Chuck Z

I'm in the process of painting the calipers/rotors my wife bought me about 8 years ago to install them on my GTS. In preperation, I bought 3 or 4 cans of Plasti-kote red caliper paint (rotor hats are silver) b/c I like the bright red finish. Over the years I'd used some of the paint for various projects so I figured I'd just go to Carquest and pick up a couple more "insurance" cans. Well, the first thing I noticed was the graphics on the can were different but I figured it had to be the same color right? Wrong! The color is a completely different shade of red; not even close to what I need.....

Here is the "old" can/color:



Here is the "new" can/color:



Here are two colors side by side:



I sent Plasti-kote an email asking what's what here and could I get the "old" color somewhere. Surprisingly they responded within 24 hours of my email request with information about where I could get the color match to the "old" formula. Ready for the punchline? The match is Valspar Cherry Red sold at Lowe's. When I questioned the use of Valspar in a high temp application like brake calipers I was told the formula didn't differ significantly from the "old" formula sold in the Plasti-kote line of paints. I tested the color and it's pretty close...... Guess we'll see if it holds up?

AO

Hit it with some brake clean to test color fast-ness. I was working on Camboinc's 87 S4, and was trying to clean his calipers... it looked like a had slaughtered a goat.

Chuck Z

slaughtered a goat huh? Good idea however, I put a clear coat of a POR 15 product over top of the red paint and to protect the decals which I've used b/f so I'm not to worried about but, since you bring it up I will test it......

RyanPerrella

i would am curious to hear how these hold up after awhile, I honestly would be hesitant to do anything but powdercoating on the calipers. Intake manifolds, nah paint is great, brake calipers.... thats another story.

Fabio421

If you test it with brake cleaner, be prepared to paint them again.

AO

The calipper paint I use is something I got at Autozone. I think the brand is "VHT" or somethign like that. It says that it's chemical resistant. And I have routinely used brake clean on my calipers, and the paint does not come off. That said, I probably would not use brake clean on a freshly painted caliper. I'd let it cure first.

Fabio421

Really? Thats good to know. I spent alot of time taping of my holed rotors to paint the hat area. Once I installed the brakes on the car I cleaned the rotor withg brake clean ( by spraying it ) and the paint came right off. I was so pissed.

From your post earlier regarding the goat I thought you had lost your caliper paint by using the brake clean. Were they freshly painted?

Chuck Z

I don't ever use a highly corrosive brake cleaner to clean wheels/brakes. Besides, my wheels/brakes (on any of my cars.....) never get so dirty I need to use a really harsh cleaner to get them clean. At every wash, I use a wheel cleaner from Griots that is safe for painted surfaces. Additionally, I used a clear topcoat product from POR15 that is supposed to be chemical resistant. Since I screwed up the paint job on both rear calipers yesterday I'm going to test a harsh brake cleaner on them just to see what happens......

There are plenty of folks who have painted calipers/intakes with high temp paint and have had no issues with them for years. Here is a something Tony put together when he painted his calipers several years ago. http://members.rennlist.com/v1uhoh/brakerf.htm