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Subject: Here's my caliper painting ''tips'' for anyone thinking or [kind of long] Author: Magnum : member since January, 2004 : 3947 posts Posted on: 2007-04-30 23:08:01

getting ready to do them.

Thanks to ''Sealbeach740'' who supplied me with guidance / info on not only the vendor he used for the G2 paint kit, but also for moral support ;). I was set to start this Friday evening but if you remember Friday afternoon my Vent Screw broke so my car left me stranded, needless to say I wasn't to motivated to do this but Sealbeach740 got me back on track! Thanks again!

Ok, so this is just a tips hot-line. The G2 kit comes with paint, paint activator, brake cleaner, stir stick and brush. Plan accordingly because you only have between 4-6 hours of working time with this paint once the activator is mixed!

You don't need to remove the full monty when it comes to the brakes. I only removed the calipers then took the pads off, put the calipers back on, taped the rotor off and painted the calipers and brackets.

If you're not familiar with removing the brakes, please see this write-up that was found through www.e38.org: Brake Change

First step is to get all 4 off the floor, I used jack stands. Once up remove the wheels and start working your way around the calipers. I started passenger side front, then passenger rear, then driver front, then driver rear. Remove the guide bolt dust covers and then remove the guide bolts, don't forget you have brake lining sensors on the passenger rear and driver front sides of the car. The sensors are re-usable provided you can get them out ok, I use needle nose pliers to pull them out.

Here's the front caliper cleaned and rotor taped off. Don't forget you need to clean, clean, clean! I took the caliper off, set it aside, cleaned the bracket, then put the caliper back on [pad-less] and cleaned it. I used lots of rags and a hard bristled plastic brush I have around and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. You may think yours are clean, but you'llllll be surprised:



Now that the pads are off all 4 calipers and they are cleaned I mixed the paint. REMEMBER, you only have 4-6 hours to work with this paint so I don't suggest you mix the paint until all the prep work is done. Here's the front after the first coat:



Another shot of the front after the first coat:



Here's the rear after the first coat. Note: Don't be spacey like me, duh, both the rear rotors move at the same time so when you tape them off, tape both side and them grab the rotor hat to move the taped of portion in line....lol.:



Here's the front passenger after coat 2:



Another shot after coat 2 on the front:



This is with coat 3. I put 3 coats on, reassembled the calipers, pads w/ anti-squeal and then applied a 4th touch up coat. If you plan it right you should have enough time to do all this. I took 2 pieces of tap, stuck them together and put them in this location so when I put the clips back on they didn't gouge into the fresh new paint, it worked great!:



I took some high heat primer and silver paint and painted my clips to help finish off the look. I initially put about 4 coats on them and let them dry for 24 hours, but that was a mistake because when I went to push the clips I left some indents from my fingers. So I will say less is better, I ended up cleaning the paint off the clips, re-priming them and putting just 1 coat of high heat primer and 1 coat high heat paint. They looked awesome when they had 4 coats, but it just didn't work for me!



Stickers, I almost think this was the most difficult! The original stickers are a little tight on spacing in between the letter so I wanted to space them out a little. The only way to do this was to cut the letters and freehand it. Well I put the "M" on to get my middle starting point, but once I peeled the backing I couldn't see the letter so I eyeballed it AND ruined 1 letter because it didn't look right. Don't worry though I had extras!



So then I devised a plan to mark the letters on the transparent paper and put one of the decals below it to get the arch. This worked great and I was jammin':



Letter cut out, you want to make sure you leave enough paper around the edges so you have some to hang on to when applying:



Here's how I taped the decal below to get the arch, alignment and my own spacing. Oh, see my finger smudge on the over painted caliper clips, lol.....:



Ok, here's the finished product with less paint on the caliper clip. The blue is darker as you'll see below:



Another:



Now let the paint set for a minimum of 2 hours, put your wheels on and get it off the stands! The fun will almost begin, I followed the directions and let the car sit for a full 24 hour cure time!

I got to drive it today [Monday, 4-30-2007] with the summer wheel package on and nice new shiny painted calipers! HOT, these pics were taken outside so you can get a grasp on the color. The flash makes it look a little bright, but it's not!:






Huh? you can't see them, I wasted my time....ha-ha, just thought I'd throw this pic in sorry the car isn't clean:


















Did I mention my calipers match my valve covers.....oh-yeah, style!



And I kept looking under the hood thinking something else need a little color to tie in the valve covers, so can you tell what I painted ;)? I still need to get under there and clean it all up, but after my vent screw ordeal on Friday I'm glad I didn't bother yet!:



1999 740iL – Valentine One / Stealth One, Escort ZR3 Laser Jammer, Bluetooth w/ Blackberry 8700c,
Victor Steering Wheel, Leather / Wood Inlay BMW Shift Knob, Instrument Cluster Gauge Rings,
16:9 Nav. Display, TVonNav, Soundgate AUX 3, 6 Disc DVD/CD/MP3 Changer “In Stereo”,
iPod [40 gig] Hardwired, XM, Backup Camera, 2 12” Rockford Fosgate Subs, Rockford Fosgate Amp,
1 Farad Monster Cap, Custom Enclosure, Style 95’s w/ 245/40/19 F & 285/35/19 R Falken FK-451’s,
Clear Indicators, Tint, Chrome Grills, AC Schnitzer Pedals, M-Style Electronic Folding Mirrors, Xenons,
DDE's w/ Euro Fog Light Switch Activation

• Here's my caliper painting ''tips'' for anyone thinking or [kind of long] (pic) (url) - Magnum 2007-04-30 23:08:01 (533 views)
  • Brilliant.......but why blue? Did I miss something? (nt) - beechy 2007-05-01 15:51:01 (129 views)
    • Nope, I happen to like the colors silver and blue. Check out this photo and (pic) - Magnum 2007-05-01 16:48:29 (221 views)
      • Sir, no sir!! Thanks man....;0) (nt) - beechy 2007-05-01 17:23:48 (122 views)
        • Oooohhhh.. I think he's pointing at you! (nt) - eaglecomm 2007-05-01 19:55:31 (137 views)
          • Maybe he is just saying you are #1!! (nt) - eaglecomm 2007-05-01 19:55:53 (157 views)
            • lol, I was just playing..... (nt) - Magnum 2007-05-01 20:10:26 (90 views)
  • Re: Here's my caliper painting ''tips'' for anyone thinking or [kind of l (pic) - stas 2007-05-01 15:47:23 (194 views)
  • Great Job Magnum, the car looks beautiful. I grabbed copies of pics 17 & 18. - himey 2007-05-01 11:37:42 (142 views)
    • Pictures, hmm I don't have a camera. - Magnum 2007-05-01 14:53:27 (150 views)
      • Brilliant, thanks mate. (nt) - himey 2007-05-01 22:58:39 (117 views)
  • 2 cents o caliper painting ''tips'' for anyone thinking or [kind of long] - Claudio 2007-05-01 10:05:14 (137 views)
    • Thanks, caliper rebuild? Oh, you mean like this ;)...... (pic) - Magnum 2007-05-01 10:50:38 (201 views)
  • So what vendor for the G2 and stickers?!?! =) - eaglecomm 2007-05-01 09:18:35 (93 views)
    • HERE ARE THE VENDORS. I went with Sealbeach740's recommendations (url) - Magnum 2007-05-01 09:44:57 (152 views)
      • Aha.. I remember coming across Xenonmods last year. Good stuff. Thx. (nt) - eaglecomm 2007-05-01 10:44:21 (108 views)
  • Uh-oh, Are those drilled rotors - LOL (nt) - tomf301 2007-05-01 08:05:08 (120 views)
  • Once again Magnum you have out done yourself, L@@KS Great! (nt) - Blue740i 2007-05-01 07:51:21 (143 views)
  • that looks tight i love that blue but iam going to go red i order caliper - tigerbaumone 2007-05-01 03:36:39 (112 views)
  • Very, very sharp! That dark blue looks great, especially (url) - sealbeach740 2007-05-01 01:29:50 (128 views)
  • That rocks! Now you're tempting me to do another project. (nt) - nbate 2007-05-01 00:20:24 (94 views)
  • Beautiful job! I love the G2 kit because it's almost bulletproof after setting (url) - SDMike 2007-04-30 23:34:19 (158 views)
  • When sealbeach740 and Magnum open an independent shop - M.Wong 2007-04-30 23:21:23 (156 views)
  • Lookin g bro! Im bookmarking this one. I plan to paint mine this summer. (nt) - Ed 2007-04-30 23:15:57 (129 views)