Painting Brake Calipers? any ideas?

[SirNik84]

Ok, so i just rebuilt a set of brake calipers for my 300SD. I took them to school and beed blasted them and then used the parts washer to ge them realy clean. I'm going to be installing them over christmas and i was wondering if there was some kind of pain or other way to protect them from rust. I know break fluid eats paint, so I'm not thrilled at the idea of painting them. but after cleaning them they look so nice just to get so rusty.

anyway. to go with my new calipers I have new front discs coming for christmas so i'm excited. not that the old discs are bad they could be turned, but what the heck its Christmas and the Mercedes needs a gift right? new brakes will be nice.

[Hatterasguy]

Yes they make brake caliper painting kits just for this purpose.

I suggest black, or body match them. But stay away from:
Red, never paint calipers red unless they are Brembo, Bear and massive.
Silver, thats AMG's color, see above.

You can also paint the hat of the brake discs silver, so they look good.

[Ara T.]

My rebuilt calipers came with some cheap silver paint. But I doubt anyone's going to mistake my 300D for an AMG, Hatt. Plus people won't see your calipers unless you have open spoke rims.

I'd prolly use high temperature black paint, same stuff you use for exhausts.

[Hatterasguy]

The rims on my car display the brakes rather nicely.

Flashy caliper colors are a ricer thing, don't belong on a MB. Unless of course the brakes are not stock...

[Ara T.]

I like those rims where you can see the rotors. Do you have any trouble with keeping your discs from rusting and looking nasty?

[Pete Geither]

Powder coating,,, the only way to go.

[Matt L]

Originally Posted by Pete Geither

Powder coating,,, the only way to go.

Will the seals dislike being in the oven?

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by SirNik84

I took them to school and beed blasted them and then used the parts washer to ge them realy clean.

Hopefully the parts washer did not use petroleum-based solvent!!!

Look here: http://eastwood.resultspage.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=brake+paint&submit.x=32&submit.y=10

[bodyart27]

That's what I used WAY back when when I did my nissan....

http://www.se-r.net/brakes/shell_b13/index.html

Held up pretty good, even under the heat of a couple of track days.

If the calipers are rusty - I'm not sure how well the paint will bond. As far as powedercoating - you'd have to dissasemble the piston and seals (doubt those would cook!)

[t walgamuth]

i painted the calipers on the car with my sec. i just bought some red rustoleum type paint, wrapped it off with a rag after a good spray with brake cleaner, followed with some spray paint prep and when it dried i sprayed. looks fine. cost bout $10 worth paint and such. unless you are racing they wont get hot enough to scortch the paint imho.

cant see them much any more though, the aftermarket wheels that showed them off went along with the sdl to brian carlton.

tom w

[Pete Geither]

Originally Posted by Matt L

Will the seals dislike being in the oven?

They have to be completely dissassembled.

[Shorebilly]

I have never priced this stuff......just remember seeing it in the catalog....

http://www.performanceproducts4benz.com/productpage.aspx?pid=101137&name=Brake+Caliper+Paint

SB

[davidh]

por15 makes coatings and paints that they claim will not be affected by much of anything. stops rust, fixes leaky fuel tanks,( ive used the tank sealer and its fantastic) etc. its not that expensive and may jsut be what your looking for. check out their web site. google "por 15" and you;ll find them.
davidh

[Hatterasguy]

Originally Posted by Ara T.

I like those rims where you can see the rotors. Do you have any trouble with keeping your discs from rusting and looking nasty?

No problem just paint the discs. Cover the friction surface and spray them with silver brake disc paint. Autozone sells good paint for doing both the discs and calipers. New MB's come from the factory with painted discs now.

[SirNik84]

I like the idea of painting them body color. now to find cream colored break paint.