Paint Your Brakes – Please!
After mounting the rims and tires it became painfully obvious that the brakes were in dire need of cosmetic improvement. Like many RX8 owners, I have been happy with overall performance of the factory brakes. However, the looks leave something to be desired. Both the rotors and calipers look rusted. Couple that with my decision not to install caps on my rims made the vehicle look much worse. The solution was quite simple: Paint the brakes.
Special thanks to Dave and Jamie for their technical assistance.
NOTE: This is for reference only; I am not liable if you screw your car up. Use caution and common sense when working on your vehicle. Read the directions (like you will) use the right tools and use the appropriate safety equipment.
Equipment and supplies:
I used Duplicolor Black high-temperature spray paint. I know some people like to highlight the calipers but the reality is they are stock and I am looking for a clean/non-flashy look. I also used a can of brake cleaner, shop towels, news paper, cardboard and scissors. Of course you will need all the necessary equipment and work area to safely remove the wheels from your car. If you don’t know what these things are, don’t attempt this yourself.
Here is the wheel before I started. Notice the rust color on the caliper and center area. Nasty.
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Remove wheel.
Step 2: Clean away dirt and debris with brake cleaner and shop towels. If you have stubborn dirt, you can use a soft scrub brush as well. Mine were clean enough not to do this.
Step 3: Cover the area surrounding the brakes. I used news paper to cover the suspension and cardboard to protect the concrete below.
Step 4: Make a cardboard template that exposes the brake caliper but covers the rotor. The notch on the other side was for the smaller rear brake rotor.
Step 5: Using a cardboard template, paint the brake caliper with several light coats of paint. Check your work to ensure all the edges are painted. You will need to make paint passes at different angles to completely cover the entire rotor.
Step 6: With another piece of cardboard, paint the end of the rotor. Turn the rotor to paint the entire edge. Try to keep the cardboard as close to the edge as possible to reduce the amount of overspray on the rotor facing.
Step7: Using another cardboard template. Paint the center of the rotor. Try to minimize the amount of overspray on the rotor facing. Also, try not to paint the threads. If you are a real messy painter, you can tape the wheel studs. I also painted the center of the axel because this was exposed when the wheel is mounted.
Step 8: Using a show towel sprayed with brake cleaner, wipe off the overspray on the rotor facing. This does not need to be perfect but the cleaner the better. The rest will be removed when you drive.
Step 9: Let it dry. Well as least to the touch before remounting the wheel.
Here are the pictures with the front and rear wheels mounted. Much better! This is a very simple cosmetic improvement that can be competed in an afternoon. This is definitely worth the effort.
