Porsche Boxster with new and improved:

RED PAINTED CALIPERS!!! (and of course caliper decals!)

The beginning: These calipers haven't been black since day 1, they've been a worn off black/silver. I knew that I'd end up painting them red anyway, so I wasn't to worried.

Picture 1: The car jacked up on stands (in all four corners) and the caliper you're looking at is the front passenger side.

Picture 2: I did what most people do not recommend, which was do the project with the calipers still attached to the car. Most people take the time to remove the calipers, at the minimum tape them up, but some people actually tear them down and do a complete rebuild while they paint them. Sorry guys - that's not me. I used an old bed sheet to spread across the car (the front windshield wiper held it perfectly) and then newspaper and masking tape to cover all important areas (as you can see in the pics)

Picture 3: This is with one coat of primer, I ended up putting on two coats of primer.

Pic1: Pic2: Pic3:

Picture 4-6: Freshly done calipers without any decals. I put 2 coats of primer on each caliper, and at LEAST 2 coats of high temp engine paint (Ironically enough, Ford Red color). Note that the places I over sprayed are the rotors and rear control arms. The rotors I'm not worried about, because a good few stops will take that right off, but the control arms stunk, and I was pretty pissed, so I used some primer and painted over just those spots. I noticed that if things do get really dirty underneath the chassis, I might use a wire wheel brush, clean up some of the parts, and primer the whole darn thing. It ended up looking REALLY nice!

The finished product! The first picture in this series shows the caliper with the PORSCHE decal applied, but the transfer tape not taken off yet. When you apply the decal use a credit card or something of that flexibility to push the decal into the porous nature of the caliper and paint so that every little bit of adhesive works it's way into the nooks and crannies. A methodical lift of one corner of the transfer tape, a 45 degree pull, and the decal stays put, the transfer tape does not :-)

The list of goods used - people will disagree with the products I used for various reasons, but remember, I don't race and this is purely for show. I've done this to a ton of calipers however, so listen up ;-)
1: Two $.94 cans of Wal-Mart generic enamel primer
2: Two approx $4.00 cans of DupliColor High Temp Ford Red Engine Paint - stuff works like a DREAM and look at how bright the calipers are!!!
3: Two $.94 cans of Wal-Mart generic clear coat (make SURE this is enamel, if you put lacquer clear coat on top of enamel caliper paint you will get disastrous results!!!)
4: 1 set of caliper decals from www.xenonmods.com - go figure ;-)
5: newspapers
6: old bed sheet
7: masking tape