Brake Caliper Painting

[Johnboy48]

Just a few questions, has anybody had their brake calipers painted. If you have what paint would you recommend? any problems whilst doing them, do they look good. Any recommendations on what colour paint to use for Deep Sea Blue, thanks




A4 2.7 Tdi multitronic, Leather, Sat Nav, Drive Select, Phone Prep, B&O, 18" alloys, Xenons

[A1287210]

Havent done it but I imagine that yellow would look very good against the deep blue
Damo

[Johnboy48]

Thanks for that, mmm yellow, never though of that

[ScottyUK]

I did my old B6 S4 calipers with black Hammerite. Easy good and nice and cheap.

Just be careful what and where you paint.

[Johnboy48]

Thanks, yes i suppose Black is a pretty safe colour and never thought of Hammerite, a lot cheaper and just as good

[Crasher]

I use Trilogy caliper paint, better than any others I have tried but still horrid stuff to use.

[jakerade]

If you must do it use a high temperature paint - Halfords sell some for about a fiver. I have used the black one to touch up the calipers on my Porsche and it works fine.

[Johnboy48]

Cheers for that, i was looking in Halfords and it looks as good as any other paint and a lot cheaper

[Jop]

dont forget to post some pics of the completed job

[Bricktop20]

ive done my calipers in red hamerite smooth,and the disc guards in silver hammerite smooth, then bought some sline decals for the calipers, looks mint ,will try and get some pics up soon,

method of painting

1.diluted bilberry wheel cleaner sprayed calipers
2.rinsed and dried
3.then rubbed over with wire wool
4.washed again
5. applied first coat with small artists brush
6. speeded up drying using my other halfs hair dryer
7.then applied 2nd coat
8. when dry applied s line decals

:beerchug:

[Johnboy48]

Would be nice if you could put some pics up

[Bricktop20]

pics of painted calipers and disc guards
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g190/bricktop_photos/DSC02465.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g190/bricktop_photos/DSC02466.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g190/bricktop_photos/DSC02464.jpg

[Johnboy48]

Thanks for that, great pics, looks really good

[Oldfart]

Hi

I think you have answered a question I had since I painted mine red and now regret it - it looks, well , tacky.

Black sounds good - - is there any parts I need to be careful about not painting? How did yours turn out aand do you by chance know teh factory colour?

Thanks

[Johnboy48]

I had mine done at the local garage (not an Audi garage) and they used Halfords black High temperature engine paint. They look pretty good and am really pleased with them. The only thing that they did was to remove the brake pads from the rear caliper. Have got a picture but don't seem to be able to upload it

[Oldfart]

Hi and thanks I will heed your advise and use black,

Regards

[Tony2]

Oldfart.

Did you get yours done black???

What did they look like?

[Johnboy48]

I took them to my local garage (not Audi) they charged me £20, i supplied the paint which was Halfords brake caliper paint (£6) and i got some Audi stickers off e-bay. I am really pleased with them. I think that they took the rear pads off when they did them. Have tried to upload pictures but have had no luck

[Oldfart]

Hi

I tried red first and it wasn't to my taste. I then scrapped off teh red and used black and they look fine.

I guess it depends what look you after -I felt red was a bit OTT and blac k more to my taste

[ScottyUK]

Silver or black i'd suggest. Any other colours e.g. red, blue, yellow could possibly be interpreted that you're trying to make them look like Bremo's, carbon etc

[Tony2]

Silver or black i'd suggest. Any other colours e.g. red, blue, yellow could possibly be interpreted that you're trying to make them look like Bremo's, carbon etc

This is exactly my problem i dont really want to do this im only doing it because i dont want rusting bits underneath my wheels ewwwwwwww:zx11:

If i wanted to do it, I would do it properly and get a set of white brembos but thats just way over the top and the car doesnt have the running gear to utilise them!

I hadnt thought of silver though:Blush2: Good idea because that kind of like the stock colour ?

Anthony

[ScottyUK]

I only did my S4 brakes as they were huge and looked crap and hence were noticable.

Silver would possibly look OEM but not rusty.

[Lion Heart]

Hi Guys

Thought you might want to see some images of my calipers for my 2003 Audi S4 (B6). I bought two types of paint:

Hycote Caliper Paint
and
Hycote High Tempurature Paint

I bought red as going on to my silver S4 and wanted a sporty contrast and look.

Tested both paints - and the Caliper Paint is glossy and gives a very lovely rich finished, whereas the high temp paint was matt and looked very dull. So went with caliper paint.

Front calipers removed (both sections). Rears could not be removed due to the handbrake connection on the calipers, so dropped the centre section off and left the out section in place, and masked everything off and sprayed on the car.

