# Brake calliper paint



## bigbaldyone (Nov 3, 2014)

Sorry if this is in the wrong section folks. I have a notion of painting my brake callipers on my Tiguan.

1 is this a knobby thing to do 
2 suggestions on colour?
3 where would I even start to look for pair (any links would be superb)

Many thanks for any help/suggestions.










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## c87reed (Dec 9, 2015)

Hammerite silver by brush.


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## bigbaldyone (Nov 3, 2014)

c87reed said:


> Hammerite silver by brush.


Now there's a colour I didn't think of!

See I used hammerite on my SR Nova 20 years ago, amazing it's still doing this job. 
I just wondered if there was an actual paint designed for callipers these days. Cheers 

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## c87reed (Dec 9, 2015)

There are calliper specific paints on the market, but for a daily driver Hammerite works great.

I tend to remove the brake pads and carefully mask other bits. Take the time to clean them up and paint and a nice smart finish can be achieved.


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

Very much depends on the colour of the car and how ‘in your face’ you want it. 

There are specific calliper paints, used them once and found it very thin and needed multiple coats but was quite effective. Nothing wrong with Hammerite, does the job. As with any painting job, preparation and attention to detail determine the end result, but ask yourself, on a day to day basis, how closely are you going to be looking at the brake callipers?

There is a guy who advertises on Facebook local to me who charges £15 a corner for a decent spray job, tbh that’s a bargain when you consider the time, mess and mostly effort involved.


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## bigbaldyone (Nov 3, 2014)

Mcpx said:


> Very much depends on the colour of the car and how 'in your face' you want it.
> 
> There are specific calliper paints, used them once and found it very thin and needed multiple coats but was quite effective. Nothing wrong with Hammerite, does the job. As with any painting job, preparation and attention to detail determine the end result, but ask yourself, on a day to day basis, how closely are you going to be looking at the brake callipers?
> 
> There is a guy who advertises on Facebook local to me who charges £15 a corner for a decent spray job, tbh that's a bargain when you consider the time, mess and mostly effort involved.


Some good information there mate. Thanks for taking the time.

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## Itstony (Jan 19, 2018)

Yep wrong section.... wheels and tyres might give that away.:lol:

I've used Japlac for years, excellent for callipers, as long as the colour you want is there. Never seen any fail with heat. :thumb:


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## Mac- (Apr 9, 2019)

How far does the Japlac go? I've always used hammerite, small tin does a few coats on all 4 calipers in my experience.


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## cole_scirocco (Mar 5, 2012)

I just use Halfords specific high temperature brake paint and apply it every 6 months to keep on top of it. Same time I ceramic coat the wheels whilst they are off as well.

Car colour depends massively. I opted for the following:

White van - red calipers
Silver car - red calipers
Red car - gold calipers.

All in my ownership.


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## WRX (Jun 24, 2019)

I painted my calipers last week. I've only done the rears and will be doing the fronts next week. I didn't want to spray them as i didn't to mask inside the whole arch to prevent overspray etc. I went for application by a brush so I only had to mask the bits on the caliper that I didn't want to get paint on. I opted for black as I just wanted to tidy up the calipers rather than make them stand out. I felt a light colour might show brush strokes etc but not sure whether that would be true. I used a caliper paint kit and bought a wire brush to clean them prior to painting. You could buy all the bits separately cheaper but the kits had good reviews and I thought the price was reasonable. After I cleaned them with the wire brush I did the same with an old microfibre soaked in brake cleaner and then masked and painted them. I used 2 coats 10 mins apart and left them for 2 hours before putting the wheels back on and then put the car in the garage.

https://www.eurocarparts.com/search/e-tech caliper paint

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## bigbaldyone (Nov 3, 2014)

Thank you fella, and a link as well. I’m now down to either yellow or red. I think both sit amazingly well on a white car!


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## garage_dweller (Apr 10, 2018)

bigbaldyone said:


> Thank you fella, and a link as well. I'm now down to either yellow or red. I think both sit amazingly well on a white car!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


To be honest I would go black or silver as I'm assuming the callipers on your car are nothing particularly special. So you probably wouldn't want them to stand out. Your car though so entirely up to you obviously

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## vsideboy (Sep 1, 2006)

Cole_E91 said:


> All in my ownership.


haha says it as if we thought you'd just nipped down your street one night and painted random peoples callipers for them.

Bought some red calliper paint for my old range rover a few years ago, never got around to doing it and now have had a red car for almost 2 years so it's just sitting gathering dust as not doing red callipers on a red car.

Whatever you do though make sure everything is completely dry before taking it out for a drive mate.


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## Derek Mc (Jun 27, 2006)

I have tried a few different paints over the years but still hard to beat Hammerite smooth.


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

I've used hammerite, and recently bought a tin of Johnstone's Metal Defence System, Smooth Metal Paint. So far, it appears to have lasted longer, and protected the hub from further corrosion to a greater extent than the hammerite ever did. 

I think this will be my ho to paint, instead of the hammerite. 

Cooks

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## bigbaldyone (Nov 3, 2014)

Cookies said:


> I've used hammerite, and recently bought a tin of Johnstone's Metal Defence System, Smooth Metal Paint. So far, it appears to have lasted longer, and protected the hub from further corrosion to a greater extent than the hammerite ever did.
> 
> I think this will be my ho to paint, instead of the hammerite.
> 
> ...


Good to know! Is this a gloss or Matt paint please? Thanks.

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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

bigbaldyone said:


> Good to know! Is this a gloss or Matt paint please? Thanks.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I've gloss black, but I'd imagine its be available in other colours.

Edit - just checked the Johnstonestrade.com website, and it's available in 200 colours!

Cooks

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## Mac- (Apr 9, 2019)

It's hard wearing too, I did the whole underside of my transit in it, the following mot it was barely marked

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## robby71 (Jun 4, 2006)

I've always used Hammerite smooth - gives good results and is cheap enough.

Last week i did my current car and thought i'd try a paint specifically for calipers so bought this (other colours available) - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362126802816?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

This paint is very thin so light coats only as it'll drip  - finish seems smoother than Hammerite after 2 coats but will give them another coat next month

I did the hubs and carriers in Hammerite smooth black as i had a full tin of that in the garage


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## gishy (Feb 24, 2018)

garage_dweller said:


> To be honest I would go black or silver as I'm assuming the callipers on your car are nothing particularly special. So you probably wouldn't want them to stand out. Your car though so entirely up to you obviously
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I painted my calipers silver just to keep them looking cleaner ,cars a metallic silver kia with silver alloys so i think it looks ok.Red would look silly, possibly black might be ok depends on your car really.I " borrowed" the paint from work some high temp stuff can,t remember the name but it matches the wheels and the car quite well


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## WRX (Jun 24, 2019)

Just updated my project thread with brake caliper painting pictures. I'll link it here in case anyone wants to see as I don't wanna double post the pictures. Thanks.

2001 Subaru Impreza WRX Bugeye project
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...ead.php?t=425678&share_type=t&link_source=app

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## SadlyDistracted (Jan 18, 2013)

No one ever use Foliatec caliper paints?

Unlike many they're a 2K, and if I didn't know any better some form of UV resistant Epoxy.

It's been my go to caliper & related paint for the last 4 cars / 20 years and it typicaly outlasts the cars!

A bit boring, but silver/black for the brake parts - and like most say, prep is key, I do calipers loose but on car, mounts off car.


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## enc (Jan 25, 2006)

My current car I’ve used silver “smoothrite” .. like hammerite but smooth finish. 
Goes on very heavy/thick so pnly one coat required and drys very quickly. Also very hard wearing. 
I’ve done the red calliper paint in the past...it reduces the 0-60 time by about a second and adds 10mph to top speed. But looks crappy when you have tiny brake discs. 
Don’t like black ... looks like heavy brake dust soiling so stick to silver these days. Looks clean and doesn’t attract attention.


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## ridders66 (May 24, 2019)

I wouldn't silver Hammerite them, Hammerite looks good but after a while the hammered finish looks a bit crap. You can get specific calliper paint, which is heatproof, dries very quickly and is available in a range of colours. I would stick with black, and paint the disc centres black too. Painting them silver or red would look, in your words, 'knobby'.


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