05.5A4quattro

<B>Painting Brake Caliper DIY</B>


<B><U>Required Materials</U></B>
1. Jack (compact floor jack worked fine)
2. Jack Stands (2 minimum)
3. Lug wrench (Torque wrench for reinstall)
4. Flat head screwdriver (2 recommended)
5. Needle nose pliers
6. G2 Caliper Paint Kit (www.g2usa.com)
7. Wheel Cleaner with brake dust remover
8. Small wheel brush or toothbrush
9. Small paint brushes (Hobby paint brushes)
10. Masking tape
11. Stickers (optional)
12. Acrylic clear coat (optional)


<B><U>Front Calipers</U></B>
1. Remove wheel caps and loosen all lug nuts.

2. Jack up car and place on Jack Stands. Use caution while doing this, as there is a lot of plastic on these cars and very little metal to jack up car with.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

3. Remove lug nuts and wheels

4. With a brake dust removing wheel cleaner, spray and wash calipers. Use a brush to help remove excess brake dust. Wash at least two times.

5. Remove "Spring" clip from front calipers. Take not of the position it is in, as you will need to insure it is back to this position when you replace it.
1. Insert flat head screw driver into slot
2. Pry tab on "Spring" clip away from center of wheel
3. With second flat head screw driver, continue to pry clip outward from gap created between "Spring" clip and "Locking Bracket"
4. Once tab is out of bracket, pull end of "Spring" clip and it should fall out. Needle nose pliers will help to pull end out.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
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6. Use brake cleaner provided with paint kit to do final cleaning of calipers. A hard toothbrush should be used to make sure all grease and dust is removed, and then a final spraying with the provided cleaner.
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7. Mask off any areas you do not with to paint. I did not mask anything when I painted. I just used the big brush provided with the kit to paint all the main surfaces, and bought a kit with smaller hobby brushes to paint the tighter areas and edges to other parts. This works fine if you paint "normal" coats, as the paint is thick and should not run unless you are putting it on very thick.

8. After first coat is completed on one side, repeat on opposite side of vehicle.

9. Repeat with second coat. I decided to paint the fronts one day and the backs a second (requires 2 G2 caliper paint kits) due to only having one set of Jack Stands and not wanting to rush things as it was a three day weekend. I waited about 10 minutes after completing the first coat on both front calipers before starting the second coat.

10. Two coats should cover everything, but there may be some areas that are not completely covered. Wait another 10-15 minutes after second coat and touch up these areas with a third and final coat.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

11. Wait 12 hours and apply stickers if desired. I also masked off the rotors and sprayed with an acrylic clear coat to help insure stickers will stay on. Sprayed 3-4 coats over the sticker surfaces only, over about a half hour period. If you do this step, wait until clear coat has dried to the touch before going on to step 12.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

12. Re-install "Spring" clips. This is the hardest step and the longer you wait for the paint to dry before doing this the better. I placed the top of the clip into position and rotated my way down making sure the center (where the tab is) was as close to the slot in the "Mounting Bracket" as possible. I then pushed the bottom of the "Spring" clip into position by hand and everything snapped into position. <B><I>If anyone knows of a better method, please let us know.</I></B>

13. Make sure all tape used to mask any areas has been removed and "Spring" clip is back on. You can now put wheels and lug nuts back on. Lug nuts should be only snug until car is back on the ground and full torque can be applied.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

14. Instructions on caliper paint kit state not to drive can until paint has dried for 24 hours so you will need to plan for this.

<I>If you have four Jack Stands and are able to do everything in one day, you will need to add Front and Rear instructions together and complete all steps on both before painting either. Paint was starting to thicken after an hour and a half and I don't think it would last much more then three hours even though it says it will last four hours.</I>

<B><U>Rear Calipers</U></B>
1. Remove wheel caps and loosen all lug nuts.

2. Jack up car and place on Jack Stands. Use caution while doing this, as there is a lot of plastic on these cars and very little metal to jack up car with.

3. Remove lug nuts and wheels

4. With a brake dust removing wheel cleaner, spray and wash calipers. Use a brush to help remove excess brake dust. Wash at least two times.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<I>5. I did not remove any parts on the rear calipers. I felt like I could paint around everything in the rear and did not see the need to remove anything.</I>

6. Mask off any areas you do not with to paint. I only masked off the rear area of the caliper, as I didn't want to crawl under the car to paint the backsides of the rears. For everything else I just used the big brush provided with the kit to paint all the main surfaces, and bought a kit with smaller hobby brushes to paint the tighter area and edges to other parts. This works fine if you paint "normal" coats, as the paint is thick and should not run unless you are putting it on very thick.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

7. After first coat is completed on one side, repeat on opposite side of vehicle.

8. Repeat with second coat.

9. Two coats should cover everything, but there may be some areas that are not completely covered. Wait another 10-15 minutes after second coat and touch up these areas with a third and final coat.

10. Wait 12 hours and apply stickers if desired. I also masked off the rotors and sprayed with an acrylic clear coat to help insure stickers will stay on. Sprayed 3-4 coats over the sticker surfaces only, over about a half hour period. If you do this step, wait until clear coat has dried to the touch before going on to step 11.

11. Make sure all tape used to mask any areas has been removed. You can now put wheels and lug nuts back on. Lug nuts should be only snug until car is back on the ground and full torque can be applied.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i12/tk48167/Audi/PaintedCalipers10.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

12. Instructions on caliper paint kit state not to drive can until paint has dried for 24 hours so you will need to plan for this.


Make sure all of your parts are put back on and that all lug nuts are properly at torque and you are now able to enjoy your latest modification. Congrats!

<B><U>Additional Side Notes</U></B>

I did not have two sets of jack stands as stated so I had to do the fronts one day and the rears another. I decided last minute to just take my time and split it up over the long weekend but because of this I needed a second paint kit. No one in my area carried the G2 kit, so I had to by a different kit as the paint hardens in 4 hours because of the two-part mixture. Because of this I used G2 Caliper Paint Kit on the fronts and Dupont Caliper Paint Kit on the rears. In my opinion, the G2 kit is much better. It required two coats of paint to cover the calipers where as the Dupont kit require four and really could have used a fifth. After they were both dry, the G2 kit also felt more robust and less like a thin coat of spray paint. I will keep everyone informed on how they perform and if there are any differences between them in terms of wear. There was a cost difference of between the two kits as well. I paid $38 for the G2 kit and $18 for the Dupont kit.


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southsong

Very nice. Bookmarked it

LAS

sweet. thanks for your efforts!

Tgr_Clw

Not bad. Good job.

A4AdMan

Great write-up. Looks great to. Man I wish the B6's came with those larger brakes. =(

Tgr_Clw

Just letting you know.

tictaq

I will get around to doing this sometime next year

lowdef

2??/??R19

Looks REALLY good!

evoic

Are they Silver? Brushed Aluminim, White?

tictaq

thanks! they are 245/35/19 Yokohoma AVS Sports