HOWTO: How to paint your standard brake calipers

Intended Audience: Anyone wishing to give their brakes a fresh colour
Technical Level: Low
Duration: 6 hours
Effort: Small to Medium
Result: High

!!!Caution/Achtung/Attenzione!!!
Follow this guide at your own risk. You have been warned. We are not responsible for any actions you take. The information contained herein is a guide and should be acted upon with consultation from your local tuner. If you are unsure or are not confident don't do it.

The standard skyline calipers after some time can be discoloured and look a little worn or old. The best remedy for this other than buying new calipers of course is to give them a new fresh coat of paint. This gives them a fresh new look once painted and they will live happily ever after once done. Below is a step by step guide on painting your standard brake calipers and some simple hints and tips so save you some time and hassles.


Tools:
Suitable car jack
High Temp Brake Paint
Sandpaper
Masking Tape
Newspaper

High Temp Brake Paint. $20 at Autobarn


Notes: You will need 1 x Can of High Temp Brake paint to do a front set of calipers. There will be a little bit of paint left over from the front set. There won't be enough paint in the car to do the rear set so if you plan to do both you will need two cans. When you do the rear set there will be lots of paint left over in the can so you can just keep it or give it to a friend if you wish.

1. Locate the car in a suitable environment. It is recommend to leave the car standing for a few hours after spraying the calipers, over night is preferred. If you must go for a drive after a few hours of letting them dry be sure to only do a short trip and not to them up too much (ie: 5 minute drive max). It's a good idea to have some old bed sheets laying around that you can use to place over your car's guards and wheels arches so you don't accidently spray them or get overspray on them. The recommend spot would be under a carport or in the garage.

2. You need to decide if you are going to take the wheels off or not. I removed my front wheels but did not for the rear set. It is much easier if you take the wheels off and it only takes a few extra minutes to remove the wheels. This guide assumes you remove the front wheels. Find the suitable jack point for the car which is located just near the suspension tower and where the door jam area lines up. Raise the car and remove both front wheels. Be sure not to lie under the car or near the jack to prevent accidentally knocking of the jack or risk of injury from the car dropping. You can chock it up with some large pieces of wood for extra support. For the fronts you need to remove the wheels. My car has 3 spoke rims so I was able to spray the rear calieprs with the wheels on but with stock wheels you will need to remove them.

3. You need so sand down and clean the calipers. You can use normal grit sandpaper and some finer grade sandpaper after the initial sand down if you wish. I used normal grit for my ones and they came out fine. Roughly sand the caliper finish so that the surface when you rub it with your hands it feels smooth and not rough or bumpy. There is no need to completely sand off the previous colour or take it back to metal. The sanding of each caliper should only Once the calipers have a smooth finish to them you need to prepare some paper masking to prevent painting the brake calipers and components them selves.

4. Prepare a small area of newspaper (fold up a small ish area, about 1/4 of a page) to suit the size marked out in light green on the below image. Once you have folded it up to suit the area place it on top of your calipers where the pads contact with the rotors. Be sure that paper card insert you have just made perfect sits flush in this are and covers all parts of the pads / rotor and doesn't leave any uneven edges. Once it fits perfectly place some double sided or masking tape in a loop on the underside of this paper card insert and place it on the pad area so it sticks itself down. Run some extra parts of masking tap to ensure you don't miss any parts and they are even straight lines. The rest of the caliper is OK to be painted so there is no need to mask any more parts. The area marked in light green below shows the area you need to cover



*** For those that wish to keep the NISSAN logo or spray it an alternate colour you need to cover the lettering now. You can use vasoline to cover the lettering, just rub it on with your fingers, clear off any excess paste and then spray over the top. Once it has been sprayed and dried you can simply rub the vasoline off and the paint over the top will come off with it, leaving the unpainted NISSAN logo underneath. You can then paint it your own colour or leave it the factory white ***

Mask the other areas of your rotors and inner guards with sheets of newspaper and masking tape. Be sure to cover all areas so that only exposed areas you can see are the brake calipers. Too much paper is far better than too less. Mask all areas including the inner guards, wheel, tyre, rotors and behind the wheel also so that you don't paint the wheel arches.

