Aside from spending the $$$ to buy new calipers from AM or get a Brembo variant, has anyone repainted their calipers and kept the AM logo?

My black on black beast is a sexy one but I think you can have too much of a good thing. I have black calipers but have red caliper envy .

Thoughts/comments?

 

Yes, I did this on my V8V, black to red. You'll need to go with decals from a third party as the letters are painted on OEM calipers. I started a thread on caliper decals months ago. Short version of the story is it took me a long time to find a company that could do the correct font and dimensions. The end result was perfect though and I had no problems with the decals peeling, melting, etc.

 

Thanks a lot! I did a forum search before posting but it didn't pull up your post for some reason. I didn't consider the decal option. For future reference the link to the original post is here.

 

Is there anybody in your area that paints them? We have a guy in my area that can paint them any color you want, and even get decals of what you want to.

 

I haven't even looked into it yet actually, but thanks for the heads' up. With the car in storage this winter, I suppose I could get the job done if I put it up on blocks.

The spot I rented out however, is in a building where they specifically disallow 'repair work' to be done to the cars on the premises. I'm not sure where jacking up and pulling the wheels off might fit in with that tho lol. I have to change the pads on the rears soon anyway however. Looks like it's setting up to be a 'kill two birds with one stone' kinda situation.

Racer, on the close ups of the repainted calipers you posted in the previous thread, it looks like there are brush marks on them in some places. Was the repaint done by hand?

 

I just order the stickers and i hope i can find time to paint my black calipers to red.

 

After re-reading my post, I see I wiped the calipers with my hand to clear off the brake dust before taking the pictures. There were no brush strokes on the calipers and they looked like they came from the factory, except I did white lettering on red instead of black, which is hard to see with a red background. Was really happy with the way they came out and I am pretty particular.

 

Any of you guys got the handbrake calipers painted as well?

 

I did not as I wanted the OEM look.

 

Ok, that makes sense. I think they look perfect actually. Can't even see any decal lines at all (these are stick on decals correct? Not magnetic?). I agree the white lettering is also the way to go.

I like the OEM black look for those too but I could see it would look cool with both red.

 

I like the OEM black look for those too but I could see it would look cool with both red.[/QUOTE]

Yes I think it looks really good with both painted.

 

Noticed an AM dealer mechanic using a rattle can (spray bomb) to "refresh" a set of red calipers...part of an annual service as I remember.

The aftermarket recognizes the opportunity and offers a high temperature (ceramic based?) paint. You can do it yourself.

 

They are plastic (nylon?) letters that come aligned on a piece of wax paper. There is no adhesive. I think they transfer onto the calipers with the application of heat, like an old-fashioned iron-on. I didn't install mine, but they did come with instructions and, as I recall, they sounded pretty easy to apply.

BTW, regarding the paint, I think it must be done at temperatures over 60 degrees.

One last caveat is that the decals are only good to temperatures of up to 190 degrees and could melt or migrate beyond that point. You won't reach that temperature on the road, but it's possible to get up there on the track. I don't know what happens at those temperatures, maybe they'd still be okay if you don't touch them until they cool. Regardless, for $12 a set, you could just replace them if they did get ruined.

 

Ya for sure, or just buy two or three up front with the order. What do you mean about the paint having to be done at >60 degrees? C or F?

 

Looks great! I should do this, always wanted red calipers.
How much do shops usually charge to paint the calipers?
Anyone know a shop in SoCal that does it?