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Painting Brake Calipers

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Old 08-09-04, 11:07 AM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by RX 4 Speed
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?
Yea, thats pretty much the easiest way, unless you wanan take off your caliper and bleed the brake lines. I had no difficulties accessing any part of the caliper by leaving them on.
Old 08-09-04, 11:54 AM
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thanks guys... yeah, I think I will just paint them right on the car. I am sure I can access most if not all of the calipers. Just standard high temp engine paint? I heard folks use that too... I was just worried at first that it wouldn't match the red of the FD.... but from Mahjik's pictures, I think it will.

Also, at first I thought just sanding the MAZDA emblem would be good enough (silver color) but I kindda like Mahjik's white letters... what do you guys think?
Old 08-09-04, 11:54 AM
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Black Supra, can you please post some pics of yours?
Old 08-09-04, 11:58 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by zullo
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.
The Folia Tec paint is extremely glossy when brushed. Did you see the pictures of my calipers?
Old 08-09-04, 12:31 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by RX 4 Speed
Also, at first I thought just sanding the MAZDA emblem would be good enough (silver color) but I kindda like Mahjik's white letters... what do you guys think?
This is just my humble opinion, but...

No offense to Mahjik, but are you proud enough of the fact that they're Mazda calipers to highlight that fact by painting the letters in a contrasting color? When I had stock calipers, I ground the Mazda logo off and the polished the outer half. Personally, if I were painting my stock calipers and wasn't going to go to that extreme, I'd just paint over the Mazda logo and be done with it. From a distance, people will mistake them for aftermarket equipment instead of OEM, and isn't that sort of the point of painting them in the first place? A "free" upgrade?
Old 08-09-04, 12:53 PM
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i used dupli-color's new caliper kit. i did 3 coats on the front and 2 on the rear. there's no runs or drips, and i still have 3/4 of the paint left over. it's pretty thick so you can still do it while the calipers are on the car
Old 08-09-04, 01:44 PM
  #32  
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I bought some G2 gold caliper paint but I haven't applied them yet. Just wondering if anybody can post some pictures of painted gold calipers. BTW, my FD is black. Thanks.
Old 08-09-04, 02:02 PM
  #33  
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Since my caliper paint is turning black I'd like to strip them and put a fresh finish on. Any suggestions for how I might best go about doing that? Besides sandblasting?
Old 08-09-04, 02:12 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by A-squared
I bought some G2 gold caliper paint but I haven't applied them yet. Just wondering if anybody can post some pictures of painted gold calipers. BTW, my FD is black. Thanks.
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...8&page=2&pp=15

Originally Posted by zullo
Since my caliper paint is turning black I'd like to strip them and put a fresh finish on. Any suggestions for how I might best go about doing that? Besides sandblasting?
You could try Carb Cleaner. That stuff strips about anything. I made the mistake of using it while a part was still in the engine bay. Now I have a little paint missing in a spot.
Old 12-23-04, 10:49 AM
  #35  
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Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I'm thinking about doing this as one of my winter projects, and I was looking at the Duplicolor kit. Anyone know how this paint holds up?
Old 12-23-04, 11:30 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Section8
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I'm thinking about doing this as one of my winter projects, and I was looking at the Duplicolor kit. Anyone know how this paint holds up?
None of them really hold up well to track duty. You'll end up repainting them eventually again if you start to do any track days. For street driving, any of the high temp paints will be just fine.
Old 12-23-04, 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Mahjik
None of them really hold up well to track duty. You'll end up repainting them eventually again if you start to do any track days. For street driving, any of the high temp paints will be just fine.
Ok, kind of what I thought, but I figured I'd ask anyway. I still haven't had chance to do any track stuff, only autox, but hopefully that will change next year. I may do this anyway as I've got lots of time coming up with the car just sitting in the garage.

Thanks for the info.
Old 12-23-04, 01:36 PM
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Originally Posted by hondasr4kids
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.

damn that looks good
Old 12-23-04, 01:44 PM
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I do remember a LONG time ago on the big list someone painted their calipers with Testors model paint and said it held up for 2 years with NUMEROUS track events. But, it's SO easy to put the paint on with Testors and a brush that touchups are no biggie.

Dale
Old 12-23-04, 03:07 PM
  #40  
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I use VHT brake/caliper paint it was like $6.00 at the local speed shop.
Old 12-23-04, 03:09 PM
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Well, I had to pick up some new hose clamps for my new radiator hoses, so I picked up the duplicolor kit while i was in the store. I'm working on cleaning the calipers now, trying to decide if I want to polish the 'mazda' logo or not. I'm not in a real hurry, so maybe I will.
Old 12-23-04, 05:56 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by dcfc3s
I do remember a LONG time ago on the big list someone painted their calipers with Testors model paint and said it held up for 2 years with NUMEROUS track events.
I don't know about that. I've tried several different paints and the brake dust from the track events eventually have stuck to and torn up the paint. It doesn't make them look horrible, but not like they did when they were first painted.

A buddy of mine usually repaints his calipers every winter.
Old 12-24-04, 01:16 AM
  #43  
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i just put up some pics of my caliper process....

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/trippi...bum?.dir=/ab3e

if that doesnt work goto

http://photos.yahoo.com/trippinted69

and then the caliper folder.
Old 12-30-04, 10:48 AM
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Well, i'm pretty much done, still need to sand off the paint on the Mazda logo on the pass side. Couple of pics (yes I got a little on the center of the rotor, don't think it'll hurt anything :p






This is the duplicolor brush on kit. I used a different brush though, the one that came with the kit sucks.
Old 12-30-04, 11:17 AM
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Did you leave the calipers on the car when you did it? I'm guessing "yes" since you got some on the center of the rotor. Did you paint the "back" side?
Old 12-30-04, 11:34 AM
  #46  
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I second the question above... Looks really good though. What kind of brush did you get? The duplicolor is also available at Autozone or Advanced Auto right? I am going for black... do you know if they have that color too?
Old 12-30-04, 01:42 PM
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Yeah, i left the calipers on while I painted. I took the brake pads out on the fronts and masked off the pin areas then painted them right on the rotor. I used a wide testors modeling brush that i had from my models I build. I painted a good portion of the back side, but not all of it, I figure you won't be able to see that with the wheels on anyway.

I got this kit at Advanced auto.
Old 12-30-04, 05:34 PM
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Originally Posted by RX 4 Speed
I second the question above... Looks really good though. What kind of brush did you get? The duplicolor is also available at Autozone or Advanced Auto right? I am going for black... do you know if they have that color too?
I've been looking for the brush on kit. Autozone and Pep Boys seem to only have spray cans.
Old 12-31-04, 01:17 AM
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I used the Duplicolor kit as well and highly recommend it. It comes with enough paint to do about 3 cars maybe more. Around here it's available at Walmart, Autozone, Oreily's Auto. The kit comes with a brush but mine had bristles falling off into the paint, so I would highly suggest buying a set of the Testors brushes, comes with different sized brushes and their quality is much better.

Edit: For the 'Mazda' lettering I used Testors model paint but it is already starting to peel after only about 2 months.
Old 12-31-04, 01:39 AM
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I had my first calipers painted and the brake dust eventually trashed the finish.

Since then I have polished the calipers and it looks mucho better.

People tell me that the shine of the polished calipers matches the contact portion of the brake rotors.


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