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I've 'painted' lots of calipers on my cars - primarily Porsche 928's. The standard 'hot paint' rattle cans are OK, but not very durable. They are not durable to brake cleaner spray, to many strong detergents for getting brake dust off (there are some new detergents that are VERY good at cleaning - Griot and Adams Detailing have them. Spray on, brush a little, and they react chemically with the iron particles and turn purple, rinse off and the wheel/caliper are amazingly clean).
This cleaner is ESPECIALLY good for cleaning the calipers before painting. I used it and sprayed all the parts I was going to paint (on car). Within 3-5 minutes after spraying/brushing, it was all purple. I was doing this on a lift in my hobby garage, so I put a big drip pan under the caliper (rotor was off), and sprayed it with a mist of water. About 3-4 oz of water, and the rotors were 98% clean. Sprayed a bit more of Adams Deep Clean on the other spots, used an old toothbrush to get into the smaller areas, and 5 minutes later misted it with water until only clean water was dripping off the caliper. Wiped them down, ready to sand for painting. Using the 2 component epoxy system in the next paragraph.
I've used the two component epoxy paints (about $40 per pkg) and they are VERY good. For 12 years I had a car that was only used for driving to, from, and on various 'road race' tracks in the US and Canada. As you can imagine, the brake rotors, pads, and calipers get very hot (and DIRTY) from braking heavily about 200 times in a day from speeds of 140 or so down to 60's or so. I painted the calipers red on that car, and after 4 years of usage (~ 2500 miles of tracking, 2500 miles of highway), they still looked just as good as they did when I finished painting (sold the car and hung up the helmet last fall). VERY durable, and no fade in color.
As with most painting - preparation is the key for this epoxy paint as well.
Last edited by kittyandgary; 03-22-2014 at 09:25 PM.
Good to hear about nice durability with the epoxy paint. Maybe that is what TAG was suggesting to do mine. Or I may go with Brembo setup if that offers more stopping ability with red calipers. Today I will try some photoshop and see what red calipers look like. I think it needs some type of accent with big open wheels.
So I decided to paint my calipers while I wait for my new wheels to be built, I really like yellow but Ronnie already did his yellow so I didn't want to be identical. I also chose the curved font over straight, but later discovered the seller has the same curved font for "Brembo" the AMG still looks cool though. I painted them myself using high temp primer,paint,decal,and clear I think it was over kill on high temp sprays since I don't track my car.
I am thinking of doing this and this is the perfect color I am looking for. Did you have to spray a clear coat? And can you confirm there is Metalic in the VHT Burnt Copper?
FWIW, Eastwood sells a rattlecan clearcoat with a hardner that will substantially increase the durability of any basecoat color you use.... plan on doing my calipers on my SL soon also.
My painted calipers are holding up very well after all this time, all I do is wipe them down to dry after a car wash. Here is a quick picture, btw what looks like paint chips at the edges are simply the camera flash reflecting back; they are absent of any chips.
I know this is old but want to check in... how has it held up? Thinking seriously about using this color. Our car is silver and has silver wheels so I think the burnt orange would be a nice color pop.
How did you remove the old factory/brembo silver paint? Sand/chemical..etc?
I know this is old but want to check in... how has it held up? Thinking seriously about using this color. Our car is silver and has silver wheels so I think the burnt orange would be a nice color pop.
How did you remove the old factory/brembo silver paint? Sand/chemical..etc?
Thanks,
-Nigel
i also have a silver SL, silver wheels and painted my calipers the same burnt orange metallic. I was hesitant to paint them as the all-silver monochromatic look was slick, but am glad I did. The bright pop of color looks awesome to me and makes my old SL look like more of a sports car. The burnt orange is something different from the usual red or yellow and is similar to the orange calipers on newer CC brake AMGs
i did not remove the existing stock coating, just cleaned thoroughly, sanded, cleaned again then primed and painted. I applied the vinyl decals under the clear coat layer to protect them.
They have been painted for over a year and a half with zero issues.
arg... that looks so freaking good! I'm sold man. Seriously! Thank you.
I'm going to use aircraft stripper to remove the chipped, cracked failing silver paint on them now. Clean them, scuff them up, then prime, paint, clear...etc.
