Caliper Painting

[nik]

Dear All,

I'm going to spend the next few days painting my calipers, I've picked up the thread on how to do it so I am fine with that.

However, the bit I need some help with is what colour do I go for.

My car is Zenith Blue which quite a dusky colour, I have just purchased some smoked black chrome wheels (only 5 quite thin spokes - so the calipers will be in view all the time)

My thoughts so far are as follows

1. Red, looks great but not sure if it will match my car colour and wheels

2. Yellow, definitely not I have a problem with this as I am not trying to disguise my cars braking system and am likely to get comments, similar to the guys who badge BMW 318's with M badges

3. Original Black, would look good but I want a change

4. Blue, think this would work well, but would have to be close to the car colour not a tourqoise or pale blue.

Any ideas or pics would be appreciated,

Thanks as always

Nik

[jinijazz]

I would definately paint in SILVER for that color combo. IMHO of course.

[Westcoaster]

From what you have said about the 'other' colours, I would say the same colour as your car. Get and autobody supply shop to mix up an aerosol can of enamel to match, let dry apply white decals and your finished.

[Eric (Plug Guy)]

Zenith is a stunning color, with tints of purple. I'd definitely reconsider Yellow.

If Yellow is out completely, go with Red. It will look like it belongs.

[Westcoaster]

Zenith is a stunning color, with tints of purple. I'd definitely reconsider Yellow.

If Yellow is out completely, go with Red. It will look like it belongs.

I had a RX-7 in a deep blue pearl (Brave Blue Mica) and did the calipers in yellow, personally I liked it, besides Porsche themselves use yellow for the ceramic brake system...

[djomlas]

stick with red, cant go wrong with it

[koya1893]

stick with red, cant go wrong with it

I'm re-painting my calikpers with orignal color they started to fade and the clear coat from what I can tell is bubbling. Where do I get the "porsche" decal? Or is it a stamp lettering?

Ben

[rountreed]

I would go with Silver as my 1st choice and Red as my 2d. IMHO

[Westcoaster]

stick with red, cant go wrong with it

I'm re-painting my calikpers with orignal color they started to fade and the clear coat from what I can tell is bubbling. Where do I get the "porsche" decal? Or is it a stamp lettering?

Ben

I got mine from here, Rich has great products and the service is tops! http://www.xenonmods.com/

[djomlas]

yea, get them at xenonmods.

i used the brush on application one, no clear coat, i had it on couple of cars and so far no chipping or flaking off, and also if you were to get some chips its easy to touch it up.

heres a pic b4 and after (calipers painted, decals, centercaps handpainted, and new lugnuts)

[Sboxin]

definately Red !

Our Cobalt 02S looks great with the Red calipers -- and now red H&R

springs to match

The color really does show up through the wheel when viewing from

the side traveling down the road.

IMHO - silver blends in with the rotor too much, yellow looks too bright

on a Blue car, body color match blends in also -- therefore Red is the

correct color and Porsche chose it for the S to be distinctive and show

through the wheel when turning, maybe like the fire hot brakes in the

dark, eh?

Anyway, good luck on the paint job,

Ed

[986Jim]

Looks awesome, im doing mine this spring and after looking at that, cant wait to do it. Problem is, I'm too busy driving the car in the summer to park it and work on stuff like that..

[djomlas]

i did all 4 calipers in about 2 hrs, i think i did 2-3 coats per caliper.

so its not like you will be wasting your whole day to do it.

[986Jim]

i did all 4 calipers in about 2 hrs, i think i did 2-3 coats per caliper.

so its not like you will be wasting your whole day to do it.

Yeah but thats 2 hours of me not driving! :cursing:

Lol..

So you painted them with 2-3 coats, did one side at a time I'm guessing with a jack. You left 20 mins between coats tops and put the stickers on kinda wet and put the wheel on to cure with heat and time. So 60 mins total per side wheel off three coats, stickers wheels back on kinda thing.. Hmmm... I have a heat gun too, could help with drying time...

What did you use to paint? VHT Caliper paint and paint it on or somehting you brushed on? In the past I used VHT caliper paint sprayed it into the cap, and brushed it on, works great. But never turned out glossy...

[mee]

My thoughts:

Your car is a beautiful, slightly subtle color that is asking for attention. Your black, chrome wheels are the same--subtle but asking for attention.

I would not go for red or yellow. They are too loud and screaming for attention. They will be fighting for attention from the car and wheels. I think they will win.

I would vote for silver or even a glossy black. Additionally, you won't have to worry about poseur comments about S brakes or PCCB. The other problem with brightly painted brakes is that you have to clean them. Dirt just stands out. With silver or black, they can be dirty and no big deal. I think I would agree with you that the blue would have to match and think it would be too subtle to be worth a custom color.

My 2 cents...

[djomlas]

i did all 4 calipers in about 2 hrs, i think i did 2-3 coats per caliper.

so its not like you will be wasting your whole day to do it.

Yeah but thats 2 hours of me not driving! :cursing:

Lol..

So you painted them with 2-3 coats, did one side at a time I'm guessing with a jack. You left 20 mins between coats tops and put the stickers on kinda wet and put the wheel on to cure with heat and time. So 60 mins total per side wheel off three coats, stickers wheels back on kinda thing.. Hmmm... I have a heat gun too, could help with drying time...

What did you use to paint? VHT Caliper paint and paint it on or somehting you brushed on? In the past I used VHT caliper paint sprayed it into the cap, and brushed it on, works great. But never turned out glossy...

i used caliper painting kit from Murrays (also found at autozone), its the brush-on kit.

the way that i did them was lifeted the front on both sides, painted one coat on one wheel, and then went onto the other side, cleaned up and put one coat on that side, then went back to the side i started and pu another color. waited few mins and put another coat on other side. then i did the same thing to the rear calipers. they turned out great, i did a few cars with came can of paint, and still have a lot left. when i first saw the can i tought it wont be enough for one car, but i did a few cars with 2 coats per caliper in all cars.

i painted my calipers before the decals showed up, so then when they did show up i just took one wheel off at the time and applied the decal.

[boggtown]

Id wait a day before putting the decals on. I left mine on jack stands for a day and put the decals on right before the wheels. The paint will be clean and ready then, not mushy. I wouldnt risk getting your fingerprint in the paint.