I briefly thought about painting the calipers, but the Cayman rims don't really show off the brakes. If I ever go with a different rim I will likely paint them.

 

Why no matter what they look better even if you only see a little bit...

 

Skyjump.........do it bud!
I have the 17" stock wheels and painted my calipers silver, WOW, what a difference even though as you say you only see a small portion of them. The real difference is at speed when you dont see them.
Some guys drivin alongside you at 60 mph or whatever thinkin, wow, what a great lookin Jag ( Hang on, those calipers are shitty, dirty and burnt, rusty lookin.....wastes the whole look )
I was drivin past a really nice Evo the other day around 80 and looked at his rims, and saw the beautiful job he had done on the calipers too.....Awesome!

Jim

 

Plus it isn't hard at all and takes a matter of 1-2 hours depending on how many brewskies you drink while doing it and how many coats you put on and at what temp and humidity...it could easily be done in an hour...

 

Well, I think you guys talked me in to it. Any tips for doing the painting? Type of paint, color, etc? I like the silver idea, but I'm also a fan of red (not too sure that fits with a Jag though).

Do I need to remove the calipers completely (removed from the brake lines and all) or can I do this easily without having to bleed the system again? I'm afraid I'll get paint someplace it shouldn't be...anything to watch out for?

Thanks guys!

 

Cant remember what colour your X is Skyjump and to a degree I think that matters. Me personally, I prefer the Silver look as I just dont think red goes with the Jags image.........too boy racerish for a Jag I think.
Just make sure that you get the heat resistant paint for the job.....Get it locally I'm sure or there's some good stuff on Ebay, just type in brake caliper paint and it'll take you right there bud!

The best job is obviously gonna be with the calipers removed completely and a spray job, but then your cars outta commission for a while!
I did it with the calipers in situ and just took my time to make sure I did it right. The kit I got off Ebay had a small artists paintbrush included which I used for the really tricky parts, and a std 1/2 inch paintbrush for the main body of the caliper.
I did mine over 2 days. The first day I did all 4 wheels and let it sit overnight to harden completely, then the same again the next day.
I found 2 coats to be more than ample.
I did use a clean paintbrush and wire brush to remove all brake dust and dirt to start with to give the paint a good key to begin the process.
Good luck

Jim

 

Check it out skyjump.............This is exactly the system I used and would recommend!
brakecaliperpaint

Jim

 

Hey there skyjump here are pics of mine...I chose red as silver is too boring for my taste...I thought red would go great as the rear side marker is already bright red and the taillights are red otherwise I probably wouldn't have went red. I purchased the paint I used for a mere 3-4 bucks and got the clear and paid no more than 10 bucks for all supplies. Honestly you don't have to worry about getting paint where it isn't intended all you have to do is use common sense. What I do is using a plastic wal-mart bag or whatever plastic bag you have puncture a hole and take it over the rotor and everything else you want to cover. Poke the caliper through the bag and make sure everything else like the rotor is covered. I didn't get any paint that I didn't want it and I was stuck painting in the dark! It seriously would only take 1-2 hours at the most as far as painting them goes....most important part is put small coats not one or two big thick coats and allow them to dry. If you can jack the whole car all the way around off the ground and access the wheel wells it will be a super fast process...anyways any other questions for my way of doing it let me know! Good luck!






As you can tell by these pictures red in NO way looks out of place for being on a jag...I think it goes great with the rest of the red on the car itself...yellow would look funny but red to me is expected...now imagine grey on there! There almost would be no reason in painting them as grey would stand out even less than the red. The paint is also easy to keep clean if you try to keep it clean! Spray it off with a power washer at least once a week and your golden...also better brake pads help this!

Here is my car with far away side pics...


The red doesn't scream tacky to me...but hey thats just me! On jims car grey is probably the way to go...nah I'd rather have red to give everything contrast....

 

Hope this helps and you can also click on the pics and go directly to my picasa web album...when you do you can download the pics individually so you can zoom in more...

 

Hey Aquill........your calipers look good mate, good job too.
I never said red looks tacky, just not ( for me ) in keeping with a Jag, but wer'e all different.
The silver is not boring at all, conservative maybe, but thats not a bad thing. The silver gives a cleaner finish, more stock looking, yet bright n fresh at the same time.
The calipers still stand out, just in a different way.

Jim

 

Oh I wasn't directing tacky to you...just some people might think the red is tacky...Silver to me just goes with everything....I guess I'd have to just see it! Where are your pics?

 

Errr Ummmm Errr......I know I'm always askin for pics, but, well, I err dint take any when I done it[&:].......rofl@me
I think once I have the new rotors fitted along with the Redstuff pads I may give them a clean and another coat to top them up.
I will definately take pics then.
Coss my heart n all that, honest, no kiddin!

Jim

 

the red looks pretty good there aquil, all you need now are some oem aruba's or aguilas and ur SET. i kinda wanna paint my calipers, but my car is all black and chrome...so i'll probably go with black.

 

That's a great job !
Aquill is very handy and knows how stuff looks the best on a car

 

Augghhh...thanks cadi!

Hey somekidz a while back I colored your calipers to give you an idea what it would look like! If you have a better side on pic of the car and your calipers I can photoshop them to give you an idea....here are the ones I did....
Stock...


Red...doesn't look right because of the color red...they really would look better if you painted them red...as you have that side rear reflector/running light back there....


Oh those other ones if you look I also modded something else....


Yellow....[:'(]


Gray/silver....color doesn't look right it looks fake just like the red...wouldn't really look good because there's really nothing on your car that particular color....I don't think it'd look good either because of the chrome/polished lip...


My favorite for sure!


Black would look good I need to edit one for black...although I think it would blend a little bit to everything else....I think red would make you look at your rims some more which is definitely what I'd be wanting if I had rims!

 

Nice job on the photoshopping Aquill!

Jim

 

Oh yeah...the fuchsia is definitely the best!

 

LOL, they look real
Stock looks very brill too

 

I do better jobs photoshopping when I use real colors! They look a little better! You have to see the 2004 honda 1000rr I photoshopped pink!!! It seriously looks not just more than real but it looks good in pink! I'd totally ride it for sure! I actually prefer pink than the actual color red it had on it! Not kidding either!

 

Aquill, buddy, one or two of your more recent posts have me worried.....lol

Jim