Last week i had some time off work and wanted to get my boring grey caliper sorted as i thought it was the 1 thing that was letting the cars appearance down.....at the moment
I had just had the the brakes bled so i didnt want to take the calipers off the lines so majority of the time i spent on this was down to prep and masking off the areas i didnt want covered in paint
First off i attacked the rears, they were just horrid. none of the original (bare)colour there what-so-ever
I removed the caliper/pads and also completely removed the carrier from the hub
Once this was off i attached the wire brush head to a pillar drill and brushed away 2 years worth of caked on brake dust and crud that left me with the original material
Then i masked of the bits that would attach back to the hub. I only wanted to paint the bits that would be visable (plus it also gave me something to hold onto as they were being painted)
Once they had been thouroughly degreased i used the spray on version of halfords caliper paint. I think in total they had about 5/6 coats of paint
Masking tape was then romoved and I set about masking up the rear arch etc
It took a good while to make sure that all was masked off. The spraying was done taking my time. I was even quite geeky about warming up the spray can to temp and making sure that the surface of the caliper was warmed up and keyed properly
Final results of the rear set up after I had re-built them. I also cleaned up all the pads and re-fitted with copper grease on the edges and piston contact points for a snug fit
Then I pretty much did the same with the fronts although i kept the caliper attached to the hub. Good job really as i didnt have a hex bolt big enough for the caliper bolts
I also found out about how important it has been to keep the caliper pins copper greased all the times i have changed the pads. the pins came out with no issues at all. Looks like my new set of pins and brackets will be in my tool box for quite some time still
Once the pads were out I found the easiest way to cover up my lovely 330mm discs was to put a bag over the disc and then rotate it into the caliper. Then it was a case of masking up the arch and away we go again with the paint
I didnt know what colour Brembo logo to go for so i had a few made up (White, Black and Storm Grey)
I ended up going for the black as it was a mirror image of the black/red on my wheels (although im starting to want to swap them to grey now)
The only dilema i had was do i lacquer or not. I opted for not as i heard loads of people lacquer running and also the heat turning it yellow
Here are the final results
Over all i am really happy with the results. I love the grey/black/red combo
I have a few more plans of things i want to do to the car but as always i may change my mind as my attention span is crap. To be honest im suprised i have had this car for 2 years.
Next on the list of things to to is a full retrim of the interior or maybe some fixed bucket seats (maybe some Recaro Pole Position)
Thanks for reading
A
I had just had the the brakes bled so i didnt want to take the calipers off the lines so majority of the time i spent on this was down to prep and masking off the areas i didnt want covered in paint
First off i attacked the rears, they were just horrid. none of the original (bare)colour there what-so-ever
I removed the caliper/pads and also completely removed the carrier from the hub
Once this was off i attached the wire brush head to a pillar drill and brushed away 2 years worth of caked on brake dust and crud that left me with the original material
Then i masked of the bits that would attach back to the hub. I only wanted to paint the bits that would be visable (plus it also gave me something to hold onto as they were being painted)
Once they had been thouroughly degreased i used the spray on version of halfords caliper paint. I think in total they had about 5/6 coats of paint
Masking tape was then romoved and I set about masking up the rear arch etc
It took a good while to make sure that all was masked off. The spraying was done taking my time. I was even quite geeky about warming up the spray can to temp and making sure that the surface of the caliper was warmed up and keyed properly
Final results of the rear set up after I had re-built them. I also cleaned up all the pads and re-fitted with copper grease on the edges and piston contact points for a snug fit
Then I pretty much did the same with the fronts although i kept the caliper attached to the hub. Good job really as i didnt have a hex bolt big enough for the caliper bolts
I also found out about how important it has been to keep the caliper pins copper greased all the times i have changed the pads. the pins came out with no issues at all. Looks like my new set of pins and brackets will be in my tool box for quite some time still
Once the pads were out I found the easiest way to cover up my lovely 330mm discs was to put a bag over the disc and then rotate it into the caliper. Then it was a case of masking up the arch and away we go again with the paint
I didnt know what colour Brembo logo to go for so i had a few made up (White, Black and Storm Grey)
I ended up going for the black as it was a mirror image of the black/red on my wheels (although im starting to want to swap them to grey now)
The only dilema i had was do i lacquer or not. I opted for not as i heard loads of people lacquer running and also the heat turning it yellow
Here are the final results
Over all i am really happy with the results. I love the grey/black/red combo
I have a few more plans of things i want to do to the car but as always i may change my mind as my attention span is crap. To be honest im suprised i have had this car for 2 years.
Next on the list of things to to is a full retrim of the interior or maybe some fixed bucket seats (maybe some Recaro Pole Position)
Thanks for reading
A
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