaller. I can not express enough this is the most important step. They have to be clean clean or the epoxy won’t stick You didn’t come all this way to wuss out now did you?
17. Once all calipers are cleaned go over them 1 last time with the brake cleaner and a rag to get any particles and dust off.
18. Ok now comes the fun part. Take your G2 kit and mix the hardener into the paint (now if you don’t know what epoxy is, it is a liquid that turns rock hard so you only have a few hours to paint so be time efficient). After you follow the steps on the instructions start brushing it on, you want to do 1 at a time and circle your way around from caliper to caliper until all calipers have 3 – 5 coats. I did 5. If you see streaks its ok they will blend in with the more coats you put on. Once the paint starts to get tacky or gummy, stop painting or you will have problems. They should look like this when they are done:
Rear
Front
19. After you let the epoxy dry for about 2-3 hours place all clamps and metals back where they were before and un-tighten the bolts you hand tightened and hang back onto the coat hangers but be gentle because the epoxy is not cured until 24 hours and you could gash it. I had a friend hold them for me while I put my new rotors on.
20. Putting on performance rotors is no different than taking them off just do everthing in reverse minus a 5lbs sledge hammer lol. Do them one at a time. Place the new rotor on (I got slotted and dimpled from www.rotorpros.com they also painted them the same color my calipers are “SWEET”) and the new pads starting with the back pad first. Do not touch pads with ur hands as the oil will ruin them. Don’t forget to put all the clamps back onto the pads. With piston compressed you should be able to get both pads in without to much of a fight but be gentle. You could chip the pad or your new painted calipers. I used EBC RedStuff because they have 50% less brake dust = less cleaning.
21. Once you are pad ready slowly slide the caliper back on. This part can be a little tricky because you don’t have much room for clearance. Check the pads if you are having trouble because they may not be sitting properly. Correct them. After they are on place the bolts back into place and tighten them to 25-30 ft/lbs of torque. Repeat step 19 – 21 for all 4 calipers.
When your all done you should have a pretty nice days worth of work. Time for a cold beer AHHHH!!!!!
Ahh a hard days work is so worth it
22. Check your brake fluid and it should be higher if not over flowing. Put the cap back on and pump your brakes a few times to set in the pistons and pads. Don’t forget to read about your pad break-in before you go speeding off to glory. If you do not do pad break-in you could damage your rotors and/or pads.
Custom painting your rims:
1. Pop out the center cap of the rims from the inside with a screw driver and wash the crap out of your rims, I’m talking lots of scotch brite, soap and water. Do not use any acidic chemicals.
2. After the wheels are clean and sprayed down, start sanding with 320 – 400 grit sandpaper. Sand the difficult parts first (lug holes and nooks, edges and tight corners) because trust me they will take forever. Use a spray bottle with water to spray off the dust and sand particles. It took me litterlly 1 entire day from sun up to sun down for 1 rim. You want to make them look like this:
3. After about 3 days of day to night wet sanding you should have 4 rims sanded and ready to be fixed or repaired from curb scratches. Use some mineral spirits to clean off any sanding dust or oils from your fingers (use gloves). Now make sure the wheels are dry before applying the spot putty. Using a applicator or the tip of your finger and apply the spot putty in the affected areas. Make sure to tape off the un-affected areas. Like this:
4. Wait 30 minutes until its dry. Using an eraser wrap some 400 – 600 around the eraser and sand the affected areas until they are flush with the rest of the metal. If you start to see metal again apply more putty and redo.
5. Once the repairing is done wash the rims again and use gloves and wipe down with mineral spirits to clean off oil and dust.
6. Tape off wheel once it’s dry. Try to get the tape as fare down the well as possible so you don’t paint the tire. This part is pretty tricky and takes a while. I used small 3-4” strips of blue tape and a hard plastic spatula to stick the tape deep down where my finger could not reach. Be sure to tape off the valve stem and inside for drippage. I didn't and had to sand inside the wheel after they were painted.
7. I used Duplicolor Mirage paint because I want a pearlessent look. 1st paint the black base coat but paint every square inch but lightly. Do about 2-3 coats until you have a nice flat black finish like this:
8. After about 30-40 minutes (or dry) use a tack cloth and whipe down to get rid of dust and hair transfer from you spinning all over the rim and spray 3-6 coats of step 2 color changing coat waiting 10 minutes between coats. You want the surface to be tacky but not dry in between coats. It should look like this after about 5 coats:
Sorry the image is blurry but there was so much mist when I used the flash I got over exposer.
9. After about 30-45 minutes of drying start with the 3rd step of clear coat. Apply 3-6 coats of clear waiting 10 minutes between coats. This step is very important because clear cot cannot dry it need to stay wet or you will get hazing or fogging. After the coats are finished in can dry. Let it dry for 24 hours before touching minimum, best to wait 48 hours or more depending on how many coats you apply.
10. After they have dried remove the tape and re mount them onto your car to 97 ft/lbs but be gentle. A way you can tell if the clear is dry is to take your finger nail and firmly press your nail into the paint, if it leaves a mark or a line it is still curing. If you make a line or a mark you can lightly rub it with your finger and it will disappear.
11. After your wheels are done and cured take them to get re-balanced because they will need it. Because the paint adds weight.
12. After a buttload of elbow grease and sore as hell muscles here is my finished poduct enjoy
From this angle the rims match the color of the car.
From this angle they look indigo.
The before shot of the floating scion.
A close-up and I bid you good luck and farewell, Oh and above all "RIDE HARD!!!"
-$tickler
Tools and items needed:
1. 21mm 1/2” long socket
2. 10-150 ft/lbs torque wrench
3. ˝” 4” extension
4. C-clamp or brake piston tool
5. 2 ton hydraulic jack
6. x4 2 ton jack stands
7. 5 lb sledge hammer
8. 3/8” 14mm, 16mm sockets
9. 1/2” – 3/8” reducer (for torquing the calipers)
10. Stainless steel wire brushes (small like toothbrush)
11. Star lug wrench with 21mm
12. Blue painters tape
13. Newspaper
14. Brake cleaner (a good kind)
15. x4 wire coat hangers
16. Soap and water
17. G2 caliper paint epoxy (comes in several popular colors)
18. Duplicolor brand paint (I used mirage)
19. Tack cloth
20. Micro-fiber cloth
21. Rags
22. 320 – 600 grit wet sand paper (get more of the low grit cuz you will go through it like water)
23. Sanding pads
24. Sunscreen or you will be sunburned like my dumbass lol
25. Pencil eraser
26. Mineral spirits
27. Bondo spot putty
28. Auto rubber gloves
29. I friggin BUTTLOAD of elbow grease
1. Make sure the E-brake is all the way up and if your like me and got a standard, put it in 1st gear.
2. Use your star wrench to crack all of your lug-nuts but do not loosen them all the way.
3. Use the hydraulic jack to jack up the side of the car and place 2 of the jack stands in the two corner jack points, then slowly release the hydraulic valve until the car sits on the stands. Make sure they are on the stands. Also make sure you have clearance to remove the wheels.
4. Take your jack to the other side of the car and repeat step 3. Now that you have a floating scion we shall procede.
5. Remove the lugs in a star pattern and remove all the wheels.
6. Take your torque wrench; put the reducer on with the 14mm socket and remove the 2 bolts located in the back of the rear caliper. (very close to the brake fluid hoses). The bolt will be on pretty tight so it will take some effort plus the torque wrench is fairly large and there isn’t a whole lot of room to work. I had the wrench up in the wheel well with a 4” extension so I wouldn’t nick the hoses.
7. Once you remove the bolts the caliper should slide right off. Now hang it using a wire coat hanger from your shock springs. Never let your calipers dangle from the brake lines. Hang it high so that you can remove the rotors. Repeat this step for the other rear caliper.
8. Open you car door (if your not already jamming lol) and release your e-brake.
9. The rear rotors should come right off, no banging. I have heard of people having to use a hammer but its rare since it’s a drum disk system. So if you have to; hit it with the 5lbs sledge on the side where the lugs are and it should break free. When I released my e-brake they practically fell off.
10. Rebolt the calipers back into position but just hand-tighten the bolts. It’s easier to clean them if they are stationary.
11. Remove the top on your brake fluid and place a towel around it because brake fluid eats paint, but leave the top loosly sitting on top so air can escape.
12. Use the C-clamp and place one end on the pad and the other end behind the caliper. Turn it until u cant any more. You are compressing the piston so you can remove the brake pads. Take note of any clamps and loose fitting parts around the pads and inside the calipers.
13. Move to the front and do everything mentioned above from step 6 – 12 except use a 16mm socket and you will have to bang the crap out of the front rotors to get them off using the 5lbs sledge. Hit the rotors on the side where the lugs are not the rotor edge.
14. Once all caliper pistons are compressed, remounted, and de-rotored, Remove the pads starting with one closest to you. Remove the back one second because it has a clamp that is a real “B” to get out. Once all 8 pads are removed keep them close for reforance with the loose pieces of metal where they go.
15. Remove all metal clamps from the calipers for cleaning, make a note of how you got them out and which side and where.
16. Remember that elbow grease I was talking about? Place a towel around the hoses because brake cleaner is bad for rubber and vynil. Take your stainless steel wire brush and brake cleaner and start scrubbing every square inch of the caliper until it look almost silverish. Like this:
This is no easy task, it takes about 2-3 hrs per caliper to get them this clean, it’s a good thing the rear calipers are a lot smaller. I can not express enough this is the most important step. They have to be clean clean or the epoxy won’t stick You didn’t come all this way to wuss out now did you?
17. Once all calipers are cleaned go over them 1 last time with the brake cleaner and a rag to get any particles and dust off.
18. Ok now comes the fun part. Take your G2 kit and mix the hardener into the paint (now if you don’t know what epoxy is, it is a liquid that turns rock hard so you only have a few hours to paint so be time efficient). After you follow the steps on the instructions start brushing it on, you want to do 1 at a time and circle your way around from caliper to caliper until all calipers have 3 – 5 coats. I did 5. If you see streaks its ok they will blend in with the more coats you put on. Once the paint starts to get tacky or gummy, stop painting or you will have problems. They should look like this when they are done:
Rear
Front
19. After you let the epoxy dry for about 2-3 hours place all clamps and metals back where they were before and un-tighten the bolts you hand tightened and hang back onto the coat hangers but be gentle because the epoxy is not cured until 24 hours and you could gash it. I had a friend hold them for me while I put my new rotors on.
20. Putting on performance rotors is no different than taking them off just do everthing in reverse minus a 5lbs sledge hammer lol. Do them one at a time. Place the new rotor on (I got slotted and dimpled from www.rotorpros.com they also painted them the same color my calipers are “SWEET”) and the new pads starting with the back pad first. Do not touch pads with ur hands as the oil will ruin them. Don’t forget to put all the clamps back onto the pads. With piston compressed you should be able to get both pads in without to much of a fight but be gentle. You could chip the pad or your new painted calipers. I used EBC RedStuff because they have 50% less brake dust = less cleaning.
21. Once you are pad ready slowly slide the caliper back on. This part can be a little tricky because you don’t have much room for clearance. Check the pads if you are having trouble because they may not be sitting properly. Correct them. After they are on place the bolts back into place and tighten them to 25-30 ft/lbs of torque. Repeat step 19 – 21 for all 4 calipers.
When your all done you should have a pretty nice days worth of work. Time for a cold beer AHHHH!!!!!
Ahh a hard days work is so worth it
22. Check your brake fluid and it should be higher if not over flowing. Put the cap back on and pump your brakes a few times to set in the pistons and pads. Don’t forget to read about your pad break-in before you go speeding off to glory. If you do not do pad break-in you could damage your rotors and/or pads.
Custom painting your rims:
1. Pop out the center cap of the rims from the inside with a screw driver and wash the crap out of your rims, I’m talking lots of scotch brite, soap and water. Do not use any acidic chemicals.
2. After the wheels are clean and sprayed down, start sanding with 320 – 400 grit sandpaper. Sand the difficult parts first (lug holes and nooks, edges and tight corners) because trust me they will take forever. Use a spray bottle with water to spray off the dust and sand particles. It took me litterlly 1 entire day from sun up to sun down for 1 rim. You want to make them look like this:
3. After about 3 days of day to night wet sanding you should have 4 rims sanded and ready to be fixed or repaired from curb scratches. Use some mineral spirits to clean off any sanding dust or oils from your fingers (use gloves). Now make sure the wheels are dry before applying the spot putty. Using a applicator or the tip of your finger and apply the spot putty in the affected areas. Make sure to tape off the un-affected areas. Like this:
4. Wait 30 minutes until its dry. Using an eraser wrap some 400 – 600 around the eraser and sand the affected areas until they are flush with the rest of the metal. If you start to see metal again apply more putty and redo.
5. Once the repairing is done wash the rims again and use gloves and wipe down with mineral spirits to clean off oil and dust.
6. Tape off wheel once it’s dry. Try to get the tape as fare down the well as possible so you don’t paint the tire. This part is pretty tricky and takes a while. I used small 3-4” strips of blue tape and a hard plastic spatula to stick the tape deep down where my finger could not reach. Be sure to tape off the valve stem and inside for drippage. I didn't and had to sand inside the wheel after they were painted.
7. I used Duplicolor Mirage paint because I want a pearlessent look. 1st paint the black base coat but paint every square inch but lightly. Do about 2-3 coats until you have a nice flat black finish like this:
8. After about 30-40 minutes (or dry) use a tack cloth and whipe down to get rid of dust and hair transfer from you spinning all over the rim and spray 3-6 coats of step 2 color changing coat waiting 10 minutes between coats. You want the surface to be tacky but not dry in between coats. It should look like this after about 5 coats:
Sorry the image is blurry but there was so much mist when I used the flash I got over exposer.
9. After about 30-45 minutes of drying start with the 3rd step of clear coat. Apply 3-6 coats of clear waiting 10 minutes between coats. This step is very important because clear cot cannot dry it need to stay wet or you will get hazing or fogging. After the coats are finished in can dry. Let it dry for 24 hours before touching minimum, best to wait 48 hours or more depending on how many coats you apply.
10. After they have dried remove the tape and re mount them onto your car to 97 ft/lbs but be gentle. A way you can tell if the clear is dry is to take your finger nail and firmly press your nail into the paint, if it leaves a mark or a line it is still curing. If you make a line or a mark you can lightly rub it with your finger and it will disappear.
11. After your wheels are done and cured take them to get re-balanced because they will need it. Because the paint adds weight.
12. After a buttload of elbow grease and sore as hell muscles here is my finished poduct enjoy
From this angle the rims match the color of the car.
From this angle they look indigo.
The before shot of the floating scion.
A close-up and I bid you good luck and farewell, Oh and above all "RIDE HARD!!!"
-$tickler
06-01-2007, 03:15 AM
#7
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston, Tx
Posts: 3
I would lower it but h-town be pretty bumpy and steep grades around construction plus when i gets me body kit i'll be low enough. I'm not lowering the springs, handles great as it is. I took a u-turn at about 60-70 and slid like crazy but it held great. And the rain OMFG dude amazing sliding or A.K.A. drifting lol. Cant wait for my exhaust though. Goin mega cuz the deep throaty sound. Just worried about the c.e.l.
06-01-2007, 03:55 AM
#9
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston, Tx
Posts: 3
I live in stafford but i work on the northeast side by all the 18-wheelers and the ship channel bridge. I have a lot of rock chips so cosmetics will be the last thing i do. But when that time comes i'm goin lambo doors and pearlesent purple to match my wheels. But yeah i live right off 90 and there widening it so steep grades are all over, my homeboy scratched the hell out of his prelude so i'm chillin on the lowering. 
06-01-2007, 11:21 AM
#11
the TRD Springs/Shocks/Struts will only lower yuou about 1.25" and the handleing will be a lot better tehn stock, the car will look a lot better and you will get a lot more compliments,
and yuou wont get a CEL from just the exhaust the header is the one thats sets off the CEL.
and yuou wont get a CEL from just the exhaust the header is the one thats sets off the CEL.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
CombatmedicR56
Scion xA/xB 1st-Gen Drivetrain & Power
1
11-12-2020 01:53 AM
Squishface
PPC: Vehicles
3
09-15-2015 06:51 AM
Slopoke21m
Scion xA/xB 1st-Gen Suspension & Handling
54
04-23-2007 12:25 AM
TheRedBox
Scion xA/xB 1st-Gen Drivetrain & Power
31
12-02-2003 04:53 PM
