Caliper painting this week
 

Well I've read all the posts, ordered my POLAK stencils and bought my dupli paint (Silver for the lettering and red for the caliper) and I just wanted to see if anybody has any last minute advice. One question I have is did everybody who used stencils use an exacto knife to remove them after painting. I don't want to tear/chip the paint when I remove the stencils yet I have serious doubts about my exacto skills. Any other advice would be much appreciated. Thanks guys. :cool:

Sounds interesting!
 

Can I get some pictures and a write-up after your done? I may be interested in doing this myself.

Thanks.

I'm gonna try to do at least my front wheels this sunday. I chose to go with the red duplicolor kit. I will try to post some pics of the process.

Your going to paint the hubs also? Might as well do both, I did my rotors black and the calipers yellow.

http://www.sendersnj.com/rx8/Mike/rx8club/1019_541.jpg

Ill get some pics of the whole process up when I'm done. i'm not sure whether I'm gonna paint the hubs I'll have to take a look when I get them apart.

Alright guys, I started this morning at 11:30 and finished at around 2:45. Three coats of Duplicolor red paint per caliper. Here are some pics.

First one is just a pic with the wheel off
Second pic is the cleaning process
Third pic is the kit I used

Then I put on the 3 coats

After I finished the fronts, I enlisted the help of my cousin for the rears (I was getting tired).

And here is the finished product. Also, I would strongly suggest getting a better quality brush to do the painting, because the brush that came in the Duplicolor kit is very cheaply made (as you can tell from the last pic)

I might add that the brush wasn't meant to be used for a bit then wait until the next coat. What I did was go to a craft store and bought a bag of them for about $2-$3 and used one per caliper per coat and then disposed of each of them afterwards. That way the brush never got the chance to wear out and I didn't have to worry about cleaning it between coats either. The brush that comes with that kit is a very common disposable craft brush.

Nice work and pics, Soundave. Thanks. :)

Thanks DMenac, I should have bought more brushes, hehe. I had to switch over to my model car brushes and a foam brush after this one crapped out on me. I would not recommend getting the kit, instead, I would just get some brake pad/caliper cleaner and the paint of your choice along with some disposable brushes (like DMenac said). It might be cheaper than getting the kit.

Looks good soundwave. Thanks. I was gonna get to my calipers but a little bitch named Jeanne got in the way. I'm getting really sick of these hurricanes, both the storms and football team. Anyway I WILL get to it this weekend and post pics. I decided to go with dupli spray paint as I don't trust my painting skills(never could stay inside the lines). Went with the 1200 degree tolerance paint. We'll see how it turns out.

This question may be a repeat of another thread, but I think one concern of putting too many coats of paint on the calipers was its negative effect on brake fluid temperatures (i.e., causing brake fluid to boil?) . Any truth to this?

I dont know.. since there have been a number of people to do this mod, seems as if someone would have complained by now if it actually was a problem.

I hope not. I was going to stop at 2 coats, but I don't think I cleaned my calipers well enough, because some of the brake dust stains were still visible after the 1st coat. I decided to go with 3 coats just in case. I haven't heard anything about brake fluid effects, but I will try to look into it and post what results I can find. Thanks for the compliment jtm0311. :)

Do you just paint this stuff on? There is no need to remove the caliper right? What if you get some on the rotor or hoses.. does it just wipe right off?

No worries?

O.K. I managed to get to my calipers finally. Here are some pics of the process. I think the stencils from POLAK give them a more finished look and make the job more professional looking. What do you guys think? If anybody has any questions of the process I'll be glad to help.

Yah, you just paint the stuff on. I didn't remove the caliper or the pads, just the wheels. Have some paint thinner handy and wipe off any paint that gets on the rotor or other areas you didn't mean to paint on.

[IMG]caliper[/IMG]

Next is my clear side markers. Also does anybody have any recommendations for tint jobs in the central florida area?

I know. I need to wash and wax this weekend. :cool:

calipers
 

Do the painted calipers start looking bad i.e. getting stained, after a few thousand miles?

I don't know yet. I guess I'll have to wait and see. However I doubt it. I think somebody would have mentioned it by now. :cool:

And here are mine :) .

AnilS.

Awesome Caliper's Dude!!!
 

Those are awesome dude!...Nice job, good hi-res pic's to!...Thank's for keeping RX-8's reputation going! :) ...What color should i paint my caliper's?...when i get my 8! it's going to be a Titanium Gray!