Got into my "to do list" last week (had the week off from work). Started with the easy stuff, like soldering the HVAC so now I have a bright display again!

Installed my stainless vent screens. Super easy and I took the advise of several members and used Velcro so removal for cleaning will be easy. I picked up two packages of oval shaped, low profile self stick Velcro in the craft department of the local Walmart. Cost was less than $5.

Now, for the PIA!!! Yesterday I figured I'd end vacation with doing my pads, rotors and painting my calipers. Jacked the car up onto my jack stands. Removed all the wheels. Removed the caliper bolts and moved the calipers. Now the @!@**$^@%^! part!!! The damn bracket bolts wouldn't budge! Tried a ratchet, hit it with my hand, then a hammer, nothing! Borrowed a cordless impact wrench..... nope! Buddy brought over a compressor and air wrench..... nada!! Tried a curved breaker bar..... with every ounce of strength I had, FINALLY got them to break loose. Now, I had to this x8 because EVERY !@(*$&@^#$%#@ bolt was tighter than...... well, lets just say they were LOCKED in there! With only 60k miles, I assume they've never been done before.
Add to this, while removing the driver rear rotor, the e-brake stuck to the rotor and I somehow pulled the retainer clip that holds the pads to the hub. Not having a clue how it was on..... I wasted nearly 1.5 hours trying to get THAT damn thing back in place. Just when I quit..... I got it back.

Now, time to prep the calipers and brackets for paint. I got the G2 kit so figured it would be quick and easy. Well, it was easy, but not quick. Cleaning and prep was effortless. Once everything was cleaned and dried, I mixed the paint and reactor and started painting. The little brush supplied doesn't cover a lot of area per stroke. Plus, I couldn't find a comfortable spot to sit, kneel, squat while holding the caliper and trying to paint it. Apply paint to caliper and bracket, move onto the next one. Repeat until I do all four corners. Now, apply second coat, to each corner. Repeat for a THIRD coat. By this point, my back is killing me from trying to position myself to comfortably paint. It was a good 2 hours to paint all four calipers and all four brackets, three times each (and I didn't paint every surface, only those that can easily be seen). Once I was done, I hobbled around my house looking like a 137 year old. I still ache today and I still have to "sand" off the lettering on the front calipers and install the new rotors and pads, and put it all back together!







Now, I just watched the install video for the Vararam CAI, as I was thinking about buying one. Yeah....... not so sure I'll be doing that!

Oh, pics coming after I get it back together!

 

I had to grind both rear calipers to clear my +2 Baer rotors, and I just used hi-temp rattle can paint. Still looks great 8 years later.

 

when your done and the car is all back together, you will step back looking at it and forget most of the trouble because it is so worth it !!!

 

Age and pain are synonymous. IM 72 years old. I will attempt anything I think I can handle, but I now approach is a little differently.

Take your rotors, calipers, wheel wells tire etc. I do mine once a year, but here is the difference NOW. I don't attack the whole project at one time. For example, I just look at one corner Now. I look at that corner and NOT the whole project.
I remove one tire and detail just that corner, taking as much time as it takes to do it right. If all goes as planed I will move to the next corner on the same side of the car, in the event that I run out of gas, the one side will look even.. IN the event that I become sore, I don't not look to complete the total task in one day. There was a time where age an pain was not a concern, but as we all get older, we lose sight of that. I also find that sometimes, I can walk away for an hour and come back with a full tank to put in a few more hours.

I see so many people detailing their CCW's unprotected polished forged aluminum wheels. They will invest an hour in the first wheel, 45 minutes in the second wheel, 30 minutes in the third wheel, and the fourth wheel gets the good enough 15 minutes. The reason? because the older we get, the less gas there is in our tank.

Those caliper bracket bolts have a 125 ft pound torque spec. Which would appear to be an easy issue, but however those bolts are coated with "RED" Loctite. A little heat will make it easy. But you have to know that up front. I said the brackets, not the calipers.

Sometimes asking here will yield an answer that will make things easy, since many of us have a lot of experience. The ebrake spring is a no brainer if you use the wire tie method. All these things are found with a search.

So what I am trying to say is as we get older, don't bit off more than you can chew. If the first corner takes a few hours, don't invest half that time in the second corner.

I find that a big project looks smaller if you focus on little bites. Don't underestimate the time it will take to do a project for the first time.

