Jenny

Well tomorrow is the day! No more procrastinating. The brakes are going on. Someone gave me a tip to paint the calipers (Stainlesssteelbrakes). They have a silvery coating so i'm not sure if that's paint or not. Should i paint over it anyway? Should i leave them be? Thanks!

BigBlockVette

I bought a complete brake kit from Zip last fall. It included all rebuilt calipers. I installed it in the fall, by spring it was rusting. I ended up cleaning the calipers up and painting them last spring. Much nicer looking now. I painted them with a rustoleum burgandy paint, close to the color of the car. All of my lines are stainless, no rust. I would paint the calipers with something before I put them on!

Good Luck,
Dwayne

SteveG75

They will eventually rust if not painted. Don't use a can because it will get in all the places you don't want it. When mine were done, we just sprayed some of that cast iron paint into a little cup then used one of those cheap foam brushes to paint it one the caliper. Still holding up after 7 years. I am just not inot the color keyed thing up you could do that as well.

jerryp58

I didn't paint mine and here's what they looked like about two months later...
http://users.erols.com/jerryp58/corvette/rotor1.jpg .

Needless to say, if I had it to do over again, they'd be gloss black now :cry

bence13_33

Jerry:
Ouch :eek:. How old are the calipers? Do they send the calipers, bear metal without a coat of paint?

BigBlockVette

Just like when the car was new!

chevluvr

I put my new caliper's on in a hurry and mine quickly looked the same as Jerry. I just completed a fresh paint on them. Sure would have been easier before original installation. Well sometimes we have to learn from experience not to hurry our projects because it will come back to haunt us.

My humble opinion is to paint. :smash:

74-Roadster

Quote:

Needless to say, if I had it to do over again, they'd be gloss black now :cry

I'm gearing up to paint mine but couldn't decide on a color. I honestly hadn't thought of gloss black . . . I was obsessed with putting some color on them. But now I'm going to try black. Thanks for the idea!!!! :cheers:

X-OTIC

I would vote - YES paint the calipers. It's the small details that people see..! :D If you do paint the calipers check out SELF ETCH PRIMER / HIGH TEMP. PAINT. A nice red would look good :cool: ..!

Jenny

WOW!! Were they kinda shiny silver when you first got them??! I did not know that would happen so quickly.

X-otic: Primer then paint? Where can i get this stuff? Thanks!

chevyman

I painted mine with Por15. Looks great

Wrencher

Calipers all ship bare metal. This was how they were originally ( on most cars, actually) and they rust up right away. Porsche was one of the first to paint theirs from the factory and included their name on them. Very cool. If you have custom wheels that show them, you pretty much have to paint. With rallyes, you can't really see them. If you chose paint, keep in mind they get VERY hot!

Hans

nastee383

I say paint.

Chuck Gongloff

I believe that all of the calipers originally installed on 65-82 Corvettes were painted a semi flat black from the factory. They were not bare metal. This semi flat black was the same "cheap" foundry black used for the master cylinder, etc. It wore off pretty quickly. Whatever you do, paint them with something or they'll rust before your very eyes :) Chuck

Red73

I'm with Nastee383 - Paint

jerryp58

Jenny, yes, the calipers looked great in the box and after handling them and letting them sit for a while. Hand oils didn't cause rust like I expected them to with bare metal, so I didn't even think to paint them. Once the elements got to them though :rolleyes:

Bence13_33, I don't know for sure (and we've had two opposing views already), but I always thought the factory left them bare. I haven't looked at them in a while, but I suspect they're not the bright orange, fresh rust color now. They're probably the darker rust color, all over.

74-Roadster, black came to mind for me because of my car color. I have rallyes on right now, but I've always liked your wheels and if I do go with them or something like them someday, I'd like to have better looking rotors for the world to see.

Anyway, the car has a front end rebuild in the not too distant future, I hope. I think I'll clean & paint the calipers then.

Lohkay

hey Jenny...didn't you say yours were stainless steel? If so, there is no reason to paint them cause they won't rust. If I'm wrong then don't even think about it and paint them before its too late!! :D

Jenny

Stainless steel sleeved ;). Whatever that means :rolleyes: I'll just paint it black. Better safe than sorry. :)

Binnie77

When I bought my car the calipers were painted yellow along with the slots in the aluminum wheels. The only thing that I ever seen that looked anymore tackier was a Lada with a Rolls Royce grill. I striped the paint off of them and painted them clear lacquer. The lacquer will protect and retain the bare metal finish for quite a while.

LAvetteman

How about a VW Bug with a Rolls Royce grill, like Chong drove. :lol: