36 replies to this topic

[Lenny]

update on the Calipers and painting.

Gforce has been very helpful in the sourcing of a foliatec rosso red caliper paint kit from halfords but when reserved at his local store; halfords phoned to say its no longer in stock,
I too made the trip to halfords in waterford today having searched halfords website for a store with the kit in stock I made the 2hr trip with my reservation number in hand, only to be told "computer says no"
Its not reserved and wasn't in stock at time of reservation yesterday, so I had to improvise and purchase some halfords kid instead because halfords no longer stock foliatec caliper painting kit.

Here is what I purchased instead of the foliatec kit:
Halfords Brake Caliper Paint (Red)....15.99euro
Halfords Paint Preperation Wipes......03.29euro
Halfords Brake Caliper Cleaner..........13.99euro
Harris Paint brushes...........................05.29euro
Unibond Masking Tape.......................03.75euro
Halfords were asking silly money for paint brush and masking tape so I diverted to Woodies Diy store for those items, saved 5 euro still spent more than I was expecting to just to get some colour on the calipers, but reading the tin of caliper paint it says to use the caliper cleaner and preperation wipes,
Had the foliatec kit been available would have been half the price for the kit that includes caliper cleaner.



All I need now is the weather, although I now believe good weather is easier to find than a foliatec caliper paint kit in ireland lol
Hopfully the halfords red is a nice shade because their isint any colour decal on the lid, just says red.

[Stoney871]

Looking forward to seeing how it all comes out.

[Lenny]

Looking forward to seeing how it all comes out.

Thanks mate,
If the weather is good tomorrow evening or Sunday I'll make a start on them and upload some images.

[Lenny]

update on the calipers,
It was a late start today as I was in work 7-3 but I got started on the drivers side first at 16:02 and put the spare tyre on an 18:05 just encase a drop of red got on the alloy,
I will get the passenger side done tomorrow aswell as some silver on the flat section of the discs.
Halfords red is brighter than I was expecting and although solvent based paint, it goes on very water like, so took two coats to get right.
I also give the caliper a rub with a wire brush to loosen the carbon prior to using the halfords cleaning products.

Finally I wrapped the front of the steel rim with some plastic bags to protect the caliper from rain or wind (dust) overnight and allow it best drying protection, I left a space to fit the nuts on the hub, then blocked the space with another bag.

Here are some images of the progress;

[Lenny]

Had planned to be painting the passenger side caliper at present,
But thanks to fords fantastic build quality on the wheel nuts; I'm unable to remove two of them on the front passenger side wheel so a trip to the local tyre fitting shop tomorrow morning is required,

Hopfully the weather is still good tomorrow, so as I can finally complete painting.
I had planned to purchase some better quality wheel nuts next month but wasn't expecting to have this trouble today.

[Lenny]

Got up this morning,
Straight down to tyre fitters and got the wheel nuts removed then replaced,
Straight home and fitted alloy back on drivers side followed by removing the passenger side alloy and painting the caliper on that side too.
So now both sides are matching and complete,
Drivers side caliper needs a bit of a touch up, but I'll get to in another day as I'm in work tonite at 11pm and gotta get some sleep,
Anyway here is two images of the drivers side with alloy refitted and the rest are images of the passenger side caliper.

[Preee]

Very nice Lenny looks great , not too bright at all , looks really good m8 , what are you doing with theback , leaving them silver?

[Lenny]

Very nice Lenny looks great , not too bright at all , looks really good m8 , what are you doing with theback , leaving them silver?

Thanks Preee,
I haven't got calipers on the rear, just drum brakes, so I had painted them with hammerite smooth silver and seems to be lasting well,
Considering doing the spacer section of the front discs silver too, as it will become more visible when the bigger rims are fitted.

[Stoney871]

Looking nice there mate, good effort.

