For those who have did it, can you please do a write up on it please! Note what sort of paint, any sanding or coating etc... Or is it plain simple just spray and wait! BTW I wish to paint mine red.

Thanks,
Joseph.

 

i did it using specific caliper paint. at the very least you need high temp paint since they get quite hot. mine were remans so they were already clean. you need to mask off the piston area and clean the entire assembly with prep solvent. i used four coats of paint, then i sanded the paint off the mazda emblem making it appear brushed silver and then used 2 or 3 coats of high temp clear after the caliper paint dried for a day. i can send pic of you want (they've been on about a year). let me know.
andy

 

Yep, please post pic!

 

Testor's model paint worked great for me. I painted them about 2 years ago and it's holding up fine. It only cost me about $5 for the paint. I used a wire brush on a drill to clean off all the dirt and grime and then painted. Sanded down the mazda after.

 

I did mine the poor man way. I bought a can of Silver Krylon paint from Home Depot and spray painted them. I then took a Sharpie and colored in the "Mazda" on the calipers. Didn't clean them or anything. Also didn't need to mask off anything because I was using silver paint. If you are using red, I'd mask off around them. Turned out looking great.

They've held up for over a year now with no degradation. I'm usually a big stickler for doing it "the right way" but this has worked well for me.

 

i'll get one up after i wash it this afternoon.

 

I wish to do this too... what I'm getting out of all of this is that, all I need to do is I will need to jack the car up, remove the calipers, then just spray paint it pretty much, right? Sounds easy enough to me...

 

The process is pretty simple, but time consuming. FWIW, I used Folia Tec caliper paint and got great results.

Clean them...



Paint them...

 

I first removed the caliper from the bracket, took off the discs, and then remounted the caliper. I masked the whole suspension/wheel well/wheel bearings etc. so none of that stuff would get red. Then I used a wire brush to scrub along with some brake parts cleaner followed up by some simple green. After getting them reasonably clean, I started painting on thin coats over a few days while the car was on jacks and in a garage. I think the fronts got something like 10 coats each, while the rears got maybe six or seven. After getting all the paint on, I used like 120 and then 220 grit sandpaper on the mazda symbol, got it smooth and then masked it off, after which I hit the front calipers with another two coats each. Then I again went back and sanded on the mazda symbol, followed by spraying a bunch of the caliper paint on sheet of newspaper and used a fine modeling paint brush to fill in any little imperfections. I didn't use clear coat, although I might end up going back later, cleaing them up a bit, spraying a few more coats and then applying a clear coat. I'll try to post some pics of the finished product, but my resizing skills are pretty poor so they might not work. Oh, wait, damn they are too big. I'll have to work on resizing them. Josh

 

I bought some caliper paint from advanced auto or autozone, and just painted them while they were still on the car. Hand paint by the way.

 

Damian has some pics of his foilia tec painted calipers (same as jimlabs) in the advanced section under the 99 spec brake install

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=316957

I used foliatec but the weather has been hot and it left brush marks...

G2 is a similar paint as foliatec and you order it from tirerack.com
it has a higher temperature rating than foliatec

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/g2/caliper_paint.jsp



* if you do a search many people have posted good results with testors and the autozone type of paints....I just wish more people posted on how well they lasted through daily beatings, cleanings, and brake cleaner....

the foliatec seems like a nice system as it's a lacquer with a hardner....I sprayed my mixing stick with brake cleaner after it dried and none of the paint came off even with rubbing.

 

i'll take a shot at pics now.

 

I was really pleased with the way mine turned out. I removed all 4 calipers from the car to prep and paint them. I used a drill with a wire brush to remove all of the old paint. Next I used a degreaser to make sure the caliper was clean. I taped off anything I didn't want overspray to hit, and taped off the MAZDA emblem.

As far as the actual painting goes, I purchased VHT (I think that's the brand) red caliper paint from autozone. It supposedly resists chemicals better than plain old high temp paint so I decided to get it. I did three coats of red and let the calipers sit over night. The next day I removed the tape covering the MAZDA lettering and polished it a bit. I applied two clear coats and the final product turned out like this:

 

That's how i did mine but I polished the "Mazda" logo first then painted over it. Once I finish before the paint was completely dry I just wet sanded them with a very fine grit paper and wallah, black calipers with polish "Mazda" logo.

 

I just painted the fronts (for now) but I took them off to do. If you do, use a C-clamp or something to pinch the brake line near the caliper so fluid doesn't drain. Remove the calipers and let the remaining fluid drain out. I then cleaned them using brake cleaner but then I sanded them now to a smooth and polished face. They looked so nice I almost stopped there! I was more concerned about visible areas too and didn't work so hard on the back sides. After sanding I used the brake cleaner again and then used a metal polish to get them really clean. I blocked off the pistons and then painted them with a gloss high temp paint. I good layer was all I needed and let them dry over night. I then used Testors paint pen (gold) to paint the "Mazda". Let dry and re-install. Be sure to bleed really well. I also sanded off the smaller writing under the Mazda for a cleaner look. I like the black paint because they don't show dirt like brighter colors and you can't see it fading around the back either. I have a pic but not on this PC, sorry but they look good on my red 7. Good luck.

 

here's mine

 

I think all these pics are great and all...but back to my post.

The real question for me isn't how to paint them...it's which application has held up the best.

For those of you in the pics...how many miles have you log on your paints? Done any HPDE and heated the calipers up? Got any brake cleaner on them? Just curious.

 

Does that add anything to performance ? If not... isnt it rice ?

Actually, I was talking to local brake specialist (who are doing my semi track pads now) and he said painting calipers in multiple layers of paint is bad for track performance. He said color on calipers causes them to disperse the heat slower, thus inducing sooner brake fade.
Same goes for polished brake calipers.... But I guess its ok for the street.

Red looks good though on them. Kind of like the Porsche's

 

As black supra noted, is it possible to just hand paint the darn thing while it's still on the wheel? Just jack the car up, remove the wheels and start hand painting??? That would probably be easiest right?

 

If you're not improving braking performance and just going for the racey look by painting your calipers, then yeah, technically it is.

If you're painting '99-spec rear calipers that go with custom 2-piece 12.1" rotors in the back to match your AP Racing 13.0" big brake kit for the front, then no.

 

Lol !

 

You don't "need" to remove them to paint them. However, you won't have good access to the rear side of the caliper (not that you'll really ever see that side anyway).

 

Mahjik, what type of paint was being used in that picture? i've been trying to find a spray paint for this application... but all i've been able to come up with is brush-on... i suck a brush painting

 

I used the Autozone red caliper paint (brush-on variety) and it initially looked real nice. But a couple track weekends and it is now much darker (even after removing brake dust!). In other words, they are fading to black...

So unless other paints handle the heat better, I would not recommend painting bright colors if you take the car to the track. For street only I'm sure most of the paints would hold up fine.

Oh, and the brush-on stuff does not give near as nice a finish as the spray, especially with the lame brush they give you in the kit.

 

That's just standard High Temp Red Engine paint (with white car touch-up paint for the letters). I used High Temp Engine Primer on the calipers first with a High Temp clear coat to finish it off..