caliper dress up

[JT_MONEY_2004]

I met this dude at a custom tire shop here in Macon that says he can mix any color hi temp caliper paint i want and do a top notch job applying it for me. The two options are, a $45 clean up job, monochromatic (silver, black etc.) on the caliper and part of the rotor that usually rust up. OR a $100 job for pretty much any color i want, with a metallic and clear coat finish. Well i'm leaning toward the $100 job because i want that copper orange nissan color on the calipers and just a matching painted silver on the rotor. He tells me he can crush that color and even showed me some pics on his computer of completed paint jobs, looks good but...

Well who thinks $100 is too much to pay for this job cause i kinda think that price is a bit heavy. He thinks he's too good to come off that price--- any comments...

[DAEDALUS]

That's per caliper? If it takes him 1.5-2 hours, plus considering overhead, it's not a rip-off. Maybe more than you're willing to spend on how brakes look, but you're buying a craft we can't yet export overseas cheaply with equal quality.

[Jeff Williams]

The calipers don't get all that hot. If you do a really good job of cleaning them, and then do a little sanding, regular Krylon can look good.

The rotors are going to rust, whether there's paint on them or not. I shoot mine with a Krylon "bare metal" paint, and yhey look great. The pads cook the paint off the rotor surface, and the edge of the paint starts to rust. Just buy some Cad or Zinc plated rotors.

When I go to teh Z32 Aluminum calipers, I am going to g owith the Brembo gold, like on teh new G35. Then I might spend the $$ for powdercoating. Then I will have to disasemble and re-build them, since the process includes baking.

[Jason B]

This is my full install write-up for anyone that wants to try this on their Q45, or any other vehicle.

G2 Painted Calipers

This Project took me about 3 days total. This mod is not difficult, but is a little time consuming and tedious if you want to ensure a quality job.

Some have chosen to grind down the casting marks on their calipers before the G2 system and others have not. It looks good either way and is a personal preference. It all depends on how much time you want to spend. If you want your calipers to look smoother like a profressional powder coat job, then you should grind. Grinding will give you that "Porsche" smooth factory caliper look.

The materials used are as follows:

- G2 caliper paint kit. Red = $31.00 on sale (www.decalgirl.com)- Bright silver metallic "S2000" logos = $11.99 (www.decalgirl.com)- 2 3/4' wide Artist brushes = $2.99 each (Ben Franklin crafts store)- 1 small pointed Artist brush (for more detailed/hard to reach areas) = $2.99 (Ben Franklin crafts store)- 2 Hefty Trash Bags = .05 Cents (Walmart)- 1 Dremel #953 Alum. Ox. Grinding Stone = $3.95 (Home Depot)- 1 Dremel #932 Alum. Ox. Grinding Stone = $3.95 (Home Depot)- 1 BrakeKleen Brake Cleaner = $0.00 (Included in G2 caliper paint kit)- 5ft. standard Masking Tape from your basement = Free

Tools used/optional

- Die grinder with wheel. This is a fast and easy way to remove those casting marks in SECONDS! You need to be very careful if you use this tool because if you press too hard, you ding the metal. If you don't have one of these, then the Dreme grinding stones will do the same job, but will take longer. (borrowed from neighbor).- Generic dremel tool. = $9.99 with 60 attachements. (Harbor Freight)

PICTURES!PICTURES!PICTURES!PICTURES!PICTURES!

First, get your car up on jackstands. For best way to get your car up on jackstands, read the 2nd post here



Picture of my front caliper FULLY grinded down in all visible areas and smooth as glass. (5+ hours total for all four calipers over two days.



I put about 6 coats of G2 on the fronts and 4 on the rear. Instead of mixing the full amount of paint and reactor in one shot, I took 4 parts of paint using a plastic spoon, and 1 part reactor on a spoon into a small can. This small amount let me do 1 coat on all 4 calipers. I then, repeated the above until I got mutiple coats. I probably have enough left over to do one more coat on all the calipers. I'll save it for touch up down the road. If you mix it all at once like the instructions say, you will only have about 3 hours working time before the paint is hard and unusable.

Picture before logos:





Picture after front logos:



I did not put logos on the rear. To my eye, it didn't really look as balanced and I only favor them on the front - they look like they are made to go there....

Some full shots:

[Rex]

Very nice Jason.

Have you done anything like this on the Q, and on the older cars would you recommend doing a full rebuild of the caliper while your at it?

Might be worth getting a set off the next Q to be parted out for this as a "take your time" project.

Again, very nice.

[Jason B]

I haven't done this to the Q. The stock s2000 calipers are like greyish/green color, and this reallys sets them off.

I recommend grinding them down if yours have the dimple bumps on them like mine did. It will make them smooth as can be. The G2 kit is made to give a smooth finish and gets smoother with each coat. This is one great mod.

[JT_MONEY_2004]

Jeff you spray the entire surface of the rotor?

I'm look for a solution that will be cheaper but still quality, at first i was thinking i wanted to do this myself, a little man to car bonding u know. But i have no idea how to achieve that copper orange color out of those basic colors sitting on autozones shelf.

JB- that s2000 job looks great, u got me thinking i want the Q stamp on mine. who knows maybe i will . Guess i'll decide after i seemy quarterly bonus.I'm gonna print your system and ask him if he can pull that off.

Also this guy has a mid 80's Z car ('84-85 i think) that he just dropped a corvette motor in. says he hopes to achieve 400+hp. he recently completed fabrication and installation of the CAI alternator an a few other things, everthing under the hood is crome and purple, looks sick, 17" super phat tires and rims. He's heard of NICO and I encouraged him to get on when he has spare time. He's a big nissan fan also owns a '98 SE Max, which he says he plans to supercharge. I love to meet NISSAN patriots.

[Falkdesigns]

If you weren't doing that copper color, I'd say buy some Duplicolor Hight heat paint and do it yourself. It's very easy. I did mine black since I don't want them to stand out, just blend in and look clean, and they look great. I did the calipers and rotor hats on all 4. Jason's S2000 looks great.

[SOCAL91Q45a]

JT - I dont think he did anything to the rotors .. Calipers ONLY.

Maybe he cleaned up the rotors a tad ...

[diamond]

i just cleaned mine well,scuffed um up.shot black high temp caliper paint then shot color,then shot clear hightemp caliper paint over that.been years hasnt chipped.the hubs are black and clear to look clean with exposing wheels.nice prep jason.sweet,better than i did,lol.

[JT_MONEY_2004]

The rotors are going to rust, whether there's paint on them or not. I shoot mine with a Krylon "bare metal" paint, and yhey look great. The pads cook the paint off the rotor surface, and the edge of the paint starts to rust.

Is this exactly what u meant-- u spray the entire rotor Jeff?

[Jeff Williams]

Is this exactly what u meant-- u spray the entire rotor Jeff?

When I bought new rotors, I did spray the edges, and the entire hat area. I wasn't worried about getting paint on the rotor surface, because the pads would burn it off. On Lola, I cleaned them with a wire brush, and sprayed them with brake cleaner. Then I sprayed them with paint.

I did the same thing with the calipers. Since I was using a dark grey color, I was not really concerned about overspray. It looks better than rust, but nothing like Jason's S2000.

I just bought some 300zx rear calipers, and am bidding on some 300zx front calipers on eBay. I will get the kit Jason is talking about for them. That will look sweet, with the gold color that Brembo uses!

[Rex]

When I bought new rotors, I did spray the edges, and the entire hat area. I wasn't worried about getting paint on the rotor surface, because the pads would burn it off. On Lola, I cleaned them with a wire brush, and sprayed them with brake cleaner. Then I sprayed them with paint.

I did the same thing with the calipers. Since I was using a dark grey color, I was not really concerned about overspray. It looks better than rust, but nothing like Jason's S2000.

I just bought some 300zx rear calipers, and am bidding on some 300zx front calipers on eBay. I will get the kit Jason is talking about for them. That will look sweet, with the gold color that Brembo uses!

Jeff keep me in mind for your existing calipers when your done. I'd like to doa rebuild and paint off the car and then swap them on with some braided lines all at once.

[Jeff Williams]

Will do. A soon as I get Layla back, and get these calipers ready, I'll send my originals to ya, but you have to return them, once you get yours all pretty.