It's safe to assume you used all VHT products via primer/clear?
I had one question which I can't seem to find anywhere... VHT says you should bake the part after it's painted. Does one bake it, THEN clear it, or did you clear it after the color layer then bake? I feel like the latter would not be correct because the color underneath isn't really curing.
arg... that looks so freaking good! I'm sold man. Seriously! Thank you.
I'm going to use aircraft stripper to remove the chipped, cracked failing silver paint on them now. Clean them, scuff them up, then prime, paint, clear...etc.
It's safe to assume you used all VHT products via primer/clear?
I had one question which I can't seem to find anywhere... VHT says you should bake the part after it's painted. Does one bake it, THEN clear it, or did you clear it after the color layer then bake? I feel like the latter would not be correct because the color underneath isn't really curing.
Thanks!
-Nigel
i actually used a different primer and clear, you can stick with the full VHT line to avoid complication. All I could find locally was the basecoat paint.
you would bake the parts after clearing. I painted mine on the car, my bake-in process was some curvy mountain road driving I did have the car sit at least a full day before driving it, though.
i also painted my rotor hats at the same time.
Excellent thank you. Do you remember the primer and clear you went with?
From what I can get local I am probably going to get the VHT primer which is rated at 550 degrees. Their VHT burnt copper which is rated at 650 degrees.
I found this on a lexas forum and they HIGHLY recommend using this 2k clear coat since it has hardener in it which makes it superior to the VHT single stage stuff. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-f...alipers-3.html
Excellent thank you. Do you remember the primer and clear you went with?
From what I can get local I am probably going to get the VHT primer which is rated at 550 degrees. Their VHT burnt copper which is rated at 650 degrees.
I found this on a lexas forum and they HIGHLY recommend using this 2k clear coat since it has hardener in it which makes it superior to the VHT single stage stuff. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-f...alipers-3.html
Sorry for the delayed reply, Nigel!
The primer was a 2K primer from PPG, JP202 something I always have extra on hand for repainting equipment. This is just a decent economy primer/surfacer with high build when mixed appropriately.
The clear was also PPG, most likely jc6700 again a decent economy PPG product.
Has held up fantastic. I scratched one rear caliper when I had a rear wheel blowout and accidentally knocked it while putting on spare wheel. Ugh. Touched it up fine, however.
I have used the 2k spray can like you linked above, Pretty sure the same exact brand as well. It came as a bundle with some color matched base coat I ordered for a different project. (I repainted a bumper trim on my SL)
Once activated the can lasts under a day before it is ruined, so do them all at once! I thought it worked great! Though I can't give you feedback on the durability as I ended up painting another trim and front bumper at the same time (swapped to SL65 bumper) months later.
it should be much better than the standard single stage clears from an auto parts store as you found in your research. It certainly sprayed and leveled drastically better than any spray clear I had used before. On a small part like that trim I painted it looked awesome.
i also have a silver SL, silver wheels and painted my calipers the same burnt orange metallic. I was hesitant to paint them as the all-silver monochromatic look was slick, but am glad I did. The bright pop of color looks awesome to me and makes my old SL look like more of a sports car. The burnt orange is something different from the usual red or yellow and is similar to the orange calipers on newer CC brake AMGs
i did not remove the existing stock coating, just cleaned thoroughly, sanded, cleaned again then primed and painted. I applied the vinyl decals under the clear coat layer to protect them.
They have been painted for over a year and a half with zero issues.
I attached a few pictures
Burnt orange looks FANTASTIC on silver. Exactly the color I was looking for!
Thanks for posting pic's!
BTW - Do you recall where you sourced the "AMG" badge you have in your fender vents? Never seen those before.
Sorry for the delayed reply, Nigel!
The primer was a 2K primer from PPG, JP202 something I always have extra on hand for repainting equipment. This is just a decent economy primer/surfacer with high build when mixed appropriately.
The clear was also PPG, most likely jc6700 again a decent economy PPG product.
Has held up fantastic. I scratched one rear caliper when I had a rear wheel blowout and accidentally knocked it while putting on spare wheel. Ugh. Touched it up fine, however.
