Painted Calipers

Well it came time for me to finally replace my brake pads, so I decided, heck, why not go ahead and make 'em look good since I never painted those sway bars, I wanna paint something! So I went back to Autozone, picked up two cans of Duplicolor Ford Red Engine Enamel and some Brake Cleaner, headed home and went to work!

First things first, jacked up the car, put it up on stands, took off the tire, took out the old pads and started spraying it down with brake cleaner... Only... the brake cleaner did pretty much nothing except sit there for a little while and then dry off... so I had to pull out the good ol' steel wool and get scrubbing away on those dang things... Not a fun job, and not a clean one either having to blow away all the little debris, but once I got the calipers clean to my liking, I blew it off, did one final rinse with the brake cleaner, covered up the car with some plastic taped over the pistons, and placed the caliper where I could get to all the sides easily without having to touch it. Popped open the can, shook it up nice and good, and first shot nailed myself in the face... dang fancy nozzle made it look like it sprayed out the other way... so I turned it around and just went right for it, first coat just to get something for the next coats to stick to, I just went light on it.

Next two coats were for coverage, but also fairly light coats. After reading the directions they recommended a heavier final coat, so on the last coat I did go with a slightly heavier coat, while still making sure not to get any runs or buildup.

Waited for that caliper to dry and did the other one, then let it set for a couple hours before putting on the new brake pads, replacing the wheels, and washing the whole car to take some pictures. I'd never painted anything before except a Boy Scout pinewood derby car, haha, so I must say it was new, but very easy and makes me want to paint those sway bars I put on now! Only tips are make sure not to get too close with the spray can, and start the passes before the caliper and end the pass after you've passed the caliper, I didn't even use probably half of one can on both calipers, so don't worry too much about the paint. Was also told that if you can get them sand blasted, it'll really get them looking nice, then start with a bare metal primer and paint to get the best results, but taking them off would really just help overall! Also make sure to shine up the thing around the caliper when you paint too just to get that contrast, like mine, of the red with a black accent. Next up are the back calipers because those look neglected now and then the word Mustang on the front calipers and possibly the running ponies on the back!