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How To: Paint Brake Calipers (Duplicolor Kit)

20K views 34 replies 24 participants last post by  Santi  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
This is a pretty simple process. You can purchase the kit for about $20 at your local Autozone or Pepboys. You will need to jack the vehicle up and remove the wheels, so a flat working area is a must.

Tools needed:

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Brake Caliper Paint Kit
masking tape
xacto


1. Jack up vehicle and remove wheels.

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2. Make sure brakes are cooled off. Spray the provided cleaner on the caliper. Be careful not to get any brake cleaner on your paint. IT WILL RUIN YOUR PAINT !
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3. Thoroughly clean and dry the calipers.

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4. Mask off the areas that you don't want to paint. You should also cover the ground underneath the brakes to catch any unwanted drops.

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5. To get the detail of the curves, I used an xacto blade to cut the masking tape away.
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6. Use the provided brush and brush on a medium coat of paint. Let dry for around 30 minutes and repeat until satisfied with the coverage.

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7. Remove masking tape and reinstall wheel.


Even with a full faced rim you can still see the brakes behind there.

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#5 ·
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">hello funny i did my calipers last sunday i 2 toned i pulled the calipers and the supports off the car i did the supports in silver and the calipers in orange i have not had any luck posting pictures in the threads but i will put some in the gallery if u would like to see how they look
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#12 · (Edited)
Here is my take on it- I just did it to mine. I just cut and pasted this from my website.





It was time to straighten out the brake calipers on this car. I was debating on a couple of different ways to do it. There are the aluminum caliper covers you can buy or I could do the regular paint. The aluminum ones are expensive, and I did find some plastic ones on eBay that were a lot less money, but I know that you get what you pay for, and $200 for caliper covers is out of the question at this point. So lets get down to business.

WARNING! Always have the vehicle under inspection on level ground, in park with the emergency brake on. Always wear protective eyewear, gloves and necessary clothing before inspection or work begins. Always have an operational fire extinguisher close by, obey all first aid instructions in the event of an injury. Never move a car without proper brake pedal operation.

Also, this tutorial is less on how to change your brake pads and more on painting the calipers. I found a great tutorial on changing the brake pads on this website, and thanks to them for letting be borrow a couple of pictures. Credit has been given...


I bought the Duplicolor Caliper Paint at my local auto parts store.It was about $16.

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First I removed the front wheels (only the fronts are done at this time, the rear are for next weekend). I needed to clean them up. I used the supplied brake cleaner, followed by a wire brush on my grinder. This cleaned them up really good, but make sure you wear a respirator or something to protect the air- you'll be releasing some yuckies and you don't want to breath any in.

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Once you have them clean, you can start dissassembly of the brake system. It is only 4 bolts total. The first to bolts remove the caliper, then two bolts to remove the caliper mount.

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When you remove the caliper, DO NOT just let it hang by the brake line. It's heavy and you'll cause damage to the line if you do. Damage to the line can be fatal... Use something- wire, or I used really heavy duty tie wraps to anchor it up and keep the pressure off the brake line.

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Now two bolts hold on the pad retainer unit. Undo them. You can then pull off the caliper mount, then once it's off you can pull out your brake pads. Make a note of how the pads are installed. Look at the wear indicator on the inside pad in particular, and if you need to, now would be a good time to change out the pads. Carefully remove the pads, the pad support plates (the little clip-like things at the top and bottom on each pad), noting the way they are installed and their sequence. The pad support plates may be stuck to the calipers with grime and crud. Gently pry them out. Clean any crud from the caliper in the area where the caliper mounts go. Clean up the caliper mounts.

Start painting. Follow the instructions in the package. Use lots of coats. Wear rubber gloves.

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I used no less than 6 coats of paint on all these parts- a little more than half the can of paint. I left the rest for the rear calipers. You need lots of coats, because the paint goes on splotchy, and you need to keep adding coats to even it out and smooth it up. Wait 15-20 minutes between coats, and don't wait more than an hour or you'll have to wait 5 days for the VOC's to escape the paint.



Once you got that straightened out, wait overnight and let the paint set. The next day- put it all together in reverse of how you took it apart. A while ago I got some Brembo decals off eBay. I used them on this project.



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#21 ·
Love it Steve. I live right across the street from an AutoZone. Gonna do this very soon.. Thanks for the how-to.
 
#24 ·
For you guys that have done it a while ago, how are they holding up?

Rich

ETA: Not just from driving, but is the paint holding up after cleaning, scrubbing to clean, etc.
 
#30 ·
Awesome write-ups guys!