If anyone out there who drives an Evo has done a track day or five, then you might have noticed that your pretty red brembo calipers have started to turn maroon. The MW3 Evo IX was no exception. I tried to put up with it as long as possible, tried to convince myself it was a badge of honor, but the brownish maroon calipers finally pushed me too far. So I decided to pick a color that would match the car and would not turn brown.
I did some research on paint and found a caliper paint made by VHT paints. The VHT caliper paint is designed for the custom detailing of brake components. According to VHT, it is heat resistant to 900°F (482°C), which should be good enough for track use. If this paint doesn’t withstand to the heat of track duty, they make another coating good to 2,000°F.
Before attempting this 4 hour adventure, I decided to see how much info I could get out of the manufacturer. According to an anonymous source at Brembo, the best way to re-coat their calipers is to leave the calipers on the car, scuff the clear coat with a 320 or higher grit paper, and paint right over the existing paint. The anonymous source said that the brembo factory coating makes a great primer for re-painting. They re-inforced not taking apart the caliper and re-painting as it can damage some of the internal components. As with any paint job the prep work is the most important. The bulk of the time is spent taping and masking.
After the prep is done, all you need is three coats of paint and two or so of clear. In between the third coat of paint and the clear, our decal master Jeff stuck on hi-temp vinyl brembo decals. So blah blah, instead of going through this step-by-step, check out the photos below.
Update on the caliper paint. I think the clear baked a little. Nothing chipped or peeled, but the clear looks a little less glossy.
Today my Brembo are off my 07 STI and are getting painted due to mishandling at service checkup. Can you explain more on the reason for not removing the brembo calipers? The painter said they are going to sand it till the metal, which seems like a bad idea now. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks
You can remove the calipers, Brembo just recommended not taking them apart. They also said that the factory paint, (after scuffed) is a great primer. I dont know why they would take it down to the bare metal. Let me know how they turn out.
Got the car back a week and a half later. They turned out well, they claimed to paint all 4 calipers, although one had no damage:S There are a couple places on one caliper with imperfections, but the dealer paid $800 for an outside company to paint them. Plus 5 hours to install back on car. Happy with them so far!
Well thats good that you are happy with them. You will find out quicky if they did it right if you decide to do a track day.