My first question is: The caliper is split in 2 different pieces. Do you guys think it would look good to paint the main part of the caliper black, and then the smaller part on the inside of the caliper have polished? I have a spa yellow with SSR competition wheels, so it may mach up with my wheels pretty good. Also I dont want to paint the calipers only black because I want it to stand out a little, but I dont want to paint it red or yellow because I think it may stand out a little too much for my taste. What do you guys think about that?


My next question is: if I decide to go ahead with this little project, could someone give me the best step by step way to polish the inside part of the caliper? What grit sandpaper to start with and finish with, what to buff with and so on. Also if you could name some of the products to be used that could be found at a local auto parts store would be very helpful. Thanks alot.

--Mark

 

The calipers are made of cast iron. As soon as you polish them, they will rust. You may be able to clear over them, But i highly doubt you will find a clear coat that will tolerate the heat the brakes live in.

 

you are better off just painting them black (both parts)

 

Well, there goes that idea, haha. Thanks for the responses guys!

 

You will want to coat them after you polish to seal them up. I'd recommend G2.

This Project took me about 3 days total. This mod is not difficult, but is a little time consuming and tedious if you want to ensure a quality job.

Some have chosen to grind down the casting marks on their calipers before the G2 system and others have not. It looks good either way and is a personal preference. It all depends on how much time you want to spend. If you want your calipers to look smoother like a profressional powder coat job, then you should grind. Grinding will give you that "Porsche" smooth factory caliper look.

The materials used are as follows:

- G2 caliper paint kit. Red = $31.00 on sale (www.decalgirl.com)
- Bright silver metallic "S2000" logos = $11.99 (www.decalgirl.com)
- 2 3/4' wide Artist brushes = $2.99 each (Ben Franklin crafts store)
- 1 small pointed Artist brush (for more detailed/hard to reach areas) = $2.99 (Ben Franklin crafts store)
- 1 Sunday edition Hbg Patriot Newspaper = .50 cents (QT)
- 2 Hefty Trash Bags = .05 Cents (Walmart)
- 1 Dremel #953 Alum. Ox. Grinding Stone = $3.95 (Home Depot)
- 1 Dremel #932 Alum. Ox. Grinding Stone = $3.95 (Home Depot)
- 1 BrakeKleen Brake Cleaner = $0.00 (Included in G2 caliper paint kit)
- 5ft. standard Masking Tape from your basement = Free

Tools used/optional

- Die grinder with wheel. This is a fast and easy way to remove those casting marks in SECONDS! You need to be very careful if you use this tool because if you press too hard, you can ding the metal. If you don't have one of these, then the Dreme grinding stones will do the same job, but will take longer. (borrowed from neighbor).
- Generic dremel tool. = $9.99 with 60 attachements. (Harbor Freight)
- Sanding drums- came in the 60 piece attachment kit above, fit any hand/dremel tool.

Safety

- WEAR GOGGLEs and a MASK when grinding! You don't need metal fragments in your eye or in your mouth!

PICTURES!PICTURES!PICTURES!PICTURES!PICTURES!

First, get your car up on jackstands. For best way to get your car up on jackstands, read the 2nd post here



Picture of my front caliper FULLY grinded down in all visible areas and smooth as glass. (5+ hours total for all four calipers over two days.



I put about 6 coats of G2 on the fronts and 4 on the rear. Instead of mixing the full amount of paint and reactor in one shot, I took 4 parts of paint using a plastic spoon, and 1 part reactor on a spoon into a small can. This small amount let me do 1 coat on all 4 calipers. I then, repeated the above until I got mutiple coats. I probably have enough left over to do one more coat on all the calipers. I'll save it for touch up down the road. If you mix it all at once like the instructions say, you will only have about 3 hours working time before the paint is hard and unusable.

Picture before logos:





Picture after front logos:



I did not put logos on the rear. To my eye, it didn't really look as balanced and I only favor them on the front - they look like they are made to go there....

Some full shots:









A big thanks to StknCaS2k, Virus, enzyme, Hockey, ruexp67, Johnny--2K, KenGPW, and others

 

Thanks alot for the write up. I will probably end up painting it solid black and will also probably end up grinding it down as well. I really like the idea of only having the s2000 logos on the front calipers too. Great work, your brakes look awesome!

 

Good job Jason.

You are clearly proud of your mod, as you should be!!!

Hockey