5. Shake the paint can for about a minute before use, be sure to flip it upside down for about 15 seconds while shaking to mix the paint properly and swirl it all around. Once you are ready to spray hold the can approx 20cms from the brake caliper and in a slow swiping motion apply a soft coat of paint. Do not stop whilst your arm is moving in the slow swipe action. Once you have gone across the caliper stop spraying. Repeat the same process in the reverse direction. Do not stop midway through or change speed whilst moving your hand with the spray active, do it in a firm smooth motion. The first coat should take you no more than 15seconds at the most. The colour will look very faint and you will see plenty of areas that have the original colour still. It should look like a faint coat of the new colour over the top of the old one. This is correct. Do not apply any more paint at this stage. Wait approx 45 minutes to 1 hour. Go have some lunch or play a game or something. Set a timer for 50 minutes and read step 6 when the timer/buzzer goes off.

6. You need to repeat this step approx 3-4 times. Each coat should take no more than 15 seconds per caliper. 2-3 smooth swipes across the caliper and then stop. Do not hold the can in one area without your hand moving as you will get runs and blotches. Once you travel in one direction stop spray before you alternate back the other way. As you apply more coats it will become darker and it will have more colour present. Be sure to get all areas of the caliper, including the top and sides so that the paint is applied evenly and smoothly across the caliper. Once you have applied a coat, wait approx 50 minutes to an hour. Repeat step #6 at least 3 to 4 times. A can of brake paint should do a set of front calipers with a little bit of paint in the can left over.

7, Let the new paint dry for a few hours. The paint specifics state touch dry within 2 hours so be sure to leave it for a bit before you remove the masking. You can once you have let it dry remove all the masking and paper covering. You will then have a freshly painted caliper and hopefully no overspray or unpainted areas are left. Be sure to remove the top paper card insert on top of the pads and all masking tape and paper inserts. You can now put your wheel back on and do up the wheel nuts as it's fine to dry with the wheels on the car.

Unpainted rear R33 brakes


Painted and masked rear R33 brakes


Front R33 brakes painted in gold. DBA4000 series come with gold centre already in gold


Rear R33 brakes painted in gold

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Nice work!!!

Good inclusion re the removal of pain on the Nissan Logo, I did that as mine are red!! However, I would HIGHLY recommend removing ALL wheels!!!

Good right up!!

you can also scratch off the paint on the nissan logo with a flat head screwdriver if you want the 'NISSAN' writing in chrome.

I put baby bum cream very lightly over the word nissan and then waited for it to all dry and then you can just peel it off the word.

that's the best way... i applied a light layer of grease.
everyone scrapes them off or sticky tapes them... too much trouble

You guys have any preference as to what type of paint to use for doing the calipers?

I have heard VHT is good, but then I've also heard of people using kits with a cleaner and 2 paint components that you mix together and apply with a brush.

What's the general consensus on brake caliper paint?

Cheers.

I've used a paint called 'Metal Cast' to paint my calipers, it requires 2 types of paint: a primer coat and then the colour itself. I had VHT paint on before but it looked crap, though it wasn't the same as the stuff paulr33 has used (it was a matt finish, not shiny). I've never seen that shiny VHT stuff before, is it a new paint?

Here are some (not so good) pics of my calipers. I've still got to do the Nissan logo:

So you dont make the same mistake i did, i went to all the trouble of removing the callipers and the pads, painted the whole of the calliper (not the inside where the pads sit) put them back together, flesh fluid in the calliper/lines/master cylinder, went to put the wheeel on, missed the studs and dropped the inside edge of the wheel on the top of the calliper, F@#$%. Touched it up on the car.

You should also prep the caliper to be sprayed with prepsol or a similar thinners.
Brake and Carby cleaner can also be used. This will 'hose' off the dust that may remain on the caliper prior to spraying.

Another method of the Nissan logo thing, and one that gives a very nice result is to sand the paint off with Wet and Dry.
Put a piece of fine grit wet and dry onto a square block of wood and sand the paint off.
this way, there is no possibilty of chipping the paint off.

Also gives a nice brushed finish to the logo.

BASS OUT

someone once told me that you dont need VHT paint for them...

he said, if your calipers are getting that hot that the paint is coming off, then the paint is the least of your worries....you'd be more concernced about not being able to stop.

hehe

I painted my TX5 calipers back when I had that, and I cant remember what paint it was, but it wasnt VHT, and it worked beautifully

what happen to the pics??

Awesome tutorial, just did this today when I replaced my brake rotors.

Thanks!

can these pics be resurected I want to see them before i take a shot at this