Winston

So I just got my car back from the dealership. Man I hate not having a garage and tools.

I ended up having to get my rear calipers replaced as well(they were super rusty).

I haven't really used the brakes yet as I'm trying to break them in(hurray for engine braking laugh.gif).

Is 300 miles of moderate driving good enough for brake-in?

Also the mechanic mentioned that my front left tie-rod end is pretty loose. I tried searching but couldn't find anything. Could I do this myself if I bought a jack and some cheap tools?

Anyway, here are the pics. I didn't get any of the S/S lines although you can kinda see them in one pic. I'll get more tomorrow.

My old rear calipers



My new rear calipers





New rotors

Stocker

I'm not hard on my brakes so I never need to worry about break in for extended periods wink1.gif

If the bolt is loose that holds it to the arm, you can tighten it unless it is stripped out
If the adjustment is loose, you can tighten that too, but you will want to get an alignment done
If the arm is loose at the rack end, that might mean you need to buy the rack off my parts car.

radu_rd2

Paint those calipers or they will start looking like the old ones in no time.

Winston

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I'm not hard on my brakes so I never need to worry about break in for extended periods

If the bolt is loose that holds it to the arm, you can tighten it unless it is stripped out
If the adjustment is loose, you can tighten that too, but you will want to get an alignment done
If the arm is loose at the rack end, that might mean you need to buy the rack off my parts car.</div>

I'm actually not sure what's wrong with it. I'll have to take a look at it myself. If I need parts though your the first one I'll think of fing02.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Paint those calipers or they will start looking like the old ones in no time.</div>

That's something I really want to do. Would it be possible to do it without taking the calipers off the car?

stealth

painting the calipers is easy, an no you dont have to take them off the car to do it, Redzman just did it with duplicolors kit, i think he made/is making a DIY for it, its not real hard though

Polaris

I just used the duplicolor kit this weekend too, worked great and it's like 15$ and you don't have to take the caliper off.

REDZMAN

I used the new duplicolor spray style brake caliper paint, worked great, but I did it with them off the car. I'm about to repaint the calipers, but leave the brackets the silver I painted them.

It's very easy, the paint is about $6 a can, and it took 2 cans to put 6 coats on all 4 calipers and brackets.

StrikeEagle

I used the brush kind (AutoZone) with the calipers on the car.
Pretty simple DIY:
1. Remove wheels (one side at a time unless you can block the entire car up)
2. Use a wire brush to clean off as much junk as you can
3. Use the cleaner stuff provided with the kit with a paper towel and/or toothbrush for the final cleanup.
4. Paint the calipers using the little brush and paint that is provided. Try to keep dust and such off them as you do this. Reach around behind the calipers as far as you can so you get as much coverage as possible (be sure it's clean back there first though!)
5. Recoat until it looks good (took me around 3ish coats I think, it's been awhile). The first coat looks like it barely covers, but by the time you have 3-4 on it looks really good. Drying time between coats is pretty short, like 15-30ish minutes. When I did mine, one side was in the sun, and I didn't have to wait for it to dry, I just did the fronts, then the rears, then back to the fronts again, and so on. You may want to give it a good 30min between coats though. If you do it too soon, the previous coat will come up. I was on a short timeframe, so I didn't wait that long - no harm done.
6. Let dry for about an hour before putting the wheels back on so in case you bump the calipers it doesn't mess up the paint.
7. Put wheels back on, but be very careful not to touch the paint.
8. Repeat for other side if you're doing it one side at a time.

Takes a couple hours if you do it right, but there's nothing hard about it.
Isn't there already a caliper painting DIY in our forum?

Winston

^^^Thanks for the write-up StrikeEagle!

I have access to a garage this Sunday, so thats when I'll be doing it.

I think I'm going with the brush-on kit from Autozone.

It only comes with one can of paint but it says there is enough for all four calipers.

Anyway I'll post pics of the results on Monday probably.

Thanks again guys, I probably would have forgotten to paint them without a reminder fing02.gif