I will be the first to admit, each time I've put disc brakes on a car, the last thing I thought about was painting the calipers and non-braking rotor surfaces. Well, guess what immediately happens? Rust, and plenty of it, accumulates on all the exposed raw metal. Now, if you've got solid steel wheels, or even hubcaps, the rusty components aren't that big of a deal. But, those of you with open-windowed wheels know how distracting the "uglied" brake parts can be.
Whether you're installing discs for the first time, or are like me and just sick of looking at brakes that seem as if they've just come out of the ocean, DupliColor has the cure--Caliper Paint. The ceramic-based, brush-on paint is designed to withstand temperatures up to 500 degrees (intermittent), resist brake dust, and dry fast (great for those like me--no patience!). Best of all, it's easy to apply without appearing like a kindergarten art project when finished! I got my hands on one of the kits (the basic silver), along with a can of their Textured Metallic paint, and decided to give them a try. No kidding, in less than a couple hours, I saw a night-and-day difference (on one side, mind you). After polishing up the wheel and giving a little life to the tire, it looked like a completely different car. See for yourself...and when you get tired of staring at your fatigued frontend (or hind quarters), go grab yourself some DupliColor!
The DupliColor caliper paint kit comes in a variety of color options; we chose the basic silver metallic. The brush-on paint is enough to cover four calipers. We also opted to use DupliColor's metallic gray spray paint to detail various suspension components. Included in the kit is a can of caliper cleaner to aid in preparation.
We figured the Chevy's front discs were long overdue for a makeover, as you can tell. Even the control arms were buried deep in multiple seasons' worth of dirt, grease, and junk.
With the car safely supported on jackstands and the wheel removed, we began with a wire brush, ridding the excess buildup on not only the caliper, but the balljoint (we found it buried under a 1/2 inch of crap), control arm, etc., as well.
After spending a while with the wire brush (and gasket scraper), we blew all the loose debris off with an air hose before continuing on with the caliper cleaner. When using any type of solvent cleaner, be cautious not to get any on parts you don't intend to paint later. It's also a good idea to have some kind of device to catch loose grime and solvent immediately below.
With everything pretty much as clean as could be (at least for the amount of effort we put in!), the caliper was removed and hung to the side with bailing wire so we could concentrate on the rotor and spindle.
DupliColor's Textured Metallic Coating was used to pretty up the non-braking rotor surfaces as well as the spindle; the control arms were simply painted semi-flat black. Instead of masking off the brake surface on the rotor, we simply wiped off excess paint with lacquer thinner later.
Now the fun part--brushing on the caliper paint! If you're a steady hand, you won't need to do much, if any, masking for this part. Just be cautious of stray brush hairs wandering off, and stay between the lines!
While you've got everything apart, make sure your brake pads have enough meat on them (these were about ready to call it a day!). From there, make a good visual inspection of the remainder of your brake/suspension components as well.
We gave the caliper two good coats of paint, and then allowed them plenty of time to dry before handling. After having a cold one and catching the end of the Cup race, we came back and threw everything back together.
Since we were in the "beautifying" mood, we went ahead and polished up the aluminum wheel to match the new appearance of the brakes.
Before the lunch bell ever rang, we had given the rolling stock a whole new look. To this day, the calipers look as good as the day they were painted (that may vary on a heavily driven vehicle).
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