MY rotors are 14 years old. with over 80,000 miles on them. Very recent photos





Just some insight
Bill aka ET.

 

Amen to that! The worst part about the painting was I had only a few hours before the paint would set, and no longer be good to apply. Now that they're done, and the pads/rotors are new, I shouldn't have to worry about doing that again, any time soon!

My wife reminds me, often, that I'm not as young as I used to be.... my body reminded me of that last night (and today).

Your car looks great! What's the secret to keeping the rotors looking like that?

 

 

If it was easy, everyone would do it !!!

 

If you can take more time you might enjoy the work. It is a hobby.
Get a good bench, chair, Beer and tools that make life easy.
When I take my own sweet time, set up and think sometimes the job goes quicker.

 

Over the years, I have developed a method of keeping them looking nice... the biggest thing is I use OEM ACDelco soft semi metallic pads... they polish the rotors, and keep the rotor heat down. So many people want Ceramic pads.. why because they dust less.. Ceramic pads are just a buzz word for many manufacturers. They only use enough ceramic to call them ceramic. Ceramic is a hard surface with a very poor frictional coefficient. they require much more pressure to stop and because of this they create a lot of heat. You don't notice the increase in pressure because of the Brake booster.

The other issue is rust. So if you coat the inside of the rotors ( the vane area ) with a high quality VHT paint, coat the holes, etc, your rotors will look like mine. I detail them once a year. along with my calipers and wheel wells.

The soft pads keep the rotors bright and not discolored by heat soak. What little bit of dust I get is whisked away in about 30 seconds a wheel before I put it away. My rotors are two piece, the centers are aluminum with powder coating, my rotors are bigger than stock but lighter than stock .

Keeping a car nice looking is a matter of focus.. the four corners are critical to keeping a car looking good...

I see guys here all the time posting photos of their wheels or tires, and many times I see, filthy dirty wheel wells. which detract so much from a car that is otherwise clean. You can see the underside of the rear, so its an important focus to keep that clean as well.
dirty



clean






Engine bay, and interior , and the over all look of the paint. My paint is much better than a New car finish. for Me Zaino is the reason. It only takes a one time application a year, it last forever, its 99% optically clear and is UV stable, UV rays can take its toll on the clarity and depth of the clear coat. Been using Zaino for 17 years.

MY car is extremely shiny, and I haven't Zaino'd it in over a year. Been very sick

 

^That is the kind of person I would want to buy a used car from.

 

Every time I take my car out... someone wants to buy it. I also have documented every bit of maintenance, modification receipt, upgrades, notes, etc. Receipts and date of purchase. Every piece of paper from GM on my car, build sheet, window sticker, etc.

 

I painted my calipers when I first bought my C5 back in '02 but I pulled them off the car and re-installed them with braided SS lines since they were already off. I now have a set of C6 Z06 brakes that will be going on in place of these (see my recent thread in C5 gen) so everything will be coming off again. Bill (ET) gives great advice on how to approach this kind of project and I have learned that method is the one to use to achieve the best results.

Here's a pic of my calipers back in '02 right before painting - very easy to paint like this.


After




New calipers - I had these powder coated.

 

ED ! you could have saved all the time and effort by going with Fake caliper covers.



I actually saw these on a car... they look horrible... But I guess someone likes them, they sell them all over the internet.

 

 

I could still remove the caliper completely at this point (I haven't put the car back yet). If I'm not happy with the results of the painting I did, I could get some high heat rattle can and paint them again. I honestly didn't think this job would be as much of a pain as it was.


And I'm not a fan of the caliper covers either. Just not for me.

 

I would think that the covers would hold heat in, and that would be worse than what they look like

 

ED Knows me, at least I thought he did. To suggest fake anything is so far from my vision of automotive technology. But Ed didn't laugh so I guess he and others missed the grins and jeers. My sarcasm was in direct response to The Amount of effort ED had to put into these rotors and calipers. I thought he would have got a laugh out of it.
I was sadly mistaken, and I feel so ashamed now... life will become meaningless to me..

 

Got the joke, Bill. Just needed to make sure everyone understands my revulsion of those covers. Many have bought those - not sure how anyone justifies something like that. It's good we all have different taste. Variety is the spice of life - or so I'm told.

 

I agree with the comment that yes it was a lot of work, but when you are done you will look back and say you did a good job.

 

Patches those brakes look awesome ! I truly enjoy your attention to style and detail. Count me impressed.