> >Hi!  Has anyone seen the brake calipers on a porsche RS America, or a
> >new Ferrari?  Their big, and their RED.  Does anyone have any tips on
> >how I can paint the calipers on my 95 Jetta GLX?

Surprise Surprise folks, you can use regular Krylon spraypaint,
as long as you clean the calipers REALLY well, it'll never come off!

-- \--\        /--/\ \--\              /--/\ \  \      /  / /  \  \            /  / / \  \    /  / /    \  \          /  / / \  \  /  / /      \  \  /--\  /  / / \  \/  / /        \  \/    \/  / / \____/ /          \____/\____/ / \____/   ADDICT   \____/\____/ VWADDICT HOMEPAGE 

In a message dated 97-04-12 07:03:10 EDT, legomanprolog (Bryan Holt)
writes:

<< Hey gang, I am looking to paint my brake calipers and was wondering what
 was the best paint for that application.  Second i was wondering what is
 the easiest way to paint the calipers.  I would rather not have to take
 apart the brakes to remove the calipers or anything if it isnt needed.
 Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. >>

Strictly Foreign in PA sells a Brake painting kit from a German Company
called Folia Tec. It's a high temp two part epoxy type paint that applies
with a brush. It comes with a can of brake cleaner also. It's rather
expensive at $40 + strictly foreign's outragous shipping charge(it weighs
less than 2 lbs.) of $12!!!!!! skip their catalog, it's 5 bucks for about 20
really poorly xeroxed pages. The paint is great though. It goes on really
easily. Just make sure you get the caliper spotless before beginning
painting. If you are only doing the external visable surfaces then there is
enough paint for two cars.

Jim

Just painted my brake calipers and engine logos today. The calipers look
SHARP! I used Krylon hobby spray enamel from Home Depot...cost me $0.99
for a small can which did 4 coats on all 4 calipers. I just masked off
anything I didn't want red and sprayed away. I'll give an update in a
month or so and let you know how it held up. I used Krylon hobby liquid
enamel for the engine lettering (I prefer using a brush to the Testor's
paint pen). I used a color called "Red Pepper", and it is pretty darn
close to Flash Red. Total cost: $2 (one spray can, one jar) Total time:
4 hours (calipers and logo, including wheel removal/replacement). How
much does Folia-tec want?  :)

Updates to follow.

Tom M. Matthews
tmmatthewsworldnet.att
'95 GTI VR6

Just to clear the air on painting calipers... many of us in the CVO have
painted our calipers with different types of paints, from Testors model
enamel to OneShot lettering enamel to the Foliatec Brake Caliper Laquer
kit. So far, they have all held up tremendously well, with no problems
whatsoever, even in high heat situations. I, myself, have raced at road
racing facilities with brake temperatures high enough to boil the grease I
used on the bolts in the wheel studs and there has not been any sign of
paint damage.

I custom mixed an orange color out of OneShot lettering enamels, and it is
holding up very well, not to mention the ease of cleaning.

Just make sure that the raw, unpainted calipers are immaculate before
painting them. Use a wire brush and a lot of BrakeClean.

You can see my calipers at:  
gallery/doug carter

Yes, they are really that color orange...

Doug

In a previous message, Patrick said:
>
> I am wondering what people have painted with the Testors Paint Pens..(ON their
> VW's). If anything opinions length of time the paint lasted. I am thinking of
> the DOHC-VR6 Cover on the engine, and of course my Calipers..

I used gloss enamel and a brush on the engine cover recesses.  My only
suggestion is to use flat paint.  The gloss light blue that I used
looked like it never covered completely.  (It's an illusion.)  My old
1.8L 16V had flat light blue on the intake runner from the factory, and
I was hoping to repeat it on the VR6.

I did use a gloss red Testers pen on the "AIRBAG" raised lettering and
the tiny little vent logos on the dash.  The paint is on there, but the
vent logos aren't the neatest.  I also made the *ultimate* mistake,
trying to paint the VW logo on the steering wheel with the paint pen. It
stays on there all right, but the red color on the bottom edge of my
vision trips the warning light alarm every time I glance down.  I swear
that I see a red light on out of the corner of my eye, and have to check
it every minute or so.....

-Arthur

Hi Fellow list members!

          Hwooorrr, my calipers are finally painted! Thanks for the info
from Jeff Newton and his jack stands! ( thanks buddy!)  They now look
awesome, my car is white and my calipers are red.

Here's what I used: well, I used 2 cans of Engine enamle Univesial red
spray paint ( 7 bucks CDN a can) for the calipers, and used 2 cans of
Brake Clean by Gunk (6 bucks a can) to clean the calpiers before I apply
the paint. I just followed what Jeff did , took 3 coats of paint, and
now they look real sweet. if anyone is interested in painting their own
calipers and didn't know how, feel free to e-mail me, I will be more
then pleased to give some help there!

later!

Gary Fung
97' GTI-VR6 Candy-White

Chuck,

Folia Tec manufactures a brake caliper laquer kit which consists of 1
can of caliper cleaner, 1 can of paint hardener, and 1 can of paint.
The choices of paint color are RED, YELLOW, SILVER, BLACK, AND BLUE.
You can purchase this item at Ultra Performance (800) 438-5872 for
$49.95 or at Strictly Foreign for $47.99.  Pictures of Folica Tec's
product is in European Car in the above mentioned retailers
advertisements.  One can go another route and purchase a can of spray
paint and follow Jeff Newton's instructions at VWVortex

Hope this helps,

David Kim
1997 Vento GLX


Bunmaraol wrote:
>
> Where did you acquire this german caliper lacquer kit and was it the $49 that
> you listed below?
>
> Thanks,
> Chuck
>
> In a message dated 98-02-17 21:55:55 EST, you write:
>
> > i dont have the DE but i did get the german caliper laquer kit and so far
> >  it has worked through snow, power wash sprays and other shit..i didnt need
> >  the golf ball shifter of the DE so i just painted my calipers for 49
> >  bucks..worked great just wanted to recommend to anyone who was interested
> >  peace
> >  tyler

Well, if only to add to the list of what you can paint your brake
calipers with, I painted mine this weekend. Used a spray-can of
Plasti-Kote Classic Car Laquer "Bright Red". I put 3-4 coats on, after
cleaning the calipers with Simple Green and then using a wire brush to
roughen the surface a little. It looks great, but only time will tell
how long the redness lasts.  Costs about $5 a can at Pep Boys. Initially
I was going to go with the Folia-Tec kit, but not at $50 plus $12
shipping.

Rich
'97 GTI VR6

Well, back in August I painted my calipers  with Plasti-Kote Classic Car
Laquer "Bright Red", a $5 spray can. Currently, all calipers are flaking
severely. In other words, all the paint is falling off, even though I
thoroughly cleaned the caliper surface before painting w/ 3 coats.
Something to think about. Oh well. Maybe it's time to invest in some
Folia-Tec.

Richard
'97 GTI VR6 "flaky calipers" ed.

I used high temp engine enamel and it's still good as new, well except for
some stone hits.

el
[...] 11 lines deleted
---
Eric Liew
Information Technologies Manager
NKH&W, Inc.
600 Broadway, 5th Floor
Kansas City, MO 64105

Voice:	(816) 842-8881
Direct:	(816) 460-3025
Fax:		(816) 842-1156

In LA, you see Integras and Civics with flaking brake caliper paint all
the time.  IMHO, this makes it especially important to paint them right
or not at all.  There is a detailed how-to on Folia Tec paint at:

http://www.mz3.net/articles/alan/2.html

I asked the other day I think, but didn't get any responses... does
anyone know a mail order source with good prices on Folia Tec stuff?
[...] 24 lines deleted

I did mine in August as well with Testers Fire Engine Red Model Spray
paint and they are holding up really well. I think they were about $5 a
can and I used 2. 3 coats all around. We'll see how they look after a
Minnesota winter! ;-)

I also got their paint marker to touch them up if needed (not had to
yet), and also to paint the engine cover letters.

Enrique
'97 White GTI-VR6
[...] 19 lines deleted

About $50 plus shipping from Ultra Performance (1-800-438-5872) or Strictly
Foreign (1-800-SPEED-94)

I've seen it advertised elsewhere in EC as well.
[...] 42 lines deleted

At 01:12 PM 1/6/99 -0600, Richard Adams wrote:
>
>Well, back in August I painted my calipers  with Plasti-Kote Classic Car
>Laquer "Bright Red", a $5 spray can. Currently, all calipers are flaking
>severely. In other words, all the paint is falling off, even though I

I used Krylon enamel (bright yellow) last spring and all is well: $3.50
well spent.  Perhaps you weren't vigorous enough with the wire brush?  It
also may be important to let each coat of paint "almost" dry, but with
enough tack for the next coat to adhere.

Steve

------------ Previous Message from  Richard Adams
<Richard.AdamsCatapultSystems>  on  01/06/99 02:12:41 PM ----------
Well, back in August I painted my calipers  with Plasti-Kote Classic Car
Laquer "Bright Red", a $5 spray can. Currently, all calipers are flaking
severely. In other words, all the paint is falling off, even though I
thoroughly cleaned the caliper surface before painting w/ 3 coats.
Something to think about. Oh well. Maybe it's time to invest in some
Folia-Tec.

Richard
'97 GTI VR6 "flaky calipers" ed.
--------------

All the cleaning in the world sometimes will not substitute for a good
primer.   The FT caliper paint is 2 part though ... so either it's an epoxy
based, or primer and top coat based.

jimB

Try mgracingsintmaarten

They have the foliatec paint for $40. (I think)  Most places sell them for $50+

After over a year my "testors" red never peeled, or flaked. I didn't put it
on real thick though, just enough to give them an "amber hue" :-)
    Steve
[...] 51 lines deleted

My vote goes for Plasti-Kote engine enamel- going on a year now of hard
driving, still as shiny as ever!

Later,
Greg
[...] 51 lines deleted

Mine still looks good, and you guys know I use the brakes enough...

-dave
[...] 11 lines deleted

My Testor's Blue calipers are holding up quite nicely, thank you. I haven't
looked at them closely lately, but I haven't noticed any flaking or chipping
at all.

I cleaned my calipers thoroughly before painting. However, my car was only a
few months old when I did it (~5000 miles), so the calipers weren't that
dirty to begin with.

Oh, and I used the paint pens. $3 a pop. I used three or four pens for all
four wheels.

-Jason
'98 Silver Arrow GTI-VR6
[...] 13 lines deleted

I painted the calipers on my 91 16v when it had 100k on it
All I did was clean them with brake cleaner(my favorite) and a wire brush
I used high temp engine(spray) paint w/o primer or anything. They held up for
over a year until I sold the car with only one or two tiny chips not flakes
mind you, but chips from shrapnel or the like.
I was told they would'nt hold up but they did. Friends who race said that no
paint would hold up to the high temps of braking but I cooked those pads many
a time with no probs. So maybe the problem lies in the prep? I uesd about a
can of cleaner for all four.
Hope this helps
Jono 98 Vr6 GTI

"jontmiller" <jontmilleremail.msn> wrote:

> [...]
>
> When I got in this list just under a year ago a whole lot of people had just
> painted their calipers.  I would like to hear follow ups on how the
> different methods/brands of paint has worked over the time, and specifically
> a winter.  For those of you who spray painted them, is overspray an issue?
> does the paint dry before a chance to get on the rest of the car?

I painted my calipers last June with Testor's blue paint pens. My car had
about 5,000 miles on it at that time. The calipers looked great, I got lots
of compliments, and the paint lasted well through the summer.

A few weeks ago, my car hit 15K miles and I set out to rotate my tires. I
figured I would touch up the calipers as long as I had the wheels off. Upon
removal of the wheels, I could see that much of the Testor's paint had
flaked off. This was especially obvious on the "top" of the caliper, which
can't be seen when the wheel is on the car. (I think the paint was affected
by all the salt on the roads this winter.)

So, I scrubbed the calipers with wheel cleaner, let them dry, and repainted
them with the Testor's pens. I put two coats on each caliper and they look
great again.

Personally, I'd rather touch-up the calipers every 10K with paint pens than
deal with taping everything off and spraying them. The pens are just so
easy.

YMMV,
Jason
'98 Silver Arrow GTI-VR6
Testor's Blue calipers, Neuspeed side repeaters, VW mud flaps, K&N in modded
stock airbox, and Garrett v.11.
"No dough for big mods" edition

---jontmiller <jontmilleremail.msn> wrote:

> When I got in this list just under a year ago a whole lot of people
had just
> painted their calipers.  I would like to hear follow ups on how the
> different methods/brands of paint has worked over the time, and
specifically
> a winter.  For those of you who spray painted them, is overspray an
issue?
> does the paint dry before a chance to get on the rest of the car?
>
>

 I did mine last summer with Krylon and checked on them
about a month or so ago when I finally took the 16"s
off for the winter and put the stock 14"s back on....
They held up great!!  Just took a little of my wheel
cleaner and applied that and squirted the dirt off...
Still nice and bright, no peeling or flaking....

 When I did mine, I used brake cleaner and a wire
brush to get the caliper as clean as I could.  Next,
I used heavy paper and masking tape to mask off what I
didn't want to get paint on..  (mask off the wheel well, shocks,
springs, everything... there was a good
deal of over spray!!)  And after I had everything masked to the point
I coild tolerate it, I sprayed several light coats of Krylon.  To help
the paint stick, I used a hair dryer to speed up the process and
applied about a total of 6-7 light coats to each caliper...

 Hope that helps...

==
-Steven.

Pics of my 'Dub:
http://users.sgi.net/~vwsport/97gti/

>>When I got in this list just under a year ago a whole lot of people had just
painted their calipers.  I would like to hear follow ups on how the
different methods/brands of paint has worked over the time, and
specifically
a winter.  For those of you who spray painted them, is overspray an
issue?
does the paint dry before a chance to get on the rest of the car?<<

I sprayed mine with Krylon hobby enamel, 4 coats each, about 18 months
ago and they still look great (whenever I clean the brake dust off). No
flaking, no scratches, no fading. I just masked off everything I didn't
want red and sprayed away.

Tom M. Matthews
tmmatthewsworldnet.att
'95 GTI VR6

I painted my calipers with Testor's blue paint pens last June, when my car
had about 5K miles on it. Last month, when my car hit the 15K mark, I pulled
the wheels off to rotate them. With the wheels off, I could see that the paint
on my calipers had flaked badly. In some spots, the metal of the caliper was
clearly visible. I applied another two coats with the paint pens and the
calipers look great again.

Bottom line: I would still recommend the Testor's paint pens. They are cheap
($3 each; 2-3 pens will cover all four calipers several times), and it is
very easy to apply the paint. You should be able to get the pens at a hobby
or art supply shop. The downside is that the paint doesn't last long, so you
may have to touch up the calipers every 10K miles. Personally, I'd rather do
that than deal with spray paint.

Just my $.02,
Jason
'98 Silver Arrow GTI-VR6
Long Island, NY

-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua D. Wyte <jdw8po.CWRU>
Date: Sunday, March 21, 1999 6:49 PM
Subject: [gti-vr6] Painting calipers with Testors Paint pen


>Ok, I'd like to get feedback from those of you who've done this.  How's it
>holding up?
>
>Where'd you find the paint pen?
>
>Any tips?

Chris:

Go to the "Library" section of Venom's website for my suggestions on
applying Folia Tec paint (www.venommotorsports)   The paint will not be
usable after a day, in fact, it probably won't be usable within a couple of
hours.   I'd recommend pouring out about half of each container into a third
container and saving the rest since there is enough paint included with the
kit to do two cars (if you mix everything right away, you'll end-up wasting
a lot of paint!)

Sincerely,
Todd Taylor
President - www.venommotorsports



>Freinds,
>I am getting ready to paint my brake calipers with the FoliaTech kit this
>weekend.
>The job seems pretty simple, and my car is still so new that the calipers are
>barely dirty.  I am looking for tips, suggestions, etc. from anyone who has
>used this paint before.  One question I do have right now concerns the paint.
> It comes with a can of paint and a hardener to be mixed in.  Does anyone
>know how long the stuff will last after I mix it?  If I paint two brakes and
>wait a day will the paint still be good?  The instructions are a translation
>from German and are pretty sketchy.  Thanks for any inputs.
> I bought/traded Stan Wong from this list my stock rims and GAs for his
>Borbet Type Ts and Yokos last week.  The car looks a lot better, although I
>still have the stock springs and cheeselogs.  Suspension is next.  Stan is a
>good dude and has an awesome GTIVR6.  Thanks, again, Stan.  I may be
>interested in a Bay area Cruise on the 25th, for the guy who asked about it,
>if I don't have to work.  But if anyone laughs at my cheeselogs, I'm going
>home.  :-)
>
>Chris Kramer
>98 GTI VR6,  One-step-at-a-time Edition
>Vacaville CA
>--
>For info on: how to subscribe & unsubscribe, the list's tech/how-to
>    library, etc.  see:   

I painted my calipers red two weekends ago with the Legend Five lacquer kit
(http://www.legendfive.com).  It's $20 versus $50 for the more common
Foliatec kit because it's made here instead of imported.  The Foliatec
packaging looks better and includes a can of brake cleaner; L5 only includes
paint, but I didn't care.  I got two coats on each caliper (x 4) before it
started to set; there was plenty leftover.  The results look great, all
shiny and bright red like 911 calipers.  Plus it's 10 HP.  If you can live
with dust magnet yellow, I think that's 15 HP...

-Louis Wang
louiswmail.utexas

Contour Enthusiast Group
http://www.contour.org
-1998 E0 SVT #3826
lightly modded - 

> I think I saw something on this list a while back about brake caliper
> laquer kits.
>
> Anybody know where I can get some? I'm currently using red engine paint,
> but the finish is very flat and VERY hard to keep dirt off.  I was hoping
> some of brake laquer kits had a clearcoat mixed in, thus making it easier
> to keep clean and looking nice.