I have used the 2k spray can like you linked above, Pretty sure the same exact brand as well. It came as a bundle with some color matched base coat I ordered for a different project. (I repainted a bumper trim on my SL)
Once activated the can lasts under a day before it is ruined, so do them all at once! I thought it worked great! Though I can't give you feedback on the durability as I ended up painting another trim and front bumper at the same time (swapped to SL65 bumper) months later.
it should be much better than the standard single stage clears from an auto parts store as you found in your research. It certainly sprayed and leveled drastically better than any spray clear I had used before. On a small part like that trim I painted it looked awesome.
No worries at all! I'm still going back and forth..hahah
Excellent news about the 2k clear coat. I kept reading certain things stating it NEEDS to be high temp clear. But I'm never going to track this car, that's why I have an STi and a Daytona 675..those are the go fast toys. I just want something to pop and as much as I like the silver/silver/silver that the car has now, it's just enough to draw the eye to the calipers.
I went yesterday to a body shop and a powder coater. I was quote roughly $400 for the paint shop to paint the calipers and almost $500 to get powder coated. My wife thinks I'm being silly to even consider either considering it's almost half the cost of what I got the calipers for so I see the point. At this point I have everything stripped on the calipers via the seals/dust boots/bleeders... I might as well just scuff everything up and paint them my sell for a little under $100.
I'm probably not going to spray these until it gets warmer. Being that it's feb, we don't get crazy winters here in DC but I'd prefer to paint when the temp is above 65' or so, I find that it goes on better and ideally I don't want to have to do this again.
I will note that the brilliant silver touch up paint is almost exact to the stock AMG caliper color. Mine were all nicked, chipped, and filthy from the previous owner which I'm still pissed about because I paid a premium price for something that he miss represented severely, then brushed it off and stopped communicating with me. So from about a 1 foot out they look perfect from everything I've done to clean them up and make them look nice. But it's one of those things, I know they aren't perfect. Burnt copper is going to look so nice!
One side question since I digressed a little bit. Does the burnt copper have flake or sparkle to it? From different pictures I see it appears it does reflect some type of sparkle which is nice to me.
Burnt orange looks FANTASTIC on silver. Exactly the color I was looking for!
Thanks for posting pic's!
BTW - Do you recall where you sourced the "AMG" badge you have in your fender vents? Never seen those before.
I modified some aftermarket AMG grille emblems. I liked the subtle floating v12 emblems in this location on the sl600s and wanted something similar. I never saw this done before so thought it would be a neat touch.
They mount on studs through the fender vent grille/backing using standoffs. The emblems appear to float in the opening and are angled to run parallel with the body work rather than the vent itself which pitches in there
I'm probably not going to spray these until it gets warmer. Being that it's feb, we don't get crazy winters here in DC but I'd prefer to paint when the temp is above 65' or so, I find that it goes on better and ideally I don't want to have to do this again.
I will note that the brilliant silver touch up paint is almost exact to the stock AMG caliper color. Mine were all nicked, chipped, and filthy from the previous owner which I'm still pissed about because I paid a premium price for something that he miss represented severely, then brushed it off and stopped communicating with me. So from about a 1 foot out they look perfect from everything I've done to clean them up and make them look nice. But it's one of those things, I know they aren't perfect. Burnt copper is going to look so nice!
One side question since I digressed a little bit. Does the burnt copper have flake or sparkle to it? From different pictures I see it appears it does reflect some type of sparkle which is nice to me.
Thanks again,
-Nigel
Yes it is a metallic paint, the effect is very sharp. It was a small change but really changed the attitude of the car.
I didn't realize you were in the D.c area. I'm in MD and also go into Tysons occasionally. If you'd like to see them in person sometime before taking the plunge hit me up
I picked up a can from advance today and tested it on a piece of metal that I have. It's not bad at all. I have a picture of it below beside the powder coating color that I really like and it has a nice sparkle to it. I am going to experiment with a couple things and try to find some type of flake/glitter type in a a can and test another piece. Primer/Base coat of burnt copper/Flake/Clear. And see how that comes out. I think I can get a can of flake for like $8 so it's a cheap test...lol I rushed this test piece. Couple light coats of base coat, then a heavier. Then did the same with clear, but the clear is some crappy dupicolor single stage lacquer.
03-22-2014, 08:20 AM
I did have the car sit at least a full day before driving it, though. 
