Brake calliper original colour

[R129mine]

Does anyone know what colour the original brake callipers were on a 1996 R129? Like to make them look a bit better as they are a bit dull/faded.

Don’t worry am not going to paint them red or yellow

 

[JOHNO978]

In my opinion I would go with Silver no matter what the original colour was..You see a lot of cars that have colour matched the Calipers to the body..that look pretty good on some cars, when I did my suspension refurb on my 1996 C280 I went with White from Demon Tweeks....2 months later I went Silver..it looked more Elegant...each to their own..I did the Disc`s the same...cant stand seeing that rust on the Disc`s...Im doing a W203 right now...they shall be Silver..but so is the Car...good Luck with your choice...

 

[R129mine]

Took a picture of a spare one I have. Will clean it up and spray it silver to see what it looks like First need to find my box with spray cans

 

[Abb]

Am sure they will have been silver from new. Silver hammerite would be my choice of coating if I was to do it myself.

 

[JOHNO978]

Am sure they will have been silver from new. Silver hammerite would be my choice of coating if I was to do it myself.

Im spraying the Rear underside of my W203 with Silver Hammerite right now...Im not sure it would be the right paint unless they do a high Temp one..Ive used Hykote ? High Temp spray on my C280 Calipers...before but then bought Caliper spray as I wasnt comfortable with the finish...

 

[JOHNO978]

Took a picture of a spare one I have. Will clean it up and spray it silver to see what it looks like First need to find my box with spray cans View attachment 97643

That looks as if it was silver/Chrome to begin with..

 

[JOHNO978]

Im spraying the Rear underside of my W203 with Silver Hammerite right now...Im not sure it would be the right paint unless they do a high Temp one..Ive used Hykote ? High Temp spray on my C280 Calipers...before but then bought Caliper spray as I wasnt comfortable with the finish...

Just to add...Ive been looking at some other paints and it says on the Ordinary Hammerite spray paint Data sheet that its not suitable for use where the Temp will go over 80c....

 

[R129mine]

Cleaned it up a little with some old brake fluid overnight and looks like it is indeed silverish underneath

several specialist paints in silver are all sold out. I had my eye on the por15 product line. May just clean it up for now and do it later this summer

 

[AW8]

If painting silver.... another vote for, (smooth), hammerite. Wire brush & brake cleaner 1st. I am sure there may be superior products but hammerite is cost effective. It can be white spirit thinned a little which will make application easier & drying quicker.

POR-15 a top quality product for chassis work....no idea about success of this on calipers.

Regardless of paint type I would make sure its applied thinly....to avoid deep brush marks, runs or excess paint that compromises the finish.....Some prefer to spray for a better finish but more time consuming & more masking required. Touch in's, freshening up or repainting easier by brush too.

 

[R129mine]

Here is a link to the por paint. I had no idea about it either till I started looking for Caliper paint

POR15 Caliper Painting Kit (Silver)

POR15 Caliper Painting Kit (Silver) from Frost.co.uk - The Specialist of High Quality Tools & Equipment for the Classic Vehicle Restorer

www.frost.co.uk

Sadly this is also out of stock.

 

[Gazwould]

On fugly rough cast calipers silver is about the worst colour you can do !

1. It detracts attention from the splendid alloy wheels .

2. It highlights brake dust .

3. Looks bloody awful .




Any silver for that matter unless it's beautifully finished AMG calipers .

Disc bells , back plate etc , silver is gash and detracts from the alloys .






Some OE and other manufacturer are getting it right from new .





THE answer..

 

[R129mine]

On fugly rough cast calipers silver is about the worst colour you can do !

haha, I see what you mean

 

[Petrol Pete]

These are the standard rears on my C55 , they come stock in 'rough cast silver' and I agree , there is not much you can do to make them pretty. I slopped some silver on them a few years ago and left it at that for now. 'You can't polish a turd...but you can roll it in glitter !'

It's a daily driver not a garage queen , good job too !

 

[exvolvoman]

I've had good results using Foliatec caliper paint, it's a two part paint system.

Lacquers & Sprays

FOLIATEC bietet Dir mit seinem breiten Portfolio verschiedenster Lacke ein großes Spektrum individueller Farben und unterschiedlichen…

www.foliatec.com

 

[Petrol Pete]

OP , I wouldn't go too mad with all sorts of fancy coatings, nothing is going to make a rough cast caliper look great, even when new they didn't look very pretty.

 

[IanW]

'You can't polish a turd... !'

I beg to differ ... The Japanese Art of Dorodango and Polishing Poop – Wesley Rogers

 

[Petrol Pete]

I beg to differ ... The Japanese Art of Dorodango and Polishing Poop – Wesley Rogers

 

[Will]

I think satin silver (or satin black) would look a lot better than any colour in gloss.

Gloss black brake discs/hubs just look wrong IMO.

As said, those calipers are rough castings so wouldn’t make a point of accentuating them, just keep them clean and tidy.

 

[Gazwould]

Gloss black turns to then look satin black as the dust collects , satin black turns to matt black .

 

[Will]

Gloss black turns to then look satin black as the dust collects , satin black turns to matt black .

What does Matt black turn to?

No offence, but what’s the point in painting them if you intend to leave then covered in brake dust?