Painting brake parts?

[oxbrain]

Besides cosmetics, is there any reason to paint the calipers, knuckles, ect.?

I was thinking that since I have everything apart right now that it would be the easiest time to do it. If I am painting them, would any paint work or would it have to be the engine paint(500F).

[aithanmier]

just to keep the stuff from rusting. i'd go with powdercoating, much more durable. i'm gonna powdercoat my suspension bits as soon as i get my kit from eastwood.

[SimonTuffGuy]

There should be nothing that really gets in contact with the brake parts to cause scratching or chipping of the paint on the drums or calipers. As said, it's for cosmetics and possibly to keep rust from forming.

High temp paint is best, or they offer actual brake caliper paint in most auto parts stores.

[aithanmier]

i just mentioned powdercoating because i noticed that the caliper paint is really really delicate, just about anything seems to scratch it. maybe someone else has had better luck than me.

[SimonTuffGuy]

We used regular old car paint on my brakes when everything else was sprayed at the shop and it held up good for awhile. He just masked off the parts that didn't get paint and sprayed over them while doing the rest of the car.

[oxbrain]

I'm thinking that powder coating is going to be too much hassle for me since you have to totally disassemble the calipers or you'll cook the seals and crash into the nearest tree.

I'm going to get some hi temp paint and just use that and if it cracks, ohwell. Rust is an issue since we get so much rain here, but there is no salt on the roads ever.



I'm close to doing my brake swap, all I need is wheels and tires and I'm ready to rock. I've been getting pics of everything I've done so far and I'll do a writeup when I'm done.

[aithanmier]

yeah, dissasembly is required, but if your going to go to the trouble of doing the swap you might as well rebuild the calipers. besides the kit costs $1.30 per caliper and might as well use parts that are as good as new. just my .02 course that isn't necessary if your already using remaned calipers.

[oxbrain]

oh, I completely forgot about that, I haven't rebuilt em yet, but that makes sense.

I think I'm going to just paint em because I already have the paint sitting around and I'm a cheap bastard. If the paint cracks or I decide I want the car to look nice then I'll powdercoat em at that time.

[JerseyJay1.8T]

I believe its duplicolor that makes a damn nice caliper painting kit. Plus its a brush-on deal so you don't need to mask anything. One of the guys at work used it on his 02 monte carlo about a month ago and it looks beautiful. We've had plenty of crappy weather since as well and its been holding up without a blemish.

[aithanmier]

yeah i used duplicolor spray on, it worked pretty good, but like i said it seemes like it scratches pretty easy, plus i just used the red i had left over from the cougar's calipers. i'm gonna strip em back down and powdercoat them blue to match my festy color scheme better. i can't wait to get that hotcoat system! i'm gonna be powdercoating everything in sight lol.