I did not take images of the calipers before, but if you look at this image you can see where the red ends - that what all the calipers looked like before spraying!!!

Also, I updated the front spring clips from the B6 to the B7 versions with the S4 logo to finish off the look.

The system only allows me to upload 5 images (sorry!)

Getting the calipers off is around 3 hours labour, and prepping and spraying 2-3 hours.

Hope that's helpful!

Lion Heart

[Lion Heart]

Hi guys

More images:

1426114262142631426414265

Apologies for the size - it's the automated sizing on this forum. Also, the image compression on the forum (automated) struggles a bit with red so look a bit blurry, which is a shame.

But sure you get the idea!

Lion Heart

[ScottyUK]

I put those B7 S4 brake springs on my B6. It made a nice addition and they're not expensive.....especially when I resold them before I PX'ed the car ;)

[Lion Heart]

Yes, the spring clips (as I recall) were £30 each from Audi. Plus VAT.

So not the cheapest things for what they are - but saw a used pair sell on eBay a few weeks ago for £45 - so you'll get most of your money back if you can bothered removing the wheels and fiddling before you sell.

Lion Heart

[Crasher]

If you have the time to live with the car off the road for a week, it is much easier to send your calipers to a company like Big Redd.

[ScottyUK]

You're joking!

I painted mine with Smoothrite. It did both left hand wheels with a couple of coats (an hour in between), carefully put the wheels on and then did the same on the other side.

A mornings work and they were all done. You don't need to be overly fussy as you can't see most of it. I was just careful not to foul anything and that was it.

[ScottyUK]

... if you can bothered removing the wheels and fiddling before you sell.

Well I agreed a PX deal and then removed :
wheels and put on some old reps I had
spring clips
gear knob and gator (put the original back with it's chipped chrome ring)
removed the RS4 pedals
etc etc
But then I did leave the Milltek downpipes, cats and tail section on it. Doh!!

[Lion Heart]

Most of the work is removing the calipers, so sending them off is a bit of a waste as you can easily spray them yourself.

The only issue is that the rears (on the S4) are better off NOT being removed as they have the handbrake connection and there is a risk of them not going back 100% correctly, so I left mine on and just masked everything off like crazy (over an hour!) and then sprayed.

You can get a genuine top quality look quite easily. I'm certainly over the moon with mine!!!

Red may be a bit brash for some (not for me!) but of course you can chooe any colour that best suits the bodywork of you car!

If you're capable of removing the calipers yourself, then you are certainly capable of painting them yourself as that's the easier part!

Lion Heart

[JimC64]

You're joking!

I painted mine with Smoothrite. It did both left hand wheels with a couple of coats (an hour in between), carefully put the wheels on and then did the same on the other side.

A mornings work and they were all done. You don't need to be overly fussy as you can't see most of it. I was just careful not to foul anything and that was it.

Hey Scotty, I'm with you here mate.
I did my calipers with Hammerite smooth in silver for a clean but stock look. I also did the hubs which were getting rusty as well, also in silver to retain the stock theme.
I probably redo it around once a year to keep it fresh looking and have it down to around an hour or so per corner. Its a really worthwhile job as it gives you a chance to check your pads and for me, a chance to gives the wheels a thorough clean back n front.
Oncd they're back on the car with the tyres blacked it really looks awesome and I don't wana brake again....EVER!!!!!......lol

[ScottyUK]

I certainly won't do it annually!

[a] I can't be bothered
[b] I'd be concerned about the build up thicknesses.

It does remind me though that I still haven't done the calipers or hubs on this car and it does need it.

[Darren C]

Just searched and found this thread. My new (old) B8 Avant that I purchased last weekend has the rusty-est calipers I've ever seen on a car!
I am torn between buying new (but just been resuscitated after getting a quote from Audi, that doesn't include the slider frames which are very rusty too) and painting them.
My car is almost 7 years old but the rust is so bad on the calipers that you couldn't easily paint without stripping them down completely and sand blasting.

Anyone else suffering with rusty calipers and what do you guy's suggest?

[Embisix]

Mine are as rusty as hell too, but I'm sure that with a good old fashioned wire brushing, some decent rust inhibiting primer and a good coat of hammerite smooth (probably black!) will keep it at bay. Any rust that re-appears will be covered in brake dust anyway.... Just need to get round to actually doing it now.... Damn, it's starting to get cold outside! :-/

[Crasher]

It's no big deal, we deal with this day in day out. We use a de-scaler gun and rebuild.

