Painting Brake Calipers & Drums

1. Park the car in an area with little wind (Garages are great), turn the wheel toward the side of the car you are going to paint first.  Set the parking brake.

2. Loosen the wheel nuts on the rims on the side of the vehicle you are jacking (this will avoid doing damage to your transmission/axles once you have jacked the car up).

3. Jack up the vehicle.  I found that (using the OEM jack) when you jack up the front of the car at the proper jack point, the entire side of the vehicle will lift off the ground (ie: both the driver's front and rear wheels will be airborne).

4. Remove the wheels (of course, you already loosened the wheel nuts, right?).  The front caliper should be pointed toward you, making it easier to paint.

• If there is any rust on the caliper, brush or sand it off as much as possible.

• Take some brake cleaner and soak down the caliper body.  Do NOT get the brake cleaner on the vehicle's paint - bad idea.  You may wish to wipe any grease or other contaminants off the caliper body first.

• Once the brake cleaner has dried fully, mask off all areas you don't want to paint, including the rotor surface, the "viewing hole" in the top of the caliper, etc.  You want to avoid painting everything BUT the caliper body itself.

• Mask off the entire wheel well to avoid paint overspray.  Coat the caliper with several coats of the high temperature paint, waiting approx. 30 mins between coats.

• Allow the calipers to fully dry before removing the masking and reinstalling the wheel - driving will cause any undried paint to spin onto the inside (or outside) of your wheel.  Ensure that you remove all masking, especially the piece in the viewing hole of the caliper.

Drum Instructions:

• If you have never had your drums serviced before, there will be 3 small retaining clips on the wheel studs.  Simply pry these off with a slot screwdriver, they're unnecessary.

• Remove the brake drum.  NOTE: If the E-Brake is applied, you will be unable to remove the drum.  Ensure the vehicle is secure, and release the E-Brake before attempting to remove the drum.

• If there is any rust on the drum, brush or sand it off as much as possible.

• Take some brake cleaner and soak down the entire drum.  Once again, do NOT get the brake cleaner on the vehicle's paint.

• Mask off the inside surface of the drum, as well as the "face" of the drum where the wheel bolts up to (you don't want to paint this surface, or else your wheel will not bolt up properly to the drum surface).

• Coat the drum with several coats of the high temperature paint, waiting approx. 30 mins between coats.

• Allow the drums to fully dry before removing the masking and reinstalling the wheel.

• Slot Screwdriver
• Jack Stands
• Jack
• Torque Wrench
• Wire Brush
• Brake Cleaner
• Masking Tape
• Newspaper
• High-Temp Paint

• Ryan Currie
• Mike Dugas

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