Painting Car Brake Calipers

After buying new wheels fro my car I noticed the calipers were more visible than before, this wasn't a very good look for the car and made it seem rusty and old. Therefore, I bought some caliper paint, it cost around £17.00/ $22.00 for the blue paint on Ebay, Brushes I already had along with a dremel. From start to finish of each calliper it took around 1 hour 30 minutes to do. I did this on a sunny weekend during the Covid Lockdown in the U.K.

For this quick project you'll need:

• A Dremel with various sanding attachments
• Caliper Paint
• Some Brushes
• A Jack
• A Wrench

The first step is to jack the car up and remove the wheel you are working on. The next steps can go in two ways; the first is to paint the caliper while it is still on the car and use a fine brush to prevent getting paint on the disc brake (this is what I did), the second is to remove the caliper fully, take it apart and then paint it fully.

Starting with a light sander to remove most of the dust and grit first and then moving onto a bit more harsher grain to start to remove and rust. The final sand is a softer grain which helps to smooth the surface and polish it up.

The next stage is to remove the caliper off the disc and hang it up so that it's not pulling on the brake oil line. I did this with a couple of cable ties connected to the suspension.

This stage is quite self explanitory, using the big brush to paint the main body and the fine brush to paint between the sections and around curves.

It's best to start with a thin layer and build the colour up than to put a thick layer on and have to remove it.

The drying time for the paint is up to 24 hours to be fully cured. I left this to dry for 2 hours before carefully reassembling the caliper and putting the wheel back on so that I could start the next caliper. After 2 hours the paint has started to cure however it is still sensitive to touch and you can leave finger prints. I would advise waiting longer if you can however I know this isn't always possible hence being cautious is always the best solution.

Good luck with painting your calipers and remember a bit of common sense here and there can help a lot.