# Painting disc/drum brakes



## 12silverLT (Jan 31, 2014)

I'm thinking of painting my front calipers red. I'm debating on if I should paint the back drums red to match. Would it look dumb painting the drums? Does anyone have pics with caliper/drum combo painted on their cars?
Any recommendations for paint brand to use?


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## Mrhawaiibound (Jan 12, 2014)

I used duplicolor brake caliper paint. I only painted my front calipers though. I think a red drum would be overkill..


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## cruzinred92 (Dec 4, 2013)

Calipers look good red but....

Imo lol. Keep drums black

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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

I painted my front calipers blue. I think the drums would look very ricey. I used the high temp caliper paint from Advanced Auto Parts. I find the spray paint easier to use than the traditional latex looking paint by duplicolor. This is just an opinion though as both would work just fine.

Biggest thing to remember is to cover the discs and rubber components. The backs of the pads won't be a big deal and the paint is so thin once applied that removing the pads is easy. Just don't get paint anywhere on the rotor or the part of the pad making contact with the rotor. Painter's tape works well for this along with plastic bags and newspaper. I didn't remove my calipers when I painted them; just taped them off really well. I highly recommend a sprayer attachment to spray paint cans as it will give you a nice even coating.

2 Light coats of the spray paint, wait 10-15 mins between coats then 1-2 heavy coats. The light coats will help to prevent runs when you do the heavier coats.


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

No offense to anyone but painting small brakes in itself is rice. If they where upgraded then yea paint away but factory? Paint them black for the clean OE look because it's what they are. 

Delivered from my pigeon


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

Zach.K said:


> No offense to anyone but painting small brakes in itself is rice. If they where upgraded then yea paint away but factory? Paint them black for the clean OE look because it's what they are.
> 
> Delivered from my pigeon


I think they're decent sized compared to a smaller car. Look pretty good with aftermarket rims. Wife's Murano, I did paint those black as that car is not meant for the track.


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

Now if you're tucking 400mm brakes then BY ALL MEANS please paint them lol. 

I love me some audi car porn. 



Delivered from my pigeon


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## 12silverLT (Jan 31, 2014)

agreed you guys are definitely right. I decided to go with black instead of red. It looks really nice and goes well with the black bowties on my car. I didn't even use special caliper paint. A sears is 2 minutes from my house so I ran up and got either krylon or rustoleum (cant remember) that is rated to 600 degrees with a max of 1300 for short periods of time. It is meant for metal and primarily BBQ grills and things like that but it worked great. Time to see how well it holds up over time. I also didn't take the calipers off at all I just covered the rotors and everything really well to protect them from overspray. 

Now my next job is to plasti dip the chrome surround on the grill.


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

Zach.K said:


> Now if you're tucking 400mm brakes then BY ALL MEANS please paint them lol.
> 
> I love me some audi car porn.


I personally think wheels tucked like this look bad....not to mention you're defeating the purpose of that brake kit with low profile tires. There's no way they would hold up to a track.


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

iTz SADISTIK said:


> I personally think wheels tucked like this look bad....not to mention you're defeating the purpose of that brake kit with low profile tires. There's no way they would hold up to a track.


Car is parked. Air ride. 

Most of what anyone does to any car is not good for the track. Doesn't matter though if it's a DD then the track argument is invalid. 

I am all for big brakes. Even 4 pot brakes would make a HUGE difference for our cars as is. 

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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

Zach.K said:


> Car is parked. Air ride.
> 
> Most of what anyone does to any car is not good for the track. Doesn't matter though if it's a DD then the track argument is invalid.
> 
> ...


I agree with the big brakes, just not a fan of lowering it that far  I just don't see why you would go with such a large brake kit on thin thin tire setup if you're not going that fast... I'm a little against thin like that now as I bent/cracked my rim on my daily driver with slightly bigger tires than that. They don't look bad I'm just thinking practically here.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Zach.K said:


> Car is parked. Air ride.
> 
> Most of what anyone does to any car is not good for the track. Doesn't matter though if it's a DD then the track argument is invalid.
> 
> ...


The way the drums are on these cars even when adjusted, I'd invest in going to a z link rear disc setup before I did a BBK. 


Sent from my iFail 5s


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

Merc6 said:


> The way the drums are on these cars even when adjusted, I'd invest in going to a z link rear disc setup before I did a BBK.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iFail 5s


That's about right. But I probably won't do any. I'm gonna keep saving my change for my s6..... some day. 

Delivered from my pigeon


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## Striper1 (May 7, 2020)

Painting brake drums is accenting the worst feature of a car. If you don't upgrade to rear discs at least, don't bother. And definitely paint over caliper covers.


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