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BRAKE CALIPER PAINTING

Materials needed: engine enamel or high temp. paint or lacquer low friction sand paper for metal not wood rust eater spray of some sort cloth newspaper 6 pack of Bud, a friend, and about 4-5hrs to spend high quality stiff scrub brush All of these items, except for the beer and friend, can be found at your local Wal-Mart. Jack the car up and stabalize it w/o the jack for safety. Take the wheel off. Start w/ the rust cleaner. Use it like it is going out of style to clean that dirty caliper. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Don't forget to put the newspaper under the set up unless you want a mess on the ground. Look I can see myself!! After you scrub really really well and dry it off w/ your rag. Take the sand paper and scrub it to death. This is where the real cleaning starts. The caliper should look like the one above. I actually found writing under all that scum. Make it real clean or you'll be sorry when later on the paint quality is poor. It is your baby you know. By this time you're thinking "geese i've got three more calipers to do, and only 2 beers left." Have your buddy go to the nearest liquor store to handle that problem. Meanwhile, take the scrub brush again and clean it off well. Scrub again to clean it extra. Wipe it off w/ the rag really well and make sure it's all dry. Mask that baby w/ tape and newspaper. Don't forget to mask the brake rotor for crying out loud ;=). After you mask it take the paint and paint in gentle strokes. Put about 3-4 coats depending on the paint. Ask your buddy what the heck took him/her so long and continue to wait for the paint to dry. Unmask and your caliper should look something like above depending on color (think about it). Now watch the women flock to you w/ comments like "WOW, love your calipers man, lets go to your place!" No kidding! Well kind of. But just repeat steps again for the rest of the calipers. RESULTS: Well here are the final results. Sorry for the clarity but blame the sun and camera for that. It's difficult to see a big difference but I'm telling you, it looks much better than before. The silver glistens out with great contrast from beneath the black AMG wheel very nicely. Even when the car is in motion, the caliper shines out at you. Much cooler than the ugly black charred caliper from before. Note: I needed to use one lug bolt for my spare because I lost one during my flat. :-(. Well pardon my bad humor and Good luck my fellow 190E'ers. Regards, Clinton Davis '86 190E 2.3-16V Back

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