[jeebowhite]

half tempted to paint my calipers a cool blue, something of an electric blue nature... may have to experiment with photoshop and try and talk the missus into letting me do it

[gforce]

Looking great Lenny. Pity we didn't end up with the Foliatec kit, but that stuff has turned out really well. You'll appreciate it even more once the new wheels go on!

By the way, how did you find the extra bits and bobs they flogged you? Were they much use/essential/a waste of money?! When I've painted calipers in the past I always meant to get a wire brush drill bit and try tidy them up a bit with that rather than any special cleaners. Think that's the good thing about the hammerite though, just lop it on!

I notice you've done the pads as well, I tried to keep the brush off mine as I'd read advice to keep them clear rather than risk them being stuck on when it comes to pad change time, but found it near impossible! Bit of forgiveness using the dark blue though as the mistakes didn't show up as much as red would.

I was actually very tempted yesterday to give them a freshen up, as I was giving the car a bit of a spring clean in the sunshine, but went to see Wreck-It Ralph instead!

[Lenny]

Looking great Lenny. Pity we didn't end up with the Foliatec kit, but that stuff has turned out really well. You'll appreciate it even more once the new wheels go on!

By the way, how did you find the extra bits and bobs they flogged you?

I notice you've done the pads as well, I tried to keep the brush off mine as I'd read advice to keep them clear rather than risk them being stuck on when it comes to pad change time,

I was actually very tempted yesterday to give them a freshen up, as I was giving the car a bit of a spring clean in the sunshine, but went to see Wreck-It Ralph instead!

Good call Gary,
Took the kids to see wreck-it Ralph on sunday, excellent movie lol poor Nokia Snake homeless lol

The caliper cleaner in the spray can didn't do any better than a drop of petrol on a cloth would.
So if buying again, id pass on that one.

I used a wire brush to clean the carbon from the surface while spraying with the cleaner, but id recommend paint thinners or petrol and a wire brush instead.
I should have worn a dust mask though, as the brake carbon kills your lungs and you end up coughing up black brake dust muc lol
Keeping them wet while using the wire brush helps keep the dust levels down though.

And the paint preperation wipes were fantastic at getting soapy and bringing the calipers back to a sort of silver state after wire brushing,
Masking tape was a must and a half inch paint brush would have been better than the 1" I used for mine,

So if I was shopping again id purchase;
Halfords caliper paint
Half inch paint brush
Masking tape
Two packets of halfords paint prep wipes.

And some petrol from the garage aswell as wire brush and dust mask, (cough splutter)

Ive painted the rear of the pads just to complete the red lump on the brakes and maybe appear to be more aftermarket at a glance.
The foliatec kit was an enamel paint and I done the pads with it on the starlet and almera before, both had pads changed with no problems,
A quick score with a stanley blade on removal of the pads will break the bond on the paint between caliper and pads.
It would be almost impossible to mask up the caliper so as not to get paint on the rear of the pads so I just went ahead and painted the lot lol

Thanks for the comments, I personally think its a little too bright at present but a few weeks driving will tone it down a bit.

[gforce]

Yeah, great show. Was almost offended at Snake though...he's still got pride of place on my old Nokia brick since I still haven't replaced my iphone after I dropped it in a river end of last year!

That's good to know about the cleaning and prep accessories, should be useful for anyone trying this for the first time.

If you think it's too bright and may dull down a bit then it should be spot on by the time the wheels go on

[Lenny]

If you think it's too bright and may dull down a bit then it should be spot on by the time the wheels go on

lol true mate, will be a good few weeks until may,
Wish it was today,

I've got a Nokia 6303 Classic in black, cost me 90euro in 2008 and still going strong, no snake on it though lol has taken all the images for the guides and the forum, had a Nokia N95 before that but battery was usless. Maybe upgrade the mobile when I finish the car ..... someday lol

[Pete80]

Looks really good mate, will be doing my calipers when weather brightens up, will be going for hammerite smooth black, just want the clean look.