Painting the brake calipers

[pmpdau]

Hey everyone I was reading the tech article on painting my calipers, and i'm planning to get started tomorrow but this step here I was a bit confused about....

"Some cars like the AU come with a black disc in between the wheel and the hub take that off as it gets in the way and I would leave it off but that is up to you"

Can anyone show me which part this is with a description or picture please, I dont want to be taking parts off unless i'm sure

Any help would be appreciated

[Dave_Obsession]

Originally Posted by pmpdau

Hey everyone I was reading the tech article on painting my calipers, and i'm planning to get started tomorrow but this step here I was a bit confused about....

"Some cars like the AU come with a black disc in between the wheel and the hub take that off as it gets in the way and I would leave it off but that is up to you"

Can anyone show me which part this is with a description or picture please, I dont want to be taking parts off unless i'm sure

Any help would be appreciated

I believe that is a reference to the wheel dust cover?????

[pmpdau]

Ah ok, dont think mine ever had them.....
Next question how hard is it to get the calipers off and on? Is it worth taking them off for a better finish or just save the time and keep them on?

[Pat Riley]

Keep them on. Just mask around it with newspaper etc. I've done it before. The finish was mint and did not need to take them off. Unless you're a pro, leave em on. The important thing is that you clean them properly before painting.

[pmpdau]

cheers

[Dave_Obsession]

so did you give it a go??

[pmpdau]

Yeah this was the first one



wasnt too bad apart from a bit of spray on the discs which was easily cleaned off

[InfernoSR]

Originally Posted by pmpdau

Yeah this was the first one



wasnt too bad apart from a bit of spray on the discs which was easily cleaned off

Looks pretty good there mate! i'd be happy with that... except a slightly darker blue :P

[Whoosha]

Looks good now just grab some silver and do the rotor center as well

[pmpdau]

I was hoping for a bit darker too, but hey what can you do
Yeah that will be next, one job at a time :P

[Pursuit250]

That looks like a nice job. Did you actually take the calipers off the rotors or do them in-situ? My approach was to do the calipers while hanging off the brake line (only two bolts to get the calipers off) and then slide the rotor off and give that a hit (in black, or your preferred colour) while I was at it. Makes for a much better finish.

[pmpdau]

I did them on the rotor, just because I've only just started playing around with my car and I didnt know if the caliper was just a simple bolt off, bolt on process so i just left it alone.

[broken_suave]

Looks good. If you can get it to look like that without removing the caliper, theres really not much point in taking them off. The finnish wont be THAT much better, and it saves the hastle of removing them.

[Cookie-XR8]

should get some black paint and do all the inner gaurds etc

[Uncle_Ken]

I did mine when I changed the rotors (see below). I would paint the rotor center as well like Whoosha suggested. Looks great.


UK

Whilst I had them off I painted the brakes (Light blue).

The front was pretty straight forward and I used ronwest rear replacement guide for the back. (see this thread)
http://www.fordforums.com.au/vbport...warticle&id=319

I like the colour, pity I can't see how they look when the car is moving.
So pics...
Out with the old in with the new..



and the rears..


UK

[Pursuit250]

Originally Posted by pmpdau

I did them on the rotor, just because I've only just started playing around with my car and I didnt know if the caliper was just a simple bolt off, bolt on process so i just left it alone.

I'm hearing you. Although I'm perhaps not as wise as you, I started undoing bolts. Worked out OK in the end, but did have my hand on the hand brake for the first couple of kms after doing the job.

[pmpdau]

HAHA well at least you gave it a go, learnt how to do it etc....
At least you had safety in mind with the hand brake haha

[au2sw]

hhhmmmmm me thinks its time for me to do this to mine now LOL. looks good pmpdau but deffinitly a darker blue like UK's would have been better.

[Dave_Obsession]

Originally Posted by au2sw

hhhmmmmm me thinks its time for me to do this to mine now LOL. looks good pmpdau but deffinitly a darker blue like UK's would have been better.

UK said he did his in 'light blue' - I reckon even darker again would be great for blue calipers........I'll have to keep an eye out for when I do mine!!!

[pmpdau]

Yeah I did look for a darker blue, but unfortunately the colour range for actual High Temp Caliper paint is limited, by limited this was the only blue autobarn and super cheap had....i probably couldve hunted around but all in all im happy with the result, they did darken a fair bit after drying.

[Pursuit250]

Originally Posted by pmpdau

Yeah I did look for a darker blue, but unfortunately the colour range for actual High Temp Caliper paint is limited, by limited this was the only blue autobarn and super cheap had....

Had the same problem. My calipers are a lovely sky blue...... Having said that, and noting the lack of major braking I do, I wonder if any paint would have been sufficient.

[pmpdau]

Hmmmmm im not going to bother about my front calipers, the stock AU I version are a poor excuse for a caliper, ill just wait till i replace the brakes next and throw some PBRs and and spray them then.