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View Full Version : How To Polish Your Brake Calibers


Rory
03-05-2007, 10:23 PM
Yes.. this is the how to on making your calibers shinny like mine.

First of all. This is going to take some time and i would not advise starting are even trying to do your calibers unless you have atleast 7 hours of free time. And by 7 hours i means 2x. 7 hours for the front and 7 hours for the back.

Things to know:

You are going to have to remove your brake calibers completely from the car.
This means you will have to bleed your brake system after each set.

This is not easy. But can be fun if you have someone helping you.

Things You Will Need:

1. Lots of 80 grit sand paper.
2. Some 400 grit sand paper.
3. Some 800 grit sand paper.
4. Polishing Wheel with Metal Polish of your choose. ( I used Mothers )
5. Dupli Color High Heat Clear Coat. 1x
6. Dupli Color High Heat ( A Color Of Your Choice ) 1x
7. A Electric Sander
8. Masking Tape

Lets Get Started.

First completely remove your front ( Or back ) set of calibers of your car. Then decide what part of your caliber you actually want to polish. ( I only polished the front part of my calibers ) After you decide what you want to polish. You want to put the 80 grit sand paper on the electric sander and go to town. You need to sand the caliber all the wany down to a flat surface. So if your caliber aint flat. Then you need to sand it until it is. NO Lumps And No Deep Straches. This is going to take the longest time.

Once You sand the caliber completely Flat with the 80 Grit. You need to resand it with the 400 grit. You are going to sand untill you get rid of the scratches from the 80 grit. This usually does not take very long. And After the 400 grit. Repeat the same thing but with the 800 grit.

Once your area of sanding is completely smooth to the touch and you cant see any uneveness are scars. You can began Polishing. You are going to take your metal polisher and rum in into the metal until you get that chrome look that you want. This can take a pretty long time but not to long.

Once you get that metal shinny. You are going To mask off the polished area so you can paint the rest of caliber ( With the color of your choice ) ( I Choose Gun Metal )

Once you painted the calibers. You are going to remove the masking tape from the polished area and start clear coating. You dont want to spray to much because you will get a orange peel look. If you dont clear them your calibers will rust ofcoarse.

After all the paint drys you can reinstall your brakes And begin the bleeding process.

They are many ways to bleed your brakes. ( I used the Brake Bleeding kit that pepboys sell. ) Its pretty easy and comes with instructions .

And There you have it. Polished Brakes.

If you got any questions, Please feel free to ask. I dont mind. And i dont mind taking pictures if that helps.

Drew
03-05-2007, 11:33 PM
sweet dude. thanks for the writeup. im gonna have to try this sometime.... when i have alot of free time. +1 rep

Rory
03-05-2007, 11:54 PM
No Problem

Preludeshalyn
03-06-2007, 12:00 AM
awesome dude, thatnks for the write up, i know i was asking you about it a few days ago.
2 questions though, do you do anything to treat the polished area like clearcoat it or it it ok unprotected, how does it look after a few months?
and can you take a close up pic that shows where you painted and where you didn't?

thanks dude. A+

Rory
03-06-2007, 12:12 AM
awesome dude, thatnks for the write up, i know i was asking you about it a few days ago.
2 questions though, do you do anything to treat the polished area like clearcoat it or it it ok unprotected, how does it look after a few months?
and can you take a close up pic that shows where you painted and where you didn't?

thanks dude. A+



Question 1
Yes.. The writeup says i clear coated it.. lol

Question 2
My whole caliber is painted but the part i polished.. I will take a pick for ya to see.

Preludeshalyn
03-06-2007, 12:40 AM
lol yes it does say that. i was so excited i read right passed it.

Rory
03-06-2007, 09:15 AM
lol yes it does say that. i was so excited i read right passed it.


Thats quite alright.

InvaderTrax
03-06-2007, 12:18 PM
Pics or didn't happen :P

Rory
03-06-2007, 02:13 PM
pics in my gallery.... You should try looking one day.

Si Speed
03-06-2007, 05:16 PM
Great write up. I've enver even thought of doing this. Looks way better than painting.

Rory
03-06-2007, 05:48 PM
Yea.. you'll be the only one in town on any car to have polished calibers.. lol. Dang.. not my secret is out.. lol

Si Speed
03-06-2007, 06:49 PM
my mom's kinda look polished. I dunno what to call it but its a 07 Accord SE. I think they just grinded it or something but they're skiny but rough, not smooth like yours.

edge2lyfe
03-11-2007, 11:00 PM
Props dude, you've got a lot of patience

Preludeshalyn
03-12-2007, 07:15 AM
shiny but rough... yeah thats just called new. they'll look like every one elses next year

rheakpl
03-12-2007, 09:28 AM
looks nice! i thought about doing the same thing when i was obsessed with polishing near everything...but yea...getting a valve cover smooth was tough enough....figured it would take lotsssss of sanding to get it nice, so i opted to paint them..but now i think i have more motivation to do this.

stupid question (i must ask anyway) but this will in no way hurt any braking power/caliper itself yes? not like youre polishing the pistons haha..thanks

Rory
03-12-2007, 10:05 AM
No it did not hurt the calibers are braking in anyway...

Its problably a weight reduction.. lol

Uncle Buck
03-14-2007, 11:16 AM
Rory nice write up....

just as a heads up and possibly a suggestion....if anyone plans on replacing there brakes to something better....id hold off on this mod and buy the new gear so you dont hafta go thru all the trouble again:tongue:

me on the other hand might try this but not do the complete polished look, id like to make it a redish polish, but so i can still drive my car and take time on this mod iam just gonna go buy all new calipers therefore with my luck id hafta replace one cus it leaks or something lol

Cash68
10-07-2007, 03:04 PM
Okay kids, time for a lesson:

This is a caliber:

http://info.detnews.com/dn/pix/2005/08/09/biz/b003-caliber-0805n_08-09-2005_4F7MTB6.jpg

This is a caliper:
http://www.zeckhausen.com/images/brake_install/BMW/E39/Movit/front/12t_Install_Caliper.jpg

Notice how one is an overweight 3,300lb POS from dodge, and the other is a brake component (not BREAK component).

There will be a quiz in a few days.