Painted my calipers...

J

jandree22

Member
:
2007 Mazda5
Turned out pretty good I think. First I took a power drill with wire brush attachment to the calipers to get all the rust, oxidation and other crud off. I spent at least an hour doing this. Then I emptied a can of brake cleaner on them. Spent a solid 45min taping them up with newspaper and painted them still fully attached to the car. I used 6 coats of Duplicolor Engine Enamel in Black Gloss (didn't even go through a full can). Then I got some Mazda caliper decals from XenonMods.com, which I think really set them off nice. Job was well worth a Saturday afternoon. And my wife, who drove separately beside me said she can see "Mazda" perfectly through the blurred spokes at highway speed (thumb)

jandreeCaliper1.jpg


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jandreeCaliper3.jpg


jandreeCaliper4.jpg


jandreeCaliper5.jpg


jandreeCaliper6.jpg
 
Great job you did and the look is awesome! (cool)Now i'm thinking of doing mine too, i wonder which color to use on mine(uhm) . The Mazda decal Set's it apart(2thumbs)
 
thanks! I will say, I don't recommend black unless you get the decals. They just don't stand out at all, which may be the goal for some, to make them subtle, but if you want your efforts noticed then I'd say get a brighter color.

I was 51/49 with Black vs. Gold, and in the end I'm glad I went the way I did.
 
I was thinking of red in color because my 5 is silver and also those decals will look very sharp! How's the little one doing? from the picture he's getting big. Thanks for the ideal on the decal!................Angelo
 
I didn't choose red simply because seem like everyone already uses it, but deep down, I think I still like red the best. I just wanted to be different I guess. And the decals come in 24 colors (flash)

Baby's doing great. Almost 3 months old. Still getting more and more personality, and he's been starting to laugh a lot and make noises, which is awesome. Sucks though, just dropped $290 on two new car seats today(infant/toddler/booster style)... hasn't grown out of his SnugRide yet but they were on sale, so... :)
 
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I see, so many color's to choose(confused), on the car seats, it's well worth it for your boy! just wait, in 16 yrs he will be asking for the keys. My girl is 14 and she's going to a engineer classes in high school next month and i'm thinking she be asking for my keys for the 5 in 2 yrs. How time fly's by so fast, enjoy it very much when their young.
 
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(2thumbs) Me likes the combination.


jandree22 said:
Baby's doing great. Almost 3 months old. Still getting more and more personality, and he's been starting to laugh a lot and make noises, which is awesome. Sucks though, just dropped $290 on two new car seats today(infant/toddler/booster style)... hasn't grown out of his SnugRide yet but they were on sale, so... :)
Click to expand...

(cool) Oh yeah, and raspberries and teeth come next. As for the $$ spent you'll not see the end of it anytime soon (shocked). Worth every cent though :D
 
(iagree) You will never have money again until the kid is old enough to go get a J O B! Which my daughter should be doing next year ( shes three and a half) She helped pick the 5 as my new car, god bless her little gear-head soul. The calipers look fantastic! Just like Mazda would have done it if they had cared to. I think I will do mine in Ford engine blue with silver decals ( my 5 is True Silver) Someday we'll be able to get brake pads that shed dust the same color as the wheels, wouldn't that be something?
 
slvrsleeper said:
Just like Mazda would have done it if they had cared to.
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That's the effect I was going for... a "OEM Performance Part" look. BUT, if anyone dares slapping on "Brembo" decals I'm gonna hunt you down, lol(dark)

Someday we'll be able to get brake pads that shed dust the same color as the wheels, wouldn't that be something?
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Wouldn't it though! Had the wheels all shined up and they've already got the damn brake dust rust residue.


Thanks for all the compliments and also the parenting advice too :p
 
If you care to spend the time doing it, I waxed my wheels with Meguires NXT wax and they shed the dust residue almost by themselves! I just wipe the crud off with a micro fiber cloth about once a week. On a similar note, why doe's Mazda not offer a REAR mud-guard for the 5? The problem I am having is that my chosen tire dressing and brake dust end up all over the side of the car after about three miles of driving.
 
i was gunna go gold until i saw your pics in black with the decal. i really like. looks great, nice job.


which decal set did you buy - the Mazda 6 "shield" ?
 
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Yeah I agree....I think the black caliper with silver lettering is the most subtle way to do it. Especially if the car isn't heavily modded externally.
This is perhaps one of the best DIY mods I've seen in a long while....Great work Jandree.
Anthony
 
wow, thanks guys :D

I went with the "3" decals. Comes on one sheet with 6 "MAZDA", 6 "3", and 6 "<mazdaWings>". I suggested to the decal store owner about adding the the 5 as an option, but in his defense it probably wouldn't be profitable for him to do so.

I think the Silver would look really good too. I like the white on just my paint is white. Crazy how many colors you can pick from though... I think there may even be some reflective metalic shades, but that's not gonna be very 'subtle' I suppose :)
 
WOW JAndree that looks great! nice work. if i attempted to do something like this, what do i need to be careful not to do?
 
Looks great Jan.... BTW you left a bit of dirt on that right rear rime eh.

PS one of your rim MAZDA stickers is miss spelled.
 
paging_drburgos said:
WOW JAndree that looks great! nice work. if i attempted to do something like this, what do i need to be careful not to do?
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My general tips would be
  • DON'T RUSH!
  • You can't clean the calipers too much, get 100% of that oxidation and rust off
  • Use several thin coats
  • Make sure to cover everything you don't want paint on... I stuffed wads of newspaper in some of the cracks of the caliper so the moving parts didn't get gunked up. And I covered my rubber brake line and connections too.
  • Use high temp paint
  • Oh, and take your time :)

Seriously, while it's not as straight forward as something like swapping in new speakers, it's really not a tough project. Set aside a solid afternoon, plan to have alternate transportation overnight, and finish up the project with decals (if desired) and remounting the wheels the next day after the paint is dry.


OH, I do have a good tip for all planning this project. Notice the wire support thingies on my calipers are unpainted. I'm really glad I did this because I think it looks nicer, but it was a pain in the arse! They just pull out and push in, but as they're held in place by tension, you have to bend the metal to wrap around a section of the caliper while you push them back in. This chewed up the paint a bit and I had to retouch. So what I would do with this piece is first, examine and maybe even take a digital photo of how this wire piece is installed, then practice taking if off and replacing it once or twice while unpainted. It's not confusing if you can remember how it fits back it, just see what you're in for before you're stuck butchering up your paint job after the fact (like I did, d'oh!)

EDIT: See attached picture for illustration of wire bar removal/replacement.
 

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