I just had my brake calipers painted red and they look awesome. Now I'm trying to have the MAZDA on the front calipers be white. I see decals for this, but the existing calipers already have the raised MAZDA. Is it possible to find decals that fit the exiting letters on the caliper? I found some on ebay but the sizes don't work. Or any reasonable way to pain them white? I heard one suggestion to use sandpaper on a block of wood to sand the red paint off the raised letters which would have them be silver. I would consider this a last option. Not a fan of sanding the paint off, I'm afraid I will take off some paint that I don't want to take off, and would prefer white letters over silver.

 

we use either a silver sharpie or a paint pen. the silver sharpie always comes out better on the non glossy finish calipers. just take your time so you dont get any runs if you decide to use the paint pen

 

I always just sand the Mazda down to bare aluminum, looks awesome.

Sand it down so it's nice and smooth, paint the caliper, let the paint cure, then sand it again.

Dale

 

I used a Dremel with a sanding drum. A little coarse then fine for a smooth finish. It was more controllable for me than a sanding block and left a finer line. And you can do it with the calipers mounted.
Not sure but I would worry that a vinyl decal may not last long with heat and any cleaners etc one might use.

Not the best pic for it but…

 

When I painted my Corvette LT-1 ribbed aluminum valve covers (after chroming), I masked off the rib area, painted the ribs red, dried, then used a cloth on a wood block dampened with acetone to wipe the red off the rib tops. Worked a treat as the Brits say.

 

I’ve also sanded it down to bare metal then give it a couple coats of clear to give it a nice finish and protect the bare aluminum.

 

Double post

 

Mine look very similar to nmoffatt's calipers, I did them like 15 years ago. Really the bare aluminum seems to hold up, I didn't do a clear or anything. Worst case do a quick pass with some sandpaper if it gets cruddy looking.

BTW you can use Testor's model paint to do calipers, it's an enamel paint and takes the heat great. I have done this on MANY cars over the years and it holds up fantastic. Brush it on thick and there ya go.

Dale

 

i used Testor's on the very first set of calipers i ever did. i can attest to this statement. it looked great and was very durable.

 

From what i am told the original Sp-R calipers have the letters painted white. Having looked at all images i can find online im am still not sure if this is true.
In any case, i opted to just paint it all red. Used 2K epoxy primer, then some 2K industrial red paint and finally a 2K gloss topcoat to make them super easy to clean.

Link to my 3D printed masking caps: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6165136

 

pics are, self explanatory i hope.

 

Painted the Mazda logo to match the FD paint.

Forgot to mask the two areas where the calipers attach. Sanded down to metal before installing them.

 

To me that looks like silver paint. Could also be bare aluminium. But i lineked this particular picture and was told it is in fact white xD

 

Ill see if i can get some better pics but i just used a foam block with 1000 grit to take the paint off then worked up from there 1000 -1500 - 2000 - 3000 - 4000 grit. If you keep them clean and ocassionally hit them with polish they look great. If you’re worried you can always mask off the painted parts with some painters tape but its raised 1/4” and is really easy to do so i didnt use any tape.

I like those ones a few posts up with the satin finish, if i had to do them over again thats what id do.

 

Apologies for the late reply on this, but I have a Spirit R and confirm the factory lettering is indeed white, not bare aluminium.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: and I can tell they paint/powdercoat in red first then hand paint the white on top. I know this because some of my white paint has rubbed off a little in spots and it is red underneath, not bare metal.

 

Im jelly!

Thanks for clearing this up!