Calliper painting
Equipment required:
1 x 250ml tin of Hammerite Smooth.
1 x tin of heat resistant engine spray (rear drums)
Masking tape.
Old shirt/rag. (for masking)
1 x 38mm household paintbrush. (or similar)
1 x artist/modelling brush.
1 x bottle of white spirit.
Wire brush or abrasive type sponge.
Old carpet/blanket (for sittng on)
I decided to do paint one side at a time, i.e. nearside front & rear callipers on one day, and offside front & rear the next day. It is quite feasible to do all 4 on the same day if you set your mind to it.
I would estimate that it probably took me 4 hours to clean and paint each side.
Front callipers
Preparation:
Remove front wheel. The callipers on my GS looked a lot worse through the alloy wheel than they actually were. I did come across the odd bit of loose corrosion and muck, but on the whole, albeit not cosmetically, they were pretty much in decent shape. The instructions on the Hammerite tin say you can paint straight on to rust, so there is no need to go to town and scrub them down to a shiny metal finish. I removed any loose matter around the callipers with a wire brush, and gave them a good wipe over with white spirit to get rid of any grease etc. that might interfere with the painting.
Painting:
You are now ready to start painting.
Place an old rug/sheet on the ground to sit/kneel on. You don’t want to be rushing the job because you’re not comfortable, and you won’t have it painted in 30secs.
I started off with the bigger (38mm) brush to do the bulk of the calliper body. The Hammerite paint does dry quite quickly, so the more you get done the better. Keep the tin mixed as well, as I found it would thicken up quite quickly whilst stood in the sunlight. You can then use the smaller artist’s brush to tidy up and finish the fiddly, hard to reach areas. I left the first coat to dry for about half an hour, as they were receiving a very rare dose of warm sunshine. Keep the brushes in some thinners to save them drying out and go and make a brew.
I then applied a second coat and left to dry for another 30 mins.
I then carefully replaced the front wheel. The paint wasn’t 100% dry, but this now enabled me to remove the rear wheel and crack on with the back while the front was left to dry in it’s own time.
Rear callipers
Preparation:
The rears are a bit more fiddly than the fronts due to the big drum for the handbrake. This was quite prominent through the gaps in my wheels, and was similarly unsightly due to the discolouration/corrosion of the metal.
If you decide to paint the rear drum too, it is advisable to do this first, otherwise you will be masking-off over your newly painted calliper. Also, any over spray from the drum can be painted over with the gold when you come to do the calliper. Clean the drum as you did the front calliper; remove any loose bits of muck etc. and wipe over with white spirit. Clean the rear calliper also, so you will be prep’d and ready to paint.
Mask off around your disc & calliper using masking tape. Be mindful also of over spray, and mask off your shiny metallic paint accordingly. I found an old shirt comes in handy for this. I also put a small wrapping around the studs, so the wheel nuts remain a decent fit. Primer not req'd for the heat resistant paint.
I used a high-temperature engine spray for my drum, but wouldn’t envisage the temperature of this getting to the ‘extreme’ stages. Better safe than sorry though, I suppose.
Remove the masking and crack on with painting the Hammerite on the rear calliper now, same as you did with the front.
I think you’ll agree, it’s worth the extra effort to tidy up that rear drum.
I contemplated painting this the same colour as the callipers, but thought that it might detract from the detailing of them. I also considered that it might look as if I had old-fashioned, non-sporty drum brakes on the rear, as opposed to the sporty, ‘disc-brakes-all-round’ look.
Calliper stickers
Equipment required:
Hair drier/heat gun.
Scissors.
Rag.
Clean hands.
You may want a pencil to roughly mark off centre of calliper etc.
Preparation:
Leave painted callipers about a week for the paint to cure properly.
After removing your wheel, take 2 mins to go and scrub your hands. You’ve just spent several hours last week painting your lovely callipers to better-than-new condition, and the last thing you now want is dirty, oily marks smeared over them. Also, the adhesive on the stickers will require a clean, grease-free surface on which to bond.
Give the callipers a good wipe over with a dry rag. Don’t try and polish them, as wax and the likes will interfere with the adhesive.
Cut the stickers appropriate for the calliper. You don’t want to heat them all up when they are not ready for sticking.
Heat up the calliper first. This will retain heat longer than the stickers, being metal.
I used a heat gun on the calliper, which still took quite a while to get up to a half-decent/warm temperature. It doesn’t need to be scorching hot to the touch though.
I used the heat gun on the stickers too, but be careful, this was quite hot in a matter of seconds.
Placement of stickers
Choose the appropriate position of the sticker before you peel anything off. Once you’re happy where they’re going you can crack on.
Having warmed up the calliper and the sticker, peel back the thicker backing from the sticker, ready to introduce the logo to the calliper.
Place the sticker in your chosen position and give it a good rub with a clean rag, making sure that all the adhesive on it has got a good purchase on the calliper before you start to peel the backing off.
Gently peel the backing away from the sticker………….
