Thinking of ordering the caliper paint kit from Dupli-Color. Do you guys have any experience with this product, how easy or extra steps to have a great finish.

Thanks in advance for the input.

 

Do a Forum search and you will find tons of posts/threads on this subject.

 

He's been a member since 2008?????

 

I've used it on previous cars and I can tell you from that experience that patience is the key to good results. I don't know how meticulous you want to be about getting a "great" finish, but here are a couple of suggestions:

1) You might want to clean up the calipers a bit before painting them. I like to use a rotary grinder to clean up some of the casting flash that you typically find on factory calipers.
2) Do both the calipers and the brackets or it will look funny. I see too many people take shortcuts on this.
3) Take the calipers and brackets off the car, you'll do a much better job with them than trying to brush the stuff on while it's on the car.
4) Consider how you will handle the "corvette" printed on the front calipers before you start. Do you want to make them a different color?

Last, consider NOT doing the duplicolor approach at all. I know this isn't a popular sentiment on the forum, but I think the duplicolor thing is fine for imports, Mustangs, Camaros, etc. but I PERSONALLY prefer the higher quality, more finished look of powdercoated calipers for a Corvette. I bought the candy blue ones below for my car to colormatch, but they're also available in black, red, and candy red through forum vendor TPS Motorsports.

 

I used the duplicolor red brushed on paint. I used a steel brush to clean them up. I did about three coats and left the calipes in place. They look great!

 

The DUPLICOLOR kits (AUTOZONE, NAPA, O'REILLYS) will work just fine. They're inexpensive and easy for a weekend DIY job, especially by a novice owner. You don't need to remove the calipers to accomplish the project. No brake fluid to worry about. The limitation is the availability of colors. You need to thoroughly clean the calipers to get good results. The paint dries quickly. There's enough paint in the pint to apply two coats or two vehicles.

The one caveat that I've experienced is the inferior brush that's provided in the kit. Spend a little extra money and get a better quality brush from a hobby shop with fine bristles. The paint will spread better.

Some people apply the silica based paint to just the outside of the caliper. I started to do that and thought it would look pretty half a**. So after a thorough cleaning and masking, I painted the entire calipers. It took me all of four hours to do it. Actually it takes longer to prep than to paint. I've done two daily driver vehicles. I used red in both instances which is very durable. Painting them body color doesn't do it for me. Both still look as they did when I applied the product four years ago.

Powder coating is another option if that's your choice. It's not expensive, but you do have to R&R the brake system. You either have to send your calipers into a vendor or buy another set. That's down time to consider. And from twenty feet away and behind the wheels, not many would know DUPLICOLOR from powder coating.

Your choice...

 

I used DupliColor paint to do the caliper brackets on my DD. It was easy to apply, but I have found that it has a tendency to wear off rather quickly in spots. I used a product called Folia Tec on my C5 and it has held up very well.

As an alternative, I would recommend you getting the calipers powdercoated. It will look great and last a long time.

 

Thanks guys for all the info and advise. Will make a decision today, will let you guys know what I went and post some pics as well.

Thanks Again

 

I used a rattle can of VHT purchased from AutoZone and it did fine.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-p...-calipers.html

 

Any thoughts on the Alu caliper covers instead?

 

Well said

 

Just throwing my two cents in but the Rustoleum High Performance Enamels work very well and they actually can be made to come pretty darn close to the body color! (if you want that match)

I wanted my calipers to match my Magnetic Red and the guy at Lowes was willing to play around adding some tints here and there and got it almost exactly to match!

I like the available products for calipers but I didn't like the brighter red with the darker red color of the car.

Cleaned, primed and brushed it on over a year or so ago and still look great with no peeling, chipping etc.

Just tossing it out there for what its worth.

 

That is what I used on my Mag Red II, and found one of their colors that matches almost perfectly...
Been on there about a year now, and still looks great!

 

roscoe,

Yep, its Regal Red and with a few shots of black\brown tint it looks pretty darn close!!!

Price was right too....$13.00 for a can and you end up with alot left over....

 

I also want to paint mine and have Mag Red II and did not know where to get this color because the Auto Stores only have tourch red. When you got yours at Lowes how did you know it would match in the store when they were mixing it?? Thanks

 

jbower,

The Rustoleum color is Regal Red. Right out of the can its close but not close enough. (at least for me)

I had some touch up paint that I put on a white card maybe a 1" x 1" square to use as a guide. Now you will have to sweet talk someone at Lowes or HD as most of the time they will tell you they cannot mix\tint the Rustoleum colors as they are not setup for that. But I am in there all the time and I assured them I would pay for the can of paint no matter what.

And OK, I also flirtted with the gal behind the counter a bit and it helped!

Have some patience and ask them to do it when they are not busy and I bet they get it really close.

 

I'll have to check when I get home from work, but I believe Regal Red is the one. There were actually two that were very close, and I brought one of them home, but it was just a tad too "red", so I brought that one back (had to flirt with the counter gal also because I'd opened it...). The second one is an excellent match (say 95%) without mixing. Mike, I thought I was picky....

jb, I'll try to see if I can get some decent pictures, and confirm the name when I get home from work. Either way, mixed or not, you'll be happy with the results.


roscoe

 

Thanks Mike, I will try and sweet talk them into mixing it for me.

 

You will get trashed on here for even bringing up the subject. Believe me, I know! But, I have red covers on my Velocity Yellow C6 and I have recieved many compliments on them, and in fact won a top 10 trophy at a pretty good size Vette show in Tennessee this spring. They're easy to install, help keep the wheels clean and you can take them off in minutes if a forum member makes you feel bad for having them.