[Gazwould]

Mine are as rusty as hell too, but I'm sure that with a good old fashioned wire brushing, some decent rust inhibiting primer and a good coat of hammerite smooth (probably black!) will keep it at bay. Any rust that re-appears will be covered in brake dust anyway.... Just need to get round to actually doing it now.... Damn, it's starting to get cold outside! :-/


Hammerite Smooth is a primer and top coat in 1 , easily painted in situ with an artists small and 1/2 " brush , just one coat is enough .

[JimC64]

A wire brush will remove the worst of it for sure, then perhaps an old brush to remove any debris / loose dust etc before painting with Hammerite smooth - job done.

The other route is to take them off the car, strip down, sandblast then powder coat etc etc etc.........a much better job in the end for sure but more down time / costs etc

[Crasher]

If you have the opportunity for the downtime, can have the car off the road for a week or so and do the bleeding, Bigg Red (http://www.biggred.co.uk) do a simply outstanding job, at excellent prices and in a variety of colours, even offering yellow zinc as a factory finish or even as a pre stage for increased longevity. I used to have to provide all this finishing myself in multiple stages, now all I have to do is post and pay.

[Darren C]

Thanks for the advice guys but since the discs and pads need changing on my new car as well as wanting to sort the callipers so if I upgrade the wheels they’ll look nice through the spokes, I had a multi purchase this week.
1 x Genuine Audi brake set. Comes in a large box with all the bits you need for front and rear including bolts, brake pads, slider gaiters, spring clips/pad fitting kits etc, etc.
I bit the bullet and got 4 brand new callipers too. These I have painted in high temp clear lacquer to try and maintain the finish for a little longer than normal.
The only parts I will need to refurbish now are the slider/carriers. They cost an absolute fortune new from Audi and don’t even come with the pins or gaiters!
Anyway I hope to make a start this weekend on swapping the bits over.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/audi%20brakes%20002_zpsqf6bnklp.jpg (http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/audi%20brakes%20002_zpsqf6bnklp.jpg.html)

[Darren C]

Yesterday I replaced the worn discs and very rusty callipers on my B8.
While the discs were off I took the opportunity to clean up and get the back plates painted too.
Before:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/Audi%20brakes%20before_zpsiqugm1xg.jpg (http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/Audi%20brakes%20before_zpsiqugm1xg.jpg.html)

And after with all nice new shiny parts. (callipers given two coats of heat resistant tough clear lacquer over the evenings last week. Discs came lightly painted silver but I gave them 3 extra coats of high temp paint including in between the vents around the disc edges on the front and the edges on the rears)
All new bolts, clips, rubber gaiters and 4 new flexi brake hoses.

Front After:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/Audi%20brakes%20after%20Front_zpsswshbmgd.jpg (http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/Audi%20brakes%20after%20Front_zpsswshbmgd.jpg.html )

Rear After:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii221/DarrenLCollins/audi%20brakes%20after%20Rear_zpsxhgwijxb.jpg (http://s265.photobucket.com/user/DarrenLCollins/media/audi%20brakes%20after%20Rear_zpsxhgwijxb.jpg.html)

All ready now to go hunting some nice new wheels with no worries over embarrassing brakes being seen through the spokes!

[Crasher]

Just to ruin your day, I could have obtained you those calipers brand new from TRW in Germany for about half what VAG charge and they are the EXACT same parts. I have had a number of calipers from them in the last few days alone and a pair of front carriers are coming tomorrow for a 3C Passat. Ohh yes, I forgot to mention, I can do the carriers for less than half what VAG charge. If they have them in stock, they take 3 days to me and then 1 to you.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd20/Crasher1964/TRW%20BDA%20992%20carriier_zpsqgihlqfe.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Crasher1964/media/TRW%20BDA%20992%20carriier_zpsqgihlqfe.jpg.html)

[Darren C]

Sorry, but I'm afraid it's your day that might be ruined.

How much were yours, please tell me...

Mine:

Genuine AUDI Calipers BRAND NEW, ordered 10am arrived 2pm SAME DAY.
4 calipers AND 4 new brake hoses £451.40p for the lot.

PS, I love your signature, it made me smile....what do you think RAF Aviation fuel is that they put in the Vulcan?

Answer: Basically filtered DIESEL with an anti icing inhibitor !

[Embisix]

So jet engines run on derv? Thought it was paraffin!..

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Crasher]

Sorry, but I'm afraid it's your day that might be ruined.

I can't confidentially challenge you against the caliper price from home with my "home day" tools (one is weakened when not at ones work), but what about those elusive expensive caliper carriers? Anyway, it is not heavy oil that is the problem, per se, more HOW one ignites it and where so, "nowt under SUCH compression like; an nooo down ere but upt dere, like", as they say in Doncaster.... i think..... Mind you, them Yorkshire lot keep trying to knick our Robin of The Hood, buggers av even name an airport afere i'm, cheek!