painting calipers

[Guyver1]

The calipers on my Black Aero are looking very naff

Im thinking of painting them in situ

Ive got satin black hammerite paint, is this any good for the calipers, or would i need a specialist high temp paint

the high temp paint i already have is for exhausts, so im not sure if it will stick okay to the alloy calipers

[Max Headroom]

Hello Guyver1.

I have heard of people using Hammerite quite successfully.
However I have used Foliatec paints from Halfords, and that stuff stays on!! It's pricey though.

But whatever you use, the job is only going to be as good as the preparation. You'll need some masking tape, disposable gloves, dust mask, fitch type brushes of various sizes (be prepared to throw these away after), some damned good spirit-type degreaser, rotary wire brushes, emery cloth, a large bag of patience and plenty of time on your hands.

If you use the Foliatec paints it is critical to stir the paint pigment well. Two coats on each caliper should do it, and you will be pleased to know that one Folitec caliper paint set is just enough to do two cars.

Halfords also do their own caliper paint but I don't know anyone that has tried it.

I'm going to be doing mine before long, and will choose Foliatec again because I like the finish. It stays on, even if the preparation is not what it could be, and lasts for years.

Colour range HERE

[chris aka zaphod]

Also lasting for years - Humbrol Enamel Paint; those little tins that modellers use.

[David]

I can concur, Humbrol Airfix enamel paint works very well. Done mine over 5 yeasr ago and they still look fine.

[Audax]

If you use that humbrol enamel paint don't you end up using about 20 tins of it? I recall it didn't go very far in my model airplane making days 

[smurkenstein]

I was thinking the same.

However, a tin of hammerite will just about last forever - which is what I used - silver. Hammerite can be applied directly on top of rust apparently, but in my case I gave the calipers a wash with the jetwash lance.

[chris aka zaphod]

1 tin of each colour did all four calipers for me, with ample to spare.
HTH

[phoenix]

I've used Hammerite with varying degrees of success.

On the calipers that I shot blasted and then painted, it is still nice and silver, but on the ones I wire brushed, it is needing re-application after around 2 years.

As with any paint process, preparation is the key to success.

[Guyver1]

Also lasting for years - Humbrol Enamel Paint; those little tins that modellers use.

Were those painted in situ??

they look great

also, my rear discs are looking really bad too, not the braking part, just the round bit where the wheel bolts up to, can this be painted aswell???

[Guyver1]

Can you guys settle an arguement please

Soon as I get chance ill be painting the calipers, my teenage son says that they HAVE to be RED

The car is metallic black, so I was going to paint them black

which do you think will be the best ?

I dont want to look like a typical boy racer (even if Im driving an Aero )

[phoenix]

If you want to be a teenage chav, by all means paint them red.

Personally I like silver but if the rust starts to show you'll know about it.

[Max Headroom]

Yellow might look darned smart on a black car too. Also Gold

My personal thoughts are that black might be boring    But I don't think that painting them a colour will make it look like a boy-racers car at all.
Its all a personal thing and individual choice.
If it was mine, I'd choose yellow simply because you see red ones all the time.

[Audax]

I'm not one for bothering about this kind of things or getting a kick out of it so personally I wouldn't bother... but, IMO red calipers suit sporty/fast cars with big brakes (or upgraded brakes) to draw attention to them so red wouldn't really look right on a SAAB unless you'd gone for bigger brakes and all the other upgrades but even then I wouldn't want to draw attention to them as a SAAB is a nice sleeper car rather than something that wants to shout about itself. Silver/black would look OK and be more in keeping with a SAAB, I think yellow or gold again would be drawing too much attention to something that doesn't really deserve it, if you did go for gold then a flat gold rather than shiny would be much better.

Of course If you want to go for a proper chav look then I'd suggest buying some huge and open alloys (something like 20" for a 9-5) so you can see all the brake discs and calipers and then you'd have to fit some drum brakes on the back of the car and then paint these bright red so that everyone can see that despite you putting giant wheels on your car you couldn't afford to sort the brakes out. I think that they do this as some kind of warning to other road users. 

[Max Headroom]

... I think that they do this as some kind of warning to other road users. 

Heheh 

[phoenix]

The other problem with any colour other than silver/black is that they show the dust and dirt far more and require regular cleaning.