What You Need to KnowHow to Paint Brake Calipers 'Off the Car'

How to Prepare Your Car

When painting your brake callipers, you must remember to avoid dropping any paint on the brake pads. That is because paint can stick to the pads and ruin the consistent movement of the pads. If the movement is ruined, you will have difficulty stopping your car.

Now that you have that in mind, here is what you need to do to start preparing your callipers:

Step 1: Remove the Wheels

To prevent any possibilities of paint from getting on the brake pads, you should remove the wheels of your car. You should also remove the brake callipers completely from the wheels. Afterwards, you should place them in a safe place.

Step 2: Clean the Callipers

There are a few ways that you can clean the callipers. You can first use soap, water, and a brush to make them clean. If the paint is still left on the callipers, you can also clean them using paint thinner.

Step 3: Mask the Areas Around the Calipers

This step is critical as it will prevent paint from getting on the areas that it is not supposed to. Many people make the mistake of not taking care of this part. Failing to do this step well can make the job much harder. Using masking tape to cover the areas you want to avoid getting paint would be best.

Step 4: Choose the Right Paint

The type of paint that you choose is entirely up to you. You have the liberty to select the kind of paint that you want. Some people choose to use regular car paint, while others decide to get special paint. 

Most people use painting calliper kits. These kits come with special paint, which is perfect for painting callipers.

Step 5: Apply It the Right Way

Most people make the mistake of applying their paint the wrong way. That is why their paint doesn’t look right. It would be best if you first sprayed the paint upside down on the callipers so that no paint spills over onto other areas. Then, you should slowly rotate the callipers while spraying the paint onto them. After you’ve done this, you have to leave the callipers in a safe place for a few hours.

If you don’t know how to still do it despite reading or watching tutorials, it would be best to let the professionals take care of it.

Step 6: Dry, Assemble, and Wait for It to Be Ready

Once the paint is dry, you can simply assemble the brakes and the wheels to the car, but it would be best if you waited for 24 hours before you drove your car. Doing so will give the paint enough time to cure and to be fully hard.