Painting Calipers

M-A8 · #1 31st October 2014, 10:33 PM

After few years of hesitation I have finally decided to repaint all calipers.
They were driving me mad for all this time and last weekend I finally did it.

2x tins of Hammerite Smooth £17 (£8.50 each) 1x Silver & 1x Black
Black http://www.diy.com/departments/hamme.../127904_BQ.prd
Silver http://www.diy.com/departments/hamme.../243241_BQ.prd
1x can of brake cleaner £5
2x sets of wire brushes £12, set of heavy duty ones and set of fine brushes
Heavy duty £4.00 http://www.screwfix.com/p/wire-brush...ack-of-2/15696
Fine wire £8.00 http://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-stee...ack-of-3/40858
Job is way much easier if you have both sets, honestly.
1x 12mm soft tip paint brush £3
http://www.diy.com/departments/diall.../174712_BQ.prd

Optional for anyone who hasn't got it, a pair of axle stands, Halfords £20 - £25
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/gar...ne-axle-stands
http://www.c1.halfords.com/motoring/...ne-axle-stands

And some steel wire
http://www.diy.com/departments/gardm.../312868_BQ.prd

...and if you are paranoid like me, lots of timber, 100x100mm post and few 2by4's

So, after testing some different finishes with black silver and gold colours I have decided to go for dark silver mix, can of black and approx 3/4 of silver

You will need two mixing pots, one for your paint and one for your tea as you will need plenty

Day 1 (Sunday)
DO NOT FORGET to switch ON JACKING MODE

Place the stands under the sub frame

I have purchased a brake caliper tool set before doing this job, but I just couldn't be bother with it so I used a flat head screwdriver to push the pistons in while caliper was still mounted onto the carrier

At the back of the caliper there are 2 plastic caps. Brake pad sensor wire actually is clipped to the top one as per picture below, and the 2nd one is just a blank cap at the very bottom.
After removing them you will find an allen key bolts which you will have to unscrew in order to remove the caliper

Then use the steel wire to hang the caliper on one of the suspension arms

Now you can crack on with cleaning the carrier plate and caliper with wire brushes.

Day 2 (Monday)
Same principle, jack the car and DO NOT FORGET to set suspension in JACKING MODE

On the rear there is nothing really to hang the caliper on, so I used one of the brushes to support it.

Then today (Friday), these arrived. Yes yes red will draw attention too much, but after a long chat with Scott during the whole project, it was worth trying.
I did ordered a set of black ones as well, but at the minute I will stick with red ones.
They don't scream so much: ''Look I am quattro''

So, now some before and after photos. Tomorrow after a wash I will take few shots with wheels on.

BEFORE

...aaaand AFTER

Many many thanks to Scott for all the support and advice throughout the project