caliper painting..
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 503
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From: Belchertown Massachusetts
caliper painting..
Hi all;
After looking at the painted and chromed calipers on this forum it's become clear to me that I must paint mine. They look great. My question is: What's the best way to go about it? Can I paint them and use clear on them or do I have to power coat..rather not do that. I'd like input from you guys.
Thanks...Jake T.
After looking at the painted and chromed calipers on this forum it's become clear to me that I must paint mine. They look great. My question is: What's the best way to go about it? Can I paint them and use clear on them or do I have to power coat..rather not do that. I'd like input from you guys.
Thanks...Jake T.
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 102
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From: Portsmouth Va
I don't know what look you are going far. but I painted my calipers red
and it was very easy. I used the Duplicolor kit I found at Wal-mart. Just follow the instructions and you will be fine.
The first coat I put on made me wonder if I had done the right thing, but follow with two or more coats and it smooths out just fine.
and it was very easy. I used the Duplicolor kit I found at Wal-mart. Just follow the instructions and you will be fine.
The first coat I put on made me wonder if I had done the right thing, but follow with two or more coats and it smooths out just fine.
Safety Car
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From: Fishing Somewhere Cold
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13, '15
You don't need clear. If you are going red with them, Rustoleum Sunrise Red is the color your after. I painted mine with a brush, on the car 10k miles ago and they still look perfect. Just make sure that the calipers are clean, clean, clean before you start. I did 2 or 3 coats then used a razor blade to clean the letters off. Its a great afternoon project...good luck 
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2003
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From: "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and
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I painted mine with the Folia-Tec kit, that I got at Xtreme Motorsports. It works great and it only cost about $40. It's a high temperature two stage epoxy paint.
However - I am taking those off and having a set powdercoated and the letters hand painted by someone local.
We now have a new Supporting Forum Vendor that is doing powedercoating on a caliper exchange basis. You order what you want and he'll send a set to you - you then replace yours and send him your old ones. From the pics - they look awesome!
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...s&forum_id=103
http://www.thepowdercoater.com/
However - I am taking those off and having a set powdercoated and the letters hand painted by someone local.
We now have a new Supporting Forum Vendor that is doing powedercoating on a caliper exchange basis. You order what you want and he'll send a set to you - you then replace yours and send him your old ones. From the pics - they look awesome!
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...s&forum_id=103
http://www.thepowdercoater.com/
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,028
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From: Chicago (Naperville) IL
I originally used VHT high heat paint as seen in Mid Americas catalog. After three years it reaqlly started to look like crap. So I had to sand them down and use epoxy paint - which turned out great.
Cheap high heat spray paint is $12. The quality epoxy is like $40 - go for the epoxy, so you don't have to sand them down - trust me that was a pain in the ****.
Cheap high heat spray paint is $12. The quality epoxy is like $40 - go for the epoxy, so you don't have to sand them down - trust me that was a pain in the ****.
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 2005
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From: West Chester Pennsylvania
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St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11
Originally Posted by sweetcharity
You don't need clear. If you are going red with them, Rustoleum Sunrise Red is the color your after. I painted mine with a brush, on the car 10k miles ago and they still look perfect. Just make sure that the calipers are clean, clean, clean before you start. I did 2 or 3 coats then used a razor blade to clean the letters off. Its a great afternoon project...good luck
What did you use to clean the calipers?
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When I did mine, I bought some Folia Tec caliper paint from Xtreme Motorsports. I took my calipers off the car, but you really don't have to do that. Just make sure you can get them really clean and then just brush on the epoxy paint. Dries hard as a rock and looks great with a nice gloss shine.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Palm Bay FL
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11
Originally Posted by sweetcharity
You don't need clear. If you are going red with them, Rustoleum Sunrise Red is the color your after. I painted mine with a brush, on the car 10k miles ago and they still look perfect. Just make sure that the calipers are clean, clean, clean before you start. I did 2 or 3 coats then used a razor blade to clean the letters off. Its a great afternoon project...good luck
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,284
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From: Meridian MS
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Cleaned mine with a wire brush, then sprayed several times with brake parts cleaner, let dry & painted three coats of Rustoleum Sun Rise Red brush on paint. Painted them on the car, & painted the letters as well. After it all dried 24 hrs, I used a file to remove the paint from the letter tops...... so far, so good.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: ATL
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10
You may also consider powder coating.
There is a forum vendor here that powder coats and offers an exchange program. "Corvette Pilot" near Atlanta, GA. Great prices and quality work.
Here is a link to his thread:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...7&forum_id=103
I painted mine before I knew of CorvettePilot's powder coating. I will eventually have mine powder coated.
I used VHT paint on the Calipers, Brackets and the Rotors. You probably don't need Hi temp on everything. I just did it because I stopped at one store and did not run around looking for stuff.
I also painted my rotors as they turned nasty really quick.
I cleaned everything with a brass wire wheel on a drill and brake cleaner to finish it off.
On the fronts, I used "Chap Stick" over the letters. This helped to simply wipe off the paint with little effort. I touched up the letters with a light sanding using a foam type sanding block. I used clear on the fronts, only because I forgot about using clear on the rears.
The paint that I got on the rotors came off with the first couple of brake applications. I was a little strange, but after a couple of applications, everything was normal.
Front caliper all taped up.
Red calipers, Black brackets and silver(ish) rotors.
After brake applications, cleaning the paint from the rotors.
Rears before, with a couple of garaged months on the new rotors.
After cleaning and painting the rears.
There is a forum vendor here that powder coats and offers an exchange program. "Corvette Pilot" near Atlanta, GA. Great prices and quality work.
Here is a link to his thread:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...7&forum_id=103
I painted mine before I knew of CorvettePilot's powder coating. I will eventually have mine powder coated.
I used VHT paint on the Calipers, Brackets and the Rotors. You probably don't need Hi temp on everything. I just did it because I stopped at one store and did not run around looking for stuff.
I also painted my rotors as they turned nasty really quick.
I cleaned everything with a brass wire wheel on a drill and brake cleaner to finish it off.
On the fronts, I used "Chap Stick" over the letters. This helped to simply wipe off the paint with little effort. I touched up the letters with a light sanding using a foam type sanding block. I used clear on the fronts, only because I forgot about using clear on the rears.
The paint that I got on the rotors came off with the first couple of brake applications. I was a little strange, but after a couple of applications, everything was normal.
Front caliper all taped up.
Red calipers, Black brackets and silver(ish) rotors.
After brake applications, cleaning the paint from the rotors.
Rears before, with a couple of garaged months on the new rotors.
After cleaning and painting the rears.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 2,073
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From: East Lansing, Mi
I used the dupli color kit for $15 and put two coats on. it come with the cleaner and brush. It looks great. I used a dremel tool with a sandpaper disk to clean the paint off the corvette letters and it looked great. We compared it to my buddies Z06 and it looks just a good.
Le Mans Master
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From: Winchester TN
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St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'11
Originally Posted by Jake T
Thanks for all the inputs. I'll be doing this project in the next week or so. It sounds like a fun project. I'll post pics after they're painted.
Jake T.
Jake T.
Here is a page that decribes how I do mine -
http://www.iammoon.com/c5tech/caliper_painting.htm
best regards -
mqqn