Painting Brake Calipers

[JamieG172]

So, want to paint the front brake calipers red (looks good behind the Monza's as far as I've seen in pictures...) and also want to paint the rear drums BLACK. Went into Halfords and they have caliper paint, but for the rear drum shall I use caliper paint again (even though it's not a caliper) or just engine parts automotive paint? Also the black is offered in matt or gloss, whats are the opinions on which would look better?

Cheers guys

J

[88rsr]

just use hammerite bud if its cheaper, tough durable finish ive never had a problem with it, if not yeah caliper paint should be fine on a drum, its just because of the heat capabilites that its specced for calipers

[JamieG172]

Its about £1-£2 cheaper for the Hammerite, if that'll do the job then I think I'll get black Hammerite for the drums and for the calipers splash out and get the caliper paint (in red). Cheers!

What do I need to do to prep? I'll get a wire brush and brush down the rusty drums and the brakedust ridden calipers, but do I need to sand down/primer either the drum or caliper before painting?

[JamieG172]

Also, opinions on whether I should do the rear drums in silver or black?

[K.I.T.T.]

Black. Silver just makes it more obvious that you have drums at the rear

Ash

[JamieG172]

Thanks Ash, nothing could be worse than seeing the rusty looking drums haha! Its because the Monza's let you see far more of the brake set up (be it drum/disc) than the old 14" standard alloys I was running! Shall get this done tomorrow hopefully! Any update on what I need to do to prep the brakes (drums and calipers) ?

[MODDED9N]

To clean the front calipers, it took me about 2 and a half hours cleaning to get them gleaming and ready to paint! You are going to need something more heavy duty than a wire brush! I attached a wire brush end to my power drill and that combined with brake calliper cleaner did a nice job and cleaned them up perfect! Can send you pics if you like!

[blazeguarder]

I did my drums in satin black a while ago. Looked really smart if I say so myself! Thought about gloss but at the end of the day they are drum brakes, no need to show them off. Save the gloss for the callipers.

I took the drums off the car and sprayed them with Hammerite Direct to Rust (or something like that). Few coats and the finish was perfect. A lot of people recommended just using a brush but I wanted to get the finish as perfect as possible, and there is a bit of the drums that you can't really get to clean/paint while it was still on the car. I just used a wire brush to get as much rust off as possible and then sprayed them up. Day to dry and put them back on.

Just make sure you don't paint the actual mating face of the drums (the centre bit where the wheels touch it). Its machined flat and the paint apparently makes the wheels not sit true. I just masked mine up as best I could and then got rid of any excess with one of those paint scrapers from Homebase (the ones to get paint off windows have a good blade on them for this).

[K.I.T.T.]

You don't fancy a rear beam and disc brake setup from a higher spec Polo by any chance? Might be able to get hold of one.

I'm off abroad for a couple of months (off to the airport tomorrow night), but will let you know if it's still knocking about when I'm back.

Ash

[JonnyBCK]

a good way of cleaning them is to use a steam cleaner, from experience i only made sure there was no sign of oxidisation on the metal before painting and i never had a problem

[JamieG172]

Ah shame your not around for the next couple of months Ash, as I might be interested in the disc/beam setup but cars going in for full service etc at the end of may, after that I'm going to leave it as it is for a while I think! Apart from aesthetics theres no huge need for a 1.2 to have rear discs. PM a price anyway though if you can, still interesting stuff none the less.

Jonny is the steam cleaner just for the calipers, and can I do this with the brakes on the car or do I have to remove them?

[JonnyBCK]

na u can use a steam cleaner for loads o stuff arch liners engines, suspension hell some people on detailing world use it on there paint but yeah its really good for getting baked on brake dust carbon etc off the calipers alloys springs.
search it on youtube mate theres some good guides on there