New to Smokinvette with a 2003 C5 Black on black. I'm no stranger to fast cars and picked this car up earlier this year with only 38,000 miles on it. I want to remove my brake calipers to paint them. Whats involved and what do you recommend for a good paint kit? I would like to go with a bright yellow in color.

The rotors I'm going to move to a drilled and slotted and also need recommendations on a good performance brake pad replacement?

I have never done brake work before but am handy in the garage, so its just the details that I'm going to need help with? When I remove the brake fluid does it need to be refilled immediately or can it sit empty for a bit? Are there any parts that need to remain in brake fluid to prevent seals from going bad?

Thanks all!

Tim

New to Smokinvette with a 2003 C5 Black on black. I'm no stranger to fast cars and picked this car up earlier this year with only 38,000 miles on it. I want to remove my brake calipers to paint them. Whats involved and what do you recommend for a good paint kit? I would like to go with a bright yellow in color.

The rotors I'm going to move to a drilled and slotted and also need recommendations on a good performance brake pad replacement?

I have never done brake work before but am handy in the garage, so its just the details that I'm going to need help with? When I remove the brake fluid does it need to be refilled immediately or can it sit empty for a bit? Are there any parts that need to remain in brake fluid to prevent seals from going bad?

Thanks all!

Tim
First of all you don't need to drain the fluid unless it is bad. Get a couple lock pliers and pinch off the lines before you undo them. You will only need a couple sockets and wrenches and some anti seize and the job will only take you a few hours. As for the pads if you just go with Hawk Performance you will be fine!! Keep in mind that there are alot of brands out there and these are just suggestions of mine!:cheers:

Greg.

I used the Duplicolor Calpier Pant kit

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/tstar99/FrontclipNikBW.jpg

I unbloted the calipers and left the line on, less fuss that way, I also recommend you paint the caliper bracket and rotor hats an offset color. I did mine in black to match the :Corvette" script on the calipers.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/tstar99/frontcaliper.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/tstar99/drivervent.jpg

Thanks Tstar, that looks great, any complications when doing this?

That turned out very nice, how long did it take you?

It took most of the day actually, it's tedious. Cleaning the calipers is VERY important and I took my time doing that. Also each Caliper took three coats, this stuff is pretty sticky, at least mine was nd looked like crap on the first coat but after three it smoother out really nice. I sprayed the brackets and rotor hats and my wife hand painted the lettering...

There is cleaner with the kit but it isn't enough, I ended up buying another can of brake cleaner then scrubbed the caliper with Dawn and a toothbrush.

No complications at all! :thumbsup:

It took most of the day actually, it's tedious. Cleaning the calipers is VERY important and I took my time doing that. Also each Caliper took three coats, this stuff is pretty sticky, at least mine was nd looked like crap on the first coat but after three it smoother out really nice. I sprayed the brackets and rotor hats and my wife hand painted the lettering...

There is cleaner with the kit but it isn't enough, I ended up buying another can of brake cleaner then scrubbed the caliper with Dawn and a toothbrush.

No complications at all! :thumbsup:

That turned out very good. The colors really jump out. Have me thinking about doing mine now. :)

It took most of the day actually, it's tedious. Cleaning the calipers is VERY important and I took my time doing that. Also each Caliper took three coats, this stuff is pretty sticky, at least mine was nd looked like crap on the first coat but after three it smoother out really nice. I sprayed the brackets and rotor hats and my wife hand painted the lettering...

There is cleaner with the kit but it isn't enough, I ended up buying another can of brake cleaner then scrubbed the caliper with Dawn and a toothbrush.

No complications at all! :thumbsup:

Good post, my calipers look like crap! I would like to do something about these but didn't know much about brakes, so this actually looks like something I should be able to tackle. Will save this thread in favorites!

Can you spray automotive clear coat from can over the finished paint for more shine? Or will the clear coat get messed up from the heat?

Probably not, I've used regular paint on my 77 and 81 Calipers before and it lasted.... well at least 5 years on my 81 without looking too bad.

I'd check around to see if maybe you could find a higher temp clear....

From my understanding the Ceramic Caliper kit I used is supposed to withstand damn near anything, so far so good but it's only been one year.

It took most of the day actually, it's tedious. Cleaning the calipers is VERY important and I took my time doing that. Also each Caliper took three coats, this stuff is pretty sticky, at least mine was nd looked like crap on the first coat but after three it smoother out really nice. I sprayed the brackets and rotor hats and my wife hand painted the lettering...

There is cleaner with the kit but it isn't enough, I ended up buying another can of brake cleaner then scrubbed the caliper with Dawn and a toothbrush.

No complications at all! :thumbsup:

I have painted mine 2 times, actually just the passenger front was painted 2 times, there is oil or something that keeps giving me a hard time, I have used brake cleaner and cleaned them pretty good and still have one spot that the paint won't stick to? I don't plan on doing this again in the near future, but most likely will re attempt again sometime early spring. What else can you suggest to me? Do I need to get this sand blasted or are there other chemicals I can use. Also with sand blasting, I would need to remove all the seals right?

Whew, sandblasting em would be pretty extreme. I'd strip the calipers down seals, pistons, bleeders ect... if you're going to go ahead with it.

First I'd trying lighty sanding down into the metal a little bit in the area that is giving you grief.

Whew, sandblasting em would be pretty extreme. I'd strip the calipers down seals, pistons, bleeders ect... if you're going to go ahead with it.

First I'd trying lighty sanding down into the metal a little bit in the area that is giving you grief.

Thanks for all the help guys, appreciated it!

You can't get off that easy! Now you have to post some pics!!!!!!!!!!!

I too used dawn and a toothbrush, along with almost three cans of brake cleaner. If you want them to turn out nice it is very important that you clean them well!