Options for Brake Calipers....

[PNH80]

Alright folks...

After having the wheels off to fit spacers this weekend it occured to me how shabby and basic looking the brakes and hubs are. I know rusty hubs are a big problem on the A3, mine's a year old and already looks shocking on the rear so i think i'll have a go at those with some Hammerite smooth silver.

I definitely want to improve the look of the calipers as the dull grey finish just doesn't do anything for the car at all.
The obvious route is to paint them.... Has anyone done this? Is it best to paint them by hand while still on the car? Or is it worth the hassle of taking them off to spray/paint them?
What preparations are necessary?...Just rub them down with wire wool or similar prior to painting?
Any particular product you would recommend?

Also...What colour do you recon is most effective? I'm thinking black, gunmetal or red (brembo/porsche style)

Seems a simple job but i'd imagine VERY easy to get wrong and ruin the appearance of the car.

Any words of wisdom would be most appreciated!

Cheers.

Paul.

 

[Matt]

I did my old cars brake calipers. I was fitting bigger brakes so I painted them before I fitted them.

I used nitromorse and a wire brush to get rid of the old paint as it had started to peel off. I painted them silver which looked ok but wished I had done them in black instead.

I wouldn't bother if you getting rid of the car though

 

[PNH80]

Well i'll be swapping the car when the new reg is released in september. I still like to do bits to the car and look after it while i've still got it. I think that'll show when it comes to sale time.

My main query is whether it's worth removing the calipers to spray them or is my best bet to leave them on and mask them off?
I'm not convinced if spraying or painting is best either....

 

[mattandrew]

I painted mine a couple of months back, TBH its not worth removing them as you would have to remove all pads, disconnect hoses etc and the bleed the brakes etc etc. With yours been a fairly new car they shouldn't take to much cleaning up. When i did mine I used a kit from halfrauds, in the kit was a spray tin of brake cleaner which helped break down the brake dust, I then gave them a wire brush and quick sanding. The paint comes with a hardener, you mix the two together and it drys like rock. As an alternative you could use Hammerite paint.
As the inner part of the disc was showing signs of rust I gave this a quick paint, I also painted outer back plate as it was starting to corrode

Regarding spraying - there would be more time in masking off etc. The finish I achieved with the brush painting is as good as spraying. Unless you get on your hands and knees your not going to tell

I used the Folitec kit
http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pa...perpaint;manufacturer=foliatec;sub_category=1

 

[PNH80]

Cheers for that. I probably agree that it's not worth the hassle of spraying the calipers. Also considering the car has RS6 alloys, the brakes aren't massively visible anyway.

I'll look into picking up a kit although i'm guessing i'll have to paint the calipers on a saturday and not use the car all weekend?!

 

[mattandrew]

As I said Halfrauds do the kit but don't always have all colours in stock, if you decide on the colour I would give them a ring and get right colour in. When I did mine I took all four wheels of and put on axle stands, but you could just remove one wheel at a time, paint and refit as long as you don't paint the face of the hub you will be fine. Also you get quite a lot of paint, I gave them two coats and only used half of it. Best thing to do is use half the paint and half the hardener and mix in a separate pot then you can use the rest on your next car. Once you have added the hardener any left over paint is useless as it sets like rock in the tin. I made the mistake of added all the hardener and ended up wasting it.

 

[dkingy11]

painted mine a couple of weeks ago! wouldnt bother with spraying (very time consuming). i used hammerite smooth and got a great finish from it, one coat and it turned out better than my mates who used the proper caliper paint from halfrauds. just under £7 from b&q!! what colour you after?

 

[I'mRonBurgundy?]

Bought some Hammerite Smooth myself a couple of weeks back. Went for silver as the standard calipers are a bit weedy IMO so don't want them to stand out too much.

Haven't painted them yet (been on holiday) but plan to do the hubs (though mine haven't started to rust yet) and the guards above the discs aswell.

Might get some black Audi decals too but haven't decided yet.

 

[PNH80]

Bought some Hammerite Smooth myself a couple of weeks back. Went for silver as the standard calipers are a bit weedy IMO so don't want them to stand out too much.

Haven't painted them yet (been on holiday) but plan to do the hubs (though mine haven't started to rust yet) and the guards above the discs aswell.

Might get some black Audi decals too but haven't decided yet.

I'm getting some silver hammerite smooth to do the rusty hubs before i sell the car but was a bit unsure about putting hammerite on the calipers. Proper caliper paint is heat resistant up to 500 degrees in some cases.... I can only assume thats for a reason! Also caliper paint hardens like enamel and won't chip or be eaten away by brake dust.
Let me know how the hammerite goes though.

 

[I'mRonBurgundy?]

I think (and hope) the hammerite will be OK. Seen a few previous threads of people who have used it and none have reported problems.

I don't do mega miles either and try to wash the car most weekends so hopefully the paint will stay fresh.

Will post up pics when I'm done.

 

[Mikey]

wire brush to clean them up, then hammerite smooth paint, allways a winner.

 

[Mikey]

not a very good pic but i used hammerite smooth grey on the calipers, and hammerite smooth silver on the brake hubs and brake disc edges.

 

[ADEY]

same used here - silver smoothrite:thumbsup:

 

[JamS3]

Def the folitec kit for me.

It comes with all the neccessary stuff, brake cleaner to get all the crap off and the paint with hardner..

Done 2 cars with this kit and def reccomend it!

Go for the red add the correct amount of hardner (its easy as it says on the tin), you get a very nice shiny gloss finish which is very smooth and looks factory.

No need to remove the calipers from the car, just a steady hand and a small paint brush for the small parts!

Bear in mind though if you are trading to the dealer, they may not look on painted calipers in a good light thinking the car has been tinkered with and offer a low price on trade in.

Worth thinking about.....

 

[Gti Jazz Blue]

On my Golf I sprayed the disc hubs with BBQ black spray when I changed them. Gave them a nice smart heat resistant matt black finish.

I just masked up the brake contact area and sprayed the hub part.

Paul