Painted the brake calipers

[KrisZ]

One of the looks I hate is the look of a rusty brake caliper seen through a nice alloy rim.

First is our 10 year old Mazda 3. I did the calipers in silver when the car was new, but ten winters finally took their toll. I decided on black this time. Full brake job was done as well, hence the new rotor.
Before


After


Next up is our grand caravan.

Before


After.


I'm hoping the black will look nice longer and brake dust will not be noticeable as much as it was on silver.

 

[Cujet]

Looks nice. I do the same thing to my calipers. No special paint, just rattle-can hammer-finish dark bronze. Keeps the car looking clean, without saying "hey, look at me".

Here in Florida, it holds up well.

 

[larryinnewyork]

Looks nice.
That's Pride of Ownership and Workmanship.

Today I was going to do a 'front' brake job but I may wait another Week (backyard shed needs painting).
I also want to repack the Wheel Bearings.
I will also paint the Calipers.

I see you painted the Calipers while assembled.
Makes the job alot easier.

Did you use paint that takes several hours to dry or 15 minutes ? ? ?
I have never used the quick drying paint before, but am going to try it on my Calipers.

 

[Donald]

Nice. Do you do it with caliper attached to the brake line or remove the brake line? Does caliper paint last any longer than plain spray paint?

 

[Mr Nice]

Nice.

I don't like some that are painted yellow, red or gold, looks silly even on exotic sports car.

 

[demarpaint]

Nice job. I like the idea of painting them in place and not making a big deal out of it. Next time I have the wheels off my van for a tire rotation I'm going to clean them up with brake cleaner, a little bit of masking tape, then prime and paint them in place.

 

[BHopkins]

Nice. I'm totally in agreement with you that the look of rusted brake calipers is a turnoff. And I like your choice of colors that don't shout "look at me". My philosophy on car maintenance is that when you let a car look run down, you perceive it as such and tend to be less prone to take care of it. And it becomes such. It soon becomes unreliable.

But when you take the time to keep the little details all fixed up and nice, you will have a car that will last. And little things like painting the brake calipers are what makes up a well maintained car.

 

[Boczech]

Nice job and has give me another thing to do on my vehicles.

 

[bigjl]

Not a fan of painting the calipers like that.

There is overspray on the discs in the bottom picture and it looks like all the pad fixings have been painted black aswell.

 

[JustinH]

I agree, I paint my calipers with high temp paint and a little foam brush. I did mine black also.

 

[KrisZ]

Thank you for all the kind words. This was a quick rattle can job using Tremclad gloss black rust paint, it's the same as Rustoleum in US. I used wire brush on the rust and just cleaned the calipers the best I could. That's it.

For those saying that they would've done a more detailed job, good for you. I'm at a point in my life where I simply don't have the time to tinker around the cars all day long. Before marriage and kids I would disassemble the caliper and pads so that the hardware and the rotor did not get any paint on them, but here is the kicker, once kids showed up and I didn't have time to do all this, I also learned that the quick rattle can job using rust paint will hold up even better than my previous detailed jobs. The over spray is removed as I back out of the driveway and the paint on the shims, and other hardware will be easily removed during the next brake job.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Looks good. I just want my calipers to stay the plain, clean metal look they are. Although, there was a factory option for red painted calipers. If I were to paint them I think I would either go with black like you or a blue.

 

[Vikas]

Why is the back side of the pad also colored? Did you not remove the pads before painting the calipers (Caravan)?