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Painting Brake Calipers in the SF Bay Area

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I own two shops, mechanic (Carolan Auto Tech) and auto body shop (United Auto Collision Center) back to back a block away from the Tesla showroom in Burlingame. We actually do some of the outsource body work for Zim, the owner of Top Line on California :).

My fully loaded P85+ is scheduled to be picked up on Dec 23rd!!! Exciting!! I plan to repaint the entire car as well as the calipers, if you decide to want your calipers painted or anything else worked on let me know! A new soon to be Tesla owner and would love to take care of my fellow Tesla owners :)...

Larry
 
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Don't pay $500 for this. Do it yourself!

Buy brake caliper paint or hi-temp paint from the auto store for $10. Doesn't take that long, and is definitely a 2/10 difficult. Don't have a jack? Even if you have to buy a jack, and a wrench to take the wheel lugs off, you're still not going to get anywhere near $100.

Plenty of guides online:
DIY: Caliper Painting
DIY: How to Paint your Brake Calipers (w/ pics) - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum
DIY: Caliper painting - A5_OC

That is definitely another option, however.. you get what you pay for. The paint sold at the auto store is typically a enamel based paint and it's not the two stage paint we used in the shops. Your color choices are limited by what you can buy from the spray can form and you wont have the luster clear coat finish like the automotive finish on your car. Doing it yourself is definitely cheaper and you can use the same water base urethane paint if you have the proper equipment and booth to spray it in so.. over all it can be less expensive than paying someone but more expensive in terms of paint material.

To do the job properly the caliper also has to be taken off the car including the brake hose which to any mechanic isn't a big deal. For some DIYers they may not want to tackle that as they will also have to bleed the brake system afterwards to ensure all air bubbles are out of the brake lines.

Of course there will be some who will paint the calipers with it on the car lol.. but I don't see anyone owning a Tesla Model S doing that heh.

Larry
 
Don't pay $500 for this. Do it yourself!

Buy brake caliper paint or hi-temp paint from the auto store for $10. Doesn't take that long, and is definitely a 2/10 difficult. Don't have a jack? Even if you have to buy a jack, and a wrench to take the wheel lugs off, you're still not going to get anywhere near $100.

Plenty of guides online:
DIY: Caliper Painting
DIY: How to Paint your Brake Calipers (w/ pics) - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum
DIY: Caliper painting - A5_OC

Thanks for the recommendation, but I will pass on a DIY for my P85+.
 
I would definitely recommend talking to Tommy at California Wheels in Campbell. They painted my brake calipers red and they look great. I had to leave the car there overnight. Cost was $300.

Brakes1.jpg
Brakes2.jpg
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I would definitely recommend talking to Tommy at California Wheels in Campbell. They painted my brake calipers red and they look great. I had to leave the car there overnight. Cost was $300.

View attachment 40515View attachment 40516View attachment 40517View attachment 40518

uh no offense, but those don't look like painted calipers to me. Those look like the those cheap knock off brembo calipers that anyone could buy off ebay or amazon for $15. I could be wrong but they really do look like those cheap things. Even if they are painted, I'd rather have 'Tesla' decal on it than 'brembo'.
 
The paint sold at the auto store is typically a enamel based paint and it's not the two stage paint we used in the shops. Your color choices are limited by what you can buy from the spray can form...

Might want to check out the G2 system. It's a two-part epoxy paint you brush on. You can remