Painting brake components questions and looking for opinions...

Bob S. · 07-14-03, 03:14

Alright, I have a 2001 PT Cruiser Limited Edition, it is Inferno Red with stock 16" wheels also painted Inferno Red. I have disc brakes in the front and drums in the back.

I am planning to take the wheels of soon for a good cleaning of the whees and wheel wells. I woud like to clean up the brakes as well. I have searched, found, and read the threads about painting the rotors and calipers.

OPINIONS WANTED: Should I paint the calipers, rotor hub, and rotor outer edge black to hide the rust (after proper prep and rust removal) or go with the bright silver as in some of Luster's old posts?

I was thinking of doing the black because I only have discs in the front and painting them silver will show that I don't have them in the back. Another reason for aprehension is the fact that I have red wheels, not a bright chrome.

Also, should I paint the drum brakes black? Don't worry, I'm not going to paint my DRUM brakes sum goofy red or purple or something to show off the fact that they aren't disc brakes.

Thanks, Bob S.

SickOfItAll · 07-15-03, 01:07

If the car is red and the wheels are red, I'd go with black calipers - a little variance is nice, too much red and you'll overdo it

As far as the drums - sure, may as well.

Bob S. · 07-15-03, 01:57

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't spend much time thinkin'. I went out last night and bought some cleaners and the proper paint. Today I cleaned my wheel wells, the back and front sides of my wheels and tires, polished my wheel with AIO, and dressed both sides of the tires and my wheel wells.

I painted the front disc brakes bright silver and the drums flat black. I am very happy with the look. I used Plastikote Hi-Temp paint, it said on the back (of course I read it after I used it) that it needs to be baked at over 650 F to cure, oh well, we'll see how that works out.

It turned out great, I might get some pictures up later.

Edit: Oh yeah, I used APC+ diluted 4:1, Eagle One A2Z, Greased Lightnening, and Brake Parts Cleaner to clean everything.