Calliper paint - recommendations

[TomB]

Evening, 

Cleaning up components, my rear brake callipers are tarnished and a yucky metallic brown. Is  finding a silver or zinc yellow calliper paint a good idea? I’m not looking to replace with a reconditioned calliper at the moment. 

Any recommendations or experience of similar products? Good idea or not? 

Thanks, Tom

[Brightonuk]

I painted the calipers on my Tesla P85 three years ago with this stuff still looked great when I sold the car

I washed the car twice a week and used wheel cleaner did not fade out or peel 

https://www.g2usa.com/

Has excellent reviews on various car forums Not sure if you can get it in the UK  

 

[SLR No.77]

Unless you've fitted Brembos or they're branded Porsche, if you're determined to paint them stick to satin black and keep them discrete.

Stu.

[TomB]

Been thinking - a brake calliper  is cast iron with a zinc coating I think. As they age, it’s seems the zinc coating oxides and largely disappears leaving them a dull brown with patches of rust staining. 

So what is special about dedicated calliper paint? It is simply more resilient to high temperatures, or is formulated to cope with brake fluid spills and high temperatures? In which case is there any reason why I can’t paint them as I would the steel space frame with POR15 clean, prep and 2 coats of black? According to the data sheet, POR15 can cope up to 450 degrees F (220 C), which should be ok for a brake calliper on a 7. 

From https://www.por15.com/POR-15-Technical-Information_ep_62.html

A POR-15® coating was subjected to 450°F for 10 hours; it remained hard and showed no apparent loss of adhesion. A panel subjected to elongation was pulled beyond the yield point of the base metal without affecting the POR-15® coating.

So it sounds to me that treating them as any other bit of rusty steel, with degrease, prime/prep and POR15 would do the job. What do you Think? 

[SM25T]

I have used brush on Smoothrite with success.

[Jim 123]

Halfords do caliper paint in small tins for £11. 

[oilyhands]

Most calliper paints are effective, but preparation is just as important as paint quality, I acid clean the surfaces before painting and then thoroughly clean and dry , so far the last application has been fine for 3 years.

Oily

[TomB]

Hi Oily, thats why Im minded to put normal POR15 rust paint on them - Ive got the starter kit with POR degreaser and acid prep solution in, so can properly apply.  Im reasonably happy that POR15 is up to the job, even without using the dedicated POR brake calliper paint.