Painted my calipers

[GMZ]

I was bored today and it wasnt that cold outside and after seeing some pictures of peoples rusty calipers I decided to paint the calipers, front only for right now. Pretty straight forward. First I cleaned the calipers off with the can of brake cleaner that came with the kit and wire brush then wipe off with rag. Next I taped off the disk, bleeder nut, and couple other places. Then its time to paint! The first coat went on pretty thin, but subsequent coats added to the thickness of the paint layer very quickly. The paint dried to the touch in about 5 minutes so multiple coats dont take forever. After 4 coats it was almost smooth like powder coating. Let dry 2 hours and put the wheels back on, and it says 24 hours until you should drive.

I went with black because I wasnt too sure about red, and I dont really like flashy things, but I do think that red would look good with SE wheels, especially black ones like Im planning on doing. All in all it was well worth the time and money, which wasnt much.

Basic kit from Auto Zone-$16.99

Cleaned with can of brake cleaner (included) and wire brush, then taped off.

After 4 coats

All done

 

[alaskaman]

nice and clean.....agree about the SE wheels.

 

[<<<<]

Nice work. I'd use silver color, but that's just me. Well done.

 

[Redstone8]

Very clean looking. I like it. I too would perfer them in silver. In fact I might looking into doing the same thing once we get warm weather.

 

[ran]

Would red look like a what-to-be TRD on my Titanium SE?

 

[<<<<]

Would red look like a what-to-be TRD on my Titanium SE?

It'll look ricey and immature in red. Just my $0.02

 

[GMZ]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I was looking at the red kit in one hand and the black in the other and red just wouldnt look right I dont think, agree on the immature part. I also think silver would have popped more, but I was impulsive and black was all they had, if I could match the Ti Silver that would really be something. If I get around to PC the wheels black maybe Ill re-paint them silver but in the meantime Im very happy with how they turned out. Ill probably finish the rears tomorrow and update.

 

[Mike07SE]

Guess I'm pretty immature then...

 

[ric]

Looks good, nicely done. Ive been thinking about doing this also, but Id probley go with RED Id like to know how well the paint holds up.

 

[<<<<]

Guess I'm pretty immature then...

LOL, Mike... Those look like stock calipers (unpainted) on your ride. I dont see any red there.

 

[Mike07SE]

Pic was downsized on the post. Pic is at a 12MP res and you can see it in the original sizing. I have to get a better shot when I get the time.

 

[GMZ]

Guess I'm pretty immature then...

I think with black SE wheels it will look cool, but not with the stock wheels. With the 10 spoke Sequoia wheels black it would be the hotness though. Our mileage always varies :bigok:

 

[Mike07SE]

Ok, here's another shot that hopefully is a little better:

 

[Benjamin Choi]

i'll never understand why some folks try to bring attn to a caliper that's clearly not designed to look good.

brembos. fine. porsche oem. great. but toyota 4runner calipers? keep them as inconspicuous as possible.

 

[Mike07SE]

Why not? The brakes that Toyota put on these trucks are beefy as hell! How many other makes do you know have 4-pot fixed calipers on their vehicles (with the exception of Porsche, Mercedes, etc. with Brembo brakes), or on SUV/Trucks for that matter? Each their own I guess. I love to see detailed brakes on rides, some don't think they should be seen at all. Give me a 6 or 8-pot red caliper for the 4Runner and I'll be salivating.

 

[GMZ]

Why not? The brakes that Toyota put on these trucks are beefy as hell! How many other makes do you know have 4-pot fixed calipers on their vehicles (with the exception of Porsche, Mercedes, etc. with Brembo brakes), or on SUV/Trucks for that matter? Each their own I guess. I love to see detailed brakes on rides, some don't think they should be seen at all. Give me a 6 or 8-pot red caliper for the 4Runner and I'll be salivating.

Couldnt agree more! Huge brakes are positively boss. With the exception of the vehicles you mentioned, the 4 Runner has the best brakes of any SUV I can think of. I love clean looking brakes, probably picked that up from my sports car days. And it does serve some function, I sure as hell didnt want my calipers ending up rusting themselves to death like some on here, and now I think they are better protected. And if I really wanted to call attention to them Id have painted them brightly, like yellow or something. Id like to see black painted calipers on a blacked out Runner, that would be awesome!

Edit: Too cold to paint the rears, its in the low 30's and I dont want to deal with it today.

 

[Mike07SE]

Weather does suck to do anything. Why I hate the winter. IIRC, painting my calipers was probably one of the first mods that I did to my T4R. With the brakes being so fresh and new, I knew that I wouldn't have a better opportunity to spruce them up. They've held up fairly well for the past year and a half with my offroad trips and river crossings. Could use a little redo though as I had only done a layer or two compared to something better like four.

 

[<<<<]

Hope I didn't offend anyone about red paint. No harm intended just an opinion. :

 

[dylanc]

Ill be painting mine copper. I think this color makes you notice the calipers but isnt as bright as red. I think it will look good on a black runner. Also, seems like all the high performance sports cars have copper colored calipers.

 

[r3dh3ad84]

There's nothing wrong with being immature- i say paint them rainbow- that just says you're ready to party! :biggrin2: