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Caliper painting.

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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 01:07 PM
  #1  
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Default Caliper painting.

Do you fellows who have painted your calipers remove them or paint them in place? If you paint them in place do you just do the bits that are visible from the outside?

The caliper mounts - did you do them the same color or just black?

While the stainless steel pad covers (between pad and caliper) look great, their $90 price tag at the mail order places is outragous. Has anyone got an alternative?
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 01:17 PM
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I think it would be best to powder coat the calipers. It is much tougher then paint. And Yes you remove the calipers to paint them unless your willing to have a half assed job done on your car. I went black on the brakets with white calipers.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 01:42 PM
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I'm interested in removing mine -- still a bit concerned about removing the brake lines from the calipers though -- any suggestions to avoid air leaking into the lines?
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 01:52 PM
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I had mine removed when I painted them, but that was only because I was having other work done at the same time. Many here paint the calipers on the car. I painted mine both front and back and no reason you can't do that while they are on the car. Just takes a little more taping off so the paint doesn't get everywhere.

I painted my caliper brackets black and the calipers red.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 01:54 PM
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If you open the brake line at the caliper you must bleed the lines
after you do the install. Do a search on this as this 'DIY' has been
posted here before.

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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 02:03 PM
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Many people have successfully painted them without removal. Do a search, there is a complete 'how to" on this.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 02:16 PM
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I painted mine on the car and they look great. But don't use the brush that comes with the kit. Go to an art store and get a good $10 pointed brush for oils. And build up the paint in 2-4 coats. It dries fast, so you can do the whole car in one day if it's on jack stands. It's been a year and a half (8K miles) and they still look great. Everything red on mine.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 02:25 PM
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Originally Posted by cletus
I painted mine on the car and they look great. But don't use the brush that comes with the kit. Go to an art store and get a good $10 pointed brush for oils. And build up the paint in 2-4 coats. It dries fast, so you can do the whole car in one day if it's on jack stands. It's been a year and a half (8K miles) and they still look great. Everything red on mine.
Same with me, I left the brake lines on the caliper but removed them from the rotor, painted them red and still looks new 9 months later
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 02:32 PM
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Check this link out. I'm going to remove mine and panit mine off the car this winter.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1799588
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 03:15 PM
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I originally painted mine and I left them mounted and just painted what was visible. I painted the bracket the same color as well. Now I have powdercoated calipers and they look ten times better than when I painted mine. I recommend getting powdercoated calipers.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 03:19 PM
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I took mine loose from the brackets but not loose from the brake lines. I painted the brackets black and painted the calipers red. I painted them with a rattle can.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 03:33 PM
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I painted mine while on the car and they still look great. The secret is in the thickness of the paint. Multiple coats of thiner paint look way better than a few coats of thick glob. TheDEFan gave you a link to my write up and you can see the caliper up close and painted. There's also a shot of my bracket which I painted black. I didn't have anyone at 4:00AM to help me bleed my brakes so I didn't remove the calipers.

Oh, and I only painted what you could see once the caliper was mounted.

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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 03:56 PM
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painted mine in place, took my time masking, thats the most important part. I used duplicolor engine primer after good cleaning, then duplicolor caliper paint (red) spray for both. Took my time, several thin coats is better that a thick one. Then when nice a dry carefully scrapped/sanded the "Corvette" letters.
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 06:19 PM
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I took mine off and painted them with duplicolor caliper spray paint then high temp clear. Cleaned them up first with brake cleaner/simple green/wire wheel. I don't think I'd have wanted to try that part with them still on the car.
I also invested in a set of speed bleeders, which I highly recommend.
I'm sure powder coating is more durable, but it's a bit pricey.

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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 06:37 PM
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Take 'em off and do 'em right, yes you will have to bleed it when you are done. Skip the stainless and paint the back of the pads while you are at it.

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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 07:01 PM
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^^^^ Looks really good!!!! Nice work
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 07:13 PM
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painted mine in place as well...bout to do it again this saturday to go red with black lettering...once you take off the caliper like you are changing the brake pads you can move it and paint the entire thing. You don't have to take off the brake line. Go to my photos and you can see the caliper...pm me if you have any questions...
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Old Oct 3, 2007 | 10:54 PM
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Here is a link I found while searching on the web.

http://www.iammoon.com/c5tech/caliper_painting.htm
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Old Oct 4, 2007 | 12:23 AM
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Originally Posted by vetteboy777
Here is a link I found while searching on the web.

http://www.iammoon.com/c5tech/caliper_painting.htm
Nice find.
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Old Oct 4, 2007 | 02:45 AM
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Like most I painted mine on the car... lots of DIY's on this.. I also painted the caliper and bracket the same RED... as for the SS on the brakes... when I did my rotor/brake install the pads I bought, Pro Stop Ceramic HAD SS on the front ones.. I get lots of complements on them....


Good Luck
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