How to: Anodize your brake calipers

[shmiddy]

just for the record, i just lightly rubbed my calipes back, then prepsoled them, and painted... this paint has not crack, chiped, faded the slightest, it holds it's own really good

[cowie165]

All done and dusted. Schmiddy thanks for the thread, I would have ended up with calipers painted in VHT Red (read: ugly!) otherwise. They turned out with a neat finish and nicely understated when you walk past the car.

The fronts have three or four coats of red and turned out great. The rears copped six or so and turned out much darker and the metal(?) flakes weren't as visible. Just something to keep in mind.

Before

After

As Blitz says, another limited edition gunmetal grey R32

[Nightcrawler]

sweet wheels! Same as I have on my R34

[Cubes]

Looks rather nice Andrew.

cowie165,

What colour is that? Not VHT Red?

Looks quite nice, not a bright red but almost a dark Maroone type colour.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Cubes

[Nightcrawler]

thanks Joel - she should be on the road mid-January.

Have had the rims stripped back to bare metal and resprayed metallic silver, so they look even better now.

[cowie165]

:lol: Cheers Andrew, everyone loves dish Hey how much was painting please? As you can see in the pic, mine have been under chemical attack by the looks of it and the alloy is worse for wear.

Thanks Joel. It's the Duplicolor MetalCast Anodized Red, MC-200. It turned exactly as I wanted - so that non-Skyline guys might confuse it with a factory colour, as opposed to a bright green or something like that. The more coats the deeper the red.

Here is the order sheet for those interested:

[Nightcrawler]

yeah mine had been under salt attack too - they arrived in similar shape to yours on the car from Japan. I got it done at mates rates from a mate who works at the ROH factory, so cost for me was very minimal. But I was quoted $100 to strip back to bare metal, then you'd have the cost of them being machined/puttied, sanded and repainted - I would imagine retail from a wheel place would be $300-$400 all up. The guy who did mine for me told I got it done just in the nick of time, as the wheels were absolutely full of rust and would have lasted about 1 year before starting to disintegrate. They x-rayed them to find this out, so it would be worth your while to do something soon. They put some special anti-rust paint on them (can't remember its name) to seal them, before they painted them. They did not do a top coat of paint on the insides due to the severity of the damage, so he told me I need to fish oil the insides yearly to protect them, and all will be fine.

[cowie165]

Wow, hadn't thought of x-raying, good idea. I had hoped to get away with things a little cheaper than that though As with everything, you get what you pay for

[TWINTIPD]

i was thinking...to get the word nissan painted....

what about soaking something like a sponge in white paint then pressing the caliper onto in after you've completed the blue (or wateva colour) coat. Do this a few times, then maybe the last coat with a paint brush if it hasn't got a perfect finish.

Anyone think this would work?

[shmiddy]

i just used a brush, could work i guess,

[Kaz200]

For some odd reason the first can of paint we used to paint my rocker covers (purple ) came out reaaally dusty and sh1te. Base coat was fine but the purple was no good, not glossy at all. Little flecks of crap.. and so we ended up taking it back to metal again, and have just repainted it, this time with a new can that came out 100% better and heaps thicker.

[cowie165]

i was thinking...to get the word nissan painted....

what about soaking something like a sponge in white paint then pressing the caliper onto in after you've completed the blue (or wateva colour) coat. Do this a few times, then maybe the last coat with a paint brush if it hasn't got a perfect finish.

Anyone think this would work?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you'd end up with a caliper with blotches of white paint or it would take you a very long time to apply enough paint.

I tried sanding back 'Nissan' and it didn't work for me. It was very difficult to keep an even finish but you'd get there eventually.

I tried applying paint stripper with a cotton bud and it made a real mess. Ended up having to redo that caliper.

The best result I had was by masking 'Nissan' and trimming the edges with a razor blade after reading the suggestion on here. Turned out beautiful. I'd argue even nicer than freehanding it with a small brush. Masking took ten minutes per caliper.

If you wanted white, just paint the caliper in white first, then mask, then apply the base coat and colour coat.

[Bobjones]

I used a rag and some thinners...no cotton bud or anything turned out perfect!!! Then again I removed the resin that is on the Nissan wording...

Oh and I like the VHT red...so I used that!!!

[R33_Rob]

sorry if this is a stupid question, but do u need to cover the discs (dont know the technical term for them).

Ive heard that the paint comes straight off after a few drives so u dont need to worry about covering it

[cowie165]

Yes, the paint will come off but where do you think it'll go? Onto the pads!

It is very easy to remove the caliper from the wheel and paint it elsewhere. Then you'll be able to strip it back and do an effective job.

My 2.2c

[R33_Rob]

do you just sand it back then prime it or is there another way

[Trust33]

you can sand back the calliper or alternativly you can get a wire brush and a drill and do it that way.Then prepsol then mask the areas dont want paint to be on.Thats teh way i did it.

I used a paint called metalcast.it turns out the best by far.But the only problem is their limited to a few colours.anodised red,blue and purple.They are all that i have seen at the local supercheap.But the trick is you must use their metalic silver basecoat to get the best finish possible.Also follow the directions.This paint only turns out well if you do as the can says

[Trust33]

here are b4 and after shots.i have better ones arround somewhere

[cowie165]

do you just sand it back then prime it or is there another way

I used spray-on paint stripper. You'll find it at most auto stores. Works a treat and saves messing around with brushes etc.

Trust_33 I used Metalcast too, in the anodized red. It looks very nice. Not too loud but you notice it as you walk past. Just what I was after

[Cubes]

I've used spray on pain stripper.

Don't let it touch your skin it rips it off..