How We Painted Brand New Brake Calipers Before Installing Them

It used to be that brake calipers were merely hidden mechanical equipment not worthy of special finishes beyond maybe a cadmium plating. That changed in 1993 when Porsche introduced larger brakes on its new 3.6-liter 911 Turbo. Finished in glossy red paint, these filled the space between the five-spoke wheels on that special model. From that day forward, genuine “Big Reds” as they became known were coveted hardware in Porsche circles. Naturally, everyone else soon took license to copy the look, and painted calipers became a must-have accent for all kinds of enthusiast cars.

Countless DIYers have made the effort to clean up our old brakes and make them look pretty with a fresh coat of color. And plenty of us have made a mess of it in the process. Naturally, the best time to paint any component is when it’s new, before it’s installed. Whether you happen to be building a project with fresh components just replacing old stuff with parts, it just makes sense to paint them before you use them.

We recently unboxed a set of remanufactured brake calipers for a Volkswagen project. The owner wanted red brakes and passed off the parts for us to take care of. Here is how we finished them using our 2K Aerospray urethane brake paint.

Inspect and clean

Before we made the effort to refinish new parts, we inspected them for accuracy and damage. It’s harder to get a refund or exchange once they’re painted. Once we know they were right, we give them a light cleanup with Eastwood Pre Prep solvent to remove any oils or other residues from manufacturing. For best results, we also dry them with compressed air to ensure no solvent remains trapped, especially in threads and crevices.

Mask fittings and hardware

Like most calipers, ours arrived pre-assembled with rubber boots over the sliding pin hardware. We left them assembled, but carefully masked these boots as well as the bleeder caps, the pistons and their seals. We also used silicone rubber plugs to cover the mounting threads, though we could have taped these as well.

Hang for paint and final cleaning

With everything masked off, we hung the parts on a spraying rack and gave them a final wipe down with pre-paint prep solvent, making sure they were completely dry. This step eliminates any oils or other contaminants we may have introduced during masking or hanging.

Paint

We used Eastwood 2K Aerospray hi-temp urethane made specifically for brake components. This is a catalyzed, direct-to-metal paint that when fully cured has excellent adhesion, high heat resistance, and a tough, durable finish. The 2K (two-component) aerosol can has an internal activator capsule, which he punctured using the special button included with the can.

With the paint and activator combined, we shook the can for a couple minutes to make sure they were fully mixed. Once activated, we had a shelf life of a few hours, easily enough time to spray multiple coats on the calipers, ensuring smooth, even coverage. Because this is a catalyzed finish, we wore an activated respirator while spraying to avoid breathing the fumes from the paint.

Reassemble

When the paint was fully dry to the touch, we removed the calipers from the paint rack and unmasked them before reassembling the caliper components. In preparation for installing the calipers on the car, we let them fully cure overnight before handing them back to the owner.