DIY painting rusty (remanufactured) calipers with hoses attached (ghetto approach)

[fenixus]

as some of you know, in my pursuit of restoring the lovely V6 I have replaced front calipers with remanufactured Cardone units (including brackets) as my OEM ones were bad (both calipers not retracting fully and brackets stuffed with black molly grease that I tried cleaning off numerous times).

This is how my remanufactured calipers looked like after 2 weeks from installation (passenger side in picture):


This is how they looked like today (about 2 months from install) after heavy rains and a hurricane we had in meantime:

a) driver side


b) passenger side


Ugly, aren't they? intolerable for me.

Inspiration link:
http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/05...int/index.html

and so I picked up some Caliper Paint (black) and Caliper Cleaner from Advance Auto Parts (using code P20) and a wire brush set from HFT:




and 6pcs wire brush set on sale from HFT (1 large & 1 small of each steel, brass and nylon).

1. First, loosen the bracket bolts (17mm 79ft-lbs)
2. remove the brake hose to strut bolt (12mm 22ft-lbs) and remove the caliper bolts (14mm 25ft-lbs)
3. remove the calipers and rest them on ground (it should be easy if you have unbolted the brake line from the strut and using normal height jack stands)
4. remove the bracket mounting bolts and slide pins (it might be a good idea to clean them off with brake parts cleaner and re-grease later with Permatex Ceramic Extreme grease) and then remove the brackets off the car and prep for painting.

5. use wire brush (steel) on brackets and calipers to remove the surface rust, then hit it all with fast-drying caliper cleaner and secure the rubber parts with masking tape, plug the holes with rolled pieces of paper towels

6. these are some shots from the painting process (I used a handy box to avoid over-spray under car), it took me 2 times (both sides) to paint brackets and 3 times (2 sides plus some detailing) to paint calipers.
The paint is safe to touch after 30 mins and safe to handle after 1hr.

a) passenger side caliper, phase 1 inside, in the box:


b) passenger side caliper phase 2 outside, in the box not in picture
c) passenger side caliper phase 3 detailing, on top of box


d) driver side caliper, phase 1 inside, in the box


e) driver side caliper, phase 2 outside, in the box


f) driver side caliper, phase 3 detailing, on top of box


g) bracket painting, phase 1 initial spray not in pictures
h) bracket painting, phase 2 other side painting BEFORE


i) bracket painting, phase 2 other side painting AFTER



7. these are the end results

a) passenger side in picture


b) driver side in picture:


8. enjoy your awesome looking painted calipers (and brackets in my case)

9. definitely have a cold one or two .. or a six pack if you like

[ajkalian]

Well I'm jealous. They look real nice.

My calipers look like the first two pics.

When I rebuilt the rear brakes, I didn't think to paint them.

But pretty soon my front brakes will need new pads, and then I think I'll paint the calipers when I replace the front pads.


.

[fenixus]

remanufactured units have usually no rust protection at all (unless you are lucky and get it), talking about Cardone units here.

While painting mine, I re-greased the slide pins with something I love to use, namely the Permatex Ceramic Extreme grease, this stuff is able to work through all the NJ seasons, including the salty & snowy marine Winter

I would never thought of painting calipers (and brackets in this case) until I've got the Cardone units installed on my V6's front ... they were not rust-protected at all...

as the matter of fact my OEM rear calipers on V6 look still good after (OEM silver/iron color) so many years ...

It seems like a nice one day project to all peeps worried about the orenge-red rust color on their replacement/remanufactured calipers end results will astonish you, I promise

Originally Posted by ajkalian

Well I'm jealous. They look real nice.

My calipers look like the first two pics.

When I rebuilt the rear brakes, I didn't think to paint them.

But pretty soon my front brakes will need new pads, and then I think I'll paint the calipers when I replace the front pads.


.

[pmesfun]

Cool stuff, looks great. I'll be painting the calipers next brake job.

[fenixus]

thanks and good luck with your project

Originally Posted by pmesfun

Cool stuff, looks great. I'll be painting the calipers next brake job.

[oopssorryy]

Looks good. Can't believe they rusted so fast!

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by fenixus

thanks and good luck with your project

Should I regrease the twin piston reman calipers with Permatex and the rear calipers?
http://tinyurl.com/3f6v6om
This is the one you use?

[fenixus]

thanks!

yeah, I guess the Marine climate zone of NJ is responsible for the extra rust which you wouldn't see anywhere else (close to coast)

Originally Posted by oopssorryy

Looks good. Can't believe they rusted so fast!

whatever you disassemble, you should clean and re-grease during assembling step
Permatex Ceramic Extreme is simply the best grease for calipers I have so far found
it's also available in pouches at the counter, like this:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...|GRPBRHYAMS___

Originally Posted by pmesfun

Should I regrease the twin piston reman calipers with Permatex and the rear calipers?
http://tinyurl.com/3f6v6om
This is the one you use?

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by fenixus

whatever you disassemble, you should clean and re-grease during assembling step
Permatex Ceramic Extreme is simply the best grease for calipers I have so far found
it's also available in pouches at the counter, like this:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...|GRPBRHYAMS___

That's not enough for all calipers. How many of these should I need? http://tinyurl.com/3rhqy9o

Or I should just get the jar to use on the other cars in the future.

[fenixus]

1 pouch per axle is more than enough. they sell them loose by the counter in Advance Auto Parts.

Here is manufacturer website:
http://www.permatex.com/products/aut..._Lubricant.htm

Originally Posted by pmesfun

That's not enough for all calipers. How many of these should I need? http://tinyurl.com/3rhqy9o

Or I should just get the jar to use on the other cars in the future.

[RichieRichJP]

That must've been a pain in the ass to use the wire brushes.
I usually just buy the conical wire brush dremel piece to clean metal surfaces.
Looks good!

[fenixus]

no, not hard at all. it was only a thin layer of surface rust. a few quick brushes were pretty much enough to spray it with cleaner and then paint.

Originally Posted by RichieRichJP

That must've been a pain in the ass to use the wire brushes.
I usually just buy the conical wire brush dremel piece to clean metal surfaces.
Looks good!

[Mister_Perkins]

Stickied

[fenixus]

^Thanks

[fenixus]

2 more pics with wheels attached and after the car got some exterior body wash:




I noticed I left 1 spot on driver side caliper where the paint is not fully covering the surface. You could actually see that in one of above pics (without wheels). I think I'm gonna take a sheet of paper with a hole cut in it and quickly spray that through the wheel opening

Also, the passenger side caliper has no paint around the union bolt (masking tape was covering the small flat area) while the other does but who cares, no one can see that except for me after removing the wheels hehe