woody24

So now after all this, I'm considering painting my calipers. The only thing that holding me back from starting the project first thing in the morning is that I only have one car. I have a motorcycle, and if I knew I didn't have to be somewhere during a thunderstorm, I'd start the project right away.

Been watching video's on how to paint them, and I want to do it the official, correct way. By removing the entire caliper, and while I'm doing that, I think I'll replace the brake lines with something more durable. Those seem simple enough. The whole process looks very doable, including bleeding the brakes, just looks time consuming, and I'd like to give myself 2-3 days to be safe.

Watched one video on those plastic covers, and the guy said he used to use them, but decided against them since he's noticed the brakes running hotter, which could lead to fading. I can't imagine it causes too much extra heat though.

1 old racer

Painting the front calipers is pretty straight forward. Clean the calipers thoroughly, remove the pads, loosely reinstall the calipers, tape off the rotors around the caliper and inside the caliper, mask off the suspension area around the caliper and paint the color of your choice. Remove all masking, reinstall the pads and your pretty much done.

woody24

Are the rears harder to do? Or same process?

1 old racer

Same process. I have done this on every car I have owned for the last 30 years with this method. I use lots of newspaper and a old sheet to keep the paint where I want it. Also because I remove the pads it has a few added benefits. 1. Nice clean lines and 2. Less paint fade because of heat transfer from the painted gap and caliper and 3. Easier pad replacement due to the fact that pad is not glued to the caliper.

1 old racer

Something to remember for those using the low cost ebay caliper covers. In some cases you will have to remove most of the sides and top of the cover to get them to fit well. You may also have to remove the pipe and other added items of the cover. Getting them to fit the dual piston calipers can be difficult but I have done it with the largest size cover, however, not on my mustang. Please know that when I did one of the dual piston calipers all that was left of the cover was the front. The rears were very easy to cut/fit because it is only a single piston caliper. Last thing a dremal is a must have tool for this mod

woody24

Here's another side-question for painting calipers.

I've decided I'm going to paint my calipers, and I've decided I'm doing it the proper way. By removing the caliper from the car. Which means I'm going to have to disconnect the brake lines.

So my question is, since I'll have the caliper off, and have to bleed the brakes regardless, would it be worth swapping out the factory brake lines with an upgraded set? Or would it be a waste of money for someone who just daily drives? I may eventually go to a few autocross events, but probably never do a full-on track day.

I probably wouldn't have given it any thought, except with my '06 a few years ago the Ford Dealer tried to sell me a brake fluid flush, saying that the rubber brake lines were breaking down into the fluid.

If I plan on keeping the car 10 years like my old one, would it be worth replacing, or is the rubber that the fluid runs through the same on both setups? Is there any added benefit for regular driving?

1 old racer

Changing to braided lines is never a waste of time. while you are at it flush out the brake system with a dot 4 fluid. Choose a different color brake fluid that way you can tell when all the old fluid is gone. I bleed my track car after track day and change out my ATE amber with ATE blue and then back to amber on the next go around . I also use a vacuum type bleeder.