Painting Calipers
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 9,948
Likes: 0
From: Hudson Valley Region, NY The "sonoma/napa" of the Northeast~~~~~ Are we there yet?
St. Jude Donor '08
Painting Calipers
Help.. I want to paint the calipers on my 93 to match the body color (bright aqua)
I know that there are some kits out there that come with high heat paint to paint calipers but they usually only come in red, black, blue, yellow, and white... just a thought.. but the car isnt driven as a daily driver.. you think painting them with touch up paint would hold???
Any thought appreciated.. thanks
I know that there are some kits out there that come with high heat paint to paint calipers but they usually only come in red, black, blue, yellow, and white... just a thought.. but the car isnt driven as a daily driver.. you think painting them with touch up paint would hold???
Any thought appreciated.. thanks
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,705
Likes: 30
From: Chesapeake Beach Maryland
2015 C5 of Year Finalist
I have found that Rustoleum makes several colors of high heat gloss spray paint that works real well. I just did my rear calipers in gloss black to match my GS calipers up front. I had the old calipers painted with the same stuff for several years, but only in red, with no flaking or major discoloring. This stuff is cheaper and actually works better than some of those kits. I had a couple friends that used a kit from Mid-America with not so good results.
I bought some painters masking tape and painters masking paper and covered and masked everything carefully to avoid overspray and it turned out real well. Also aluminium foil comes in handy as a masking aid too.
PS - the black Rustoleum looks great on the LT1 exhaust tips too.
Good Luck
I bought some painters masking tape and painters masking paper and covered and masked everything carefully to avoid overspray and it turned out real well. Also aluminium foil comes in handy as a masking aid too.
PS - the black Rustoleum looks great on the LT1 exhaust tips too.
Good Luck
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 9,948
Likes: 0
From: Hudson Valley Region, NY The "sonoma/napa" of the Northeast~~~~~ Are we there yet?
St. Jude Donor '08
Originally Posted by biggrizzly
I have found that Rustoleum makes several colors of high heat gloss spray paint that works real well. I just did my rear calipers in gloss black to match my GS calipers up front. I had the old calipers painted with the same stuff for several years, but only in red, with no flaking or major discoloring. This stuff is cheaper and actually works.
I bought some painters masking tape and painters masking paper and covered and masked everything carefully to avoid overspray and it turned out real well. Also aluminium foil comes in handy as a masking aid too.
PS - the black Rustoleum looks great on the LT1 exhaust tips too.
Good Luck
I bought some painters masking tape and painters masking paper and covered and masked everything carefully to avoid overspray and it turned out real well. Also aluminium foil comes in handy as a masking aid too.
PS - the black Rustoleum looks great on the LT1 exhaust tips too.
Good Luck
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,705
Likes: 30
From: Chesapeake Beach Maryland
2015 C5 of Year Finalist
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerGirl
I was thinking white but that is just going to get gull of brake dust and nasty fast...
I'm just tired of seeing all the red calipers, so I'm off that kick.
Good Luck
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 14
From: backwoods upstate ny
wild ax guess = yes....if it falls off,redo with the hi-temp, not a big job even if the redo needs a wire brush in a drill motor to remove residual old paint.....standard auto enamel will turn black at abt 400*F, few will ever see a 800*(heavy usage) rotor long enough to absorb enough heat into the caliper to get to 400* skin temp
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,793
Likes: 9
From: VA
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerGirl
you think painting them with touch up paint would hold???
Try the touch-up paint on one and topcoat it and try it for a few months.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 269
Likes: 0
From: Vancouver B.C.
I agree the all red caliper looks a little ....too....overdone. So I painted my calipers red and the caliper frames silver using high heat off the shelf colors. Then clearcoated them with high heat clear.
I also painted the rotors silver/clear at the same time. (Sadly, I learned how small a footprint
the rear pads have on the rotors so had to re-do the back rotors again).
I did this during a brake job (all new parts, painted on the bench) two years ago and they're still looking great.
I also painted the rotors silver/clear at the same time. (Sadly, I learned how small a footprint
the rear pads have on the rotors so had to re-do the back rotors again).I did this during a brake job (all new parts, painted on the bench) two years ago and they're still looking great.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
10 Revolutionary 'Corvette Firsts' Most People Don't Know
Joe Kucinski
5 Reasons to Upgrade to an LS6-Powered Corvette; 5 Reasons to Stay LT2
Michael S. Palmer
2027 Corvette vs The World: Every C8 vs Its Closest Competitor
Joe Kucinski
10 Most Common Corvette Problems of the Last 20 Years!
Joe Kucinski
5 MOST and 5 LEAST Popular Corvette Model Years in History!
Joe Kucinski
2027 Corvette Buyer's Guide: Everything You Need to Know!
Joe Kucinski
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 13,348
Likes: 232
From: SCMR Rat Pack'r Charter Member..Great Bend KS
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerGirl
but the car isnt driven as a daily driver.. you think painting them with touch up paint would hold???
Any thought appreciated.. thanks
Any thought appreciated.. thanks
As a sidebar, I painted the calipers on my DD Scirocco with ordinary spray paint about three years ago. They still look nearly as good today as they did 60,000 miles ago.....
I'd say you can use touch up paint for a normally-driven car.
Larry
code5coupe
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,702
Likes: 254
From: Woodinville, WA
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerGirl
Help.. I want to paint the calipers on my 93 to match the body color (bright aqua)
I know that there are some kits out there that come with high heat paint to paint calipers but they usually only come in red, black, blue, yellow, and white... just a thought.. but the car isnt driven as a daily driver.. you think painting them with touch up paint would hold???
Any thought appreciated.. thanks
I know that there are some kits out there that come with high heat paint to paint calipers but they usually only come in red, black, blue, yellow, and white... just a thought.. but the car isnt driven as a daily driver.. you think painting them with touch up paint would hold???
Any thought appreciated.. thanks
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,280
Likes: 12
From: New York
You could powdercoat them, but unfortunately you would have to disassemble everything first. I was in the process of rebuilding all four of my calipers, so that is the route I took. I did the calipers in red, and the brackets in black.
Powdercoating is literally a world of colors, but they do bake them at 400 degrees, which is why everything needs to be removed.
Powdercoating is literally a world of colors, but they do bake them at 400 degrees, which is why everything needs to be removed.
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 141
Likes: 7
From: Deltona Florida
i was wondering if anyone would mention powder coating. i powder coat all my small pieces myself and will do my calipers sometime this winter. these cars are old enough where they would benefit from a rebuild on the calipers. i beleive they are aluminum right? i also polish so i may try that as well. 
