Weekend project: painted calipers, painted engine cover & cross member, plus
 

Painted the calipers on my silver 8 this weekend. I spent most of Friday evening and all day Saturday on this, plus a few other mods. There are several things I figured out as I went that will help others out.

1) The front rotors come off with only two philips screws, but make sure you break them loose before removing any of the calipers. Have someone apply the brakes to hold them from turning.
2) Remove the pads before painting the calipers, just pay attention to were the little clips on the front calipers go. The inside and outside clips are different.
3) Home depot sells 18" pre-taped masking plastic. Run the tape around the wheel well and pull the plastic to the axle. Saves a lot of time and tape. (one roll is plenty).
4) Use a brake cleaner and a new wire brush to clean before painting.
5) If you paint the inside of the rotors because of the rust (another thred on this), use 1/4" pinstrip to make the inside circle. It is easily curved and makes a nice edge.
6) I painted the heat sheild as well, clean the same as calipers and rotors.
7) Save enough paint in the spray can for touch up when your done. You WILL need it. I sprayed the paint into a container then used a brush for the touch up.
8) Take advantage of the car being up on stands and the wheels off for a day. I cleaned the wheel wells, waxed the wheels inside and out, waxed the lug nuts, cleaned under the hood, painted the cross member, did the fog light rewire (very easy), changed the oil and filter, and finally rotated the tires when reinstalled. If I was really organized and thinking, I would have Dawn washed the car for a good clay baring and waxing while the it was in the garage on stands!

The paint I used was Dupli-color engine enamal. It's good for 500 degrees and that should be good (hopefully). I have caplier decals from SHOWOFF. PM him if you want to order them, he stated in several threds that they will last. If you want to paint the on POLAK has a pretty cool method as well. He is selling the masks as well.

I think that is it....here is some pics....

Before shot....

before w/ rotor off...

rear taped off for painting...

finished front....

finished rear...

wheels on....

Painting under the hood...

XcelR8

What a nice job you did. I wish you lived closer to Spokane. I'd hire you to do mine. I'm not very good at this stuff.

Thank you...I think a plane ticket and hotel stay would not make it worth it!!! LOL

XcelR8:

What's that warning label in front of the radiator overflow tank?

Very nice job XCELR8, will do the same on my red8 as soon as i get it. Been waiting since before chrismast for it . Was told last tuesday it was on the train from Vancouver to Montreal. When i will get it i am taking two days off to work on it. Thanks for the tips on the caliper's. A la prochaine.

The warning label was ordered from e-Bay. Do a search for rx8 and it will come up. I just saw them the other day. Looks factory!

Sorry it's sideways. Tried rotation it, but it cut off the edge.

Yeah, riiiiiight Bill. :D

Looks awesome, XcelR8. Nice work.

Very nice work. I did exactly the same, but opposite colors, silver and black on a sunlight silver.

http://www.rx8tristateclub.com/project_rotor.asp

$12 for decals? Thats pretty high!

Looks great. This is probably my next mod project. I was thinking of adding Polak's Mazdaspeed caliper stickers though.

I saw Polak's method after I was done with the painting or I probably would have used it. I will if I have to redo them for any reason. I am expecting the decals anyday and will post a pic with them on.

Here is a pic with the decals on...
They look good, are easy to line up, properly sized for front and rear calipers and have held up for quite a few heat cycles...look like they will last.

rear...

here's mine...haven't done rear yet...maybe this weekend...not the best picture...i used duplicolor(i think) caliper painting kit, available from AutoZone...

Very nice. I heard they were coming out with a kit. I will have to check the kit out. I have a couple of people at work that want their Mustang calipers none.

It worked really well for me. It is a brush on paint, not spray, but that was fine, because it meant I didn't have to do as much taping off/removal of components.

I only had the chance to do one of my calipers last weekend. It looks marvelous. I bought the Duplo caliper kit like ScudRunner. I got mine at Meijers for $15. They only had red and yellow at that time. It is easy to paint on. I didn't do any masking what so ever, I am good at painting only where I want it at. Two coats look very good and I took nothing apart. I am only painting what shows, though. My only concern is the heat resistance, it's only 500 degrees.

Tomorrow, I am taking the day off to finish the other three and I will be posting some pics tomorrow night. Red on my velocity red. No logo though, not yet anyway. :D

I went against the logo, too. This might be blasphemy, but I didn't want to put Mazdaspeed on my calipers when they're not, and I also think the care might already say "RX-8" on it in enough places(especially with my sweet ass sweet brake light mod). Two coats did pretty well on mine, and they're holding up perfectly well after a week of driving. I painted a little beyond just what shows, but I just couldn't stop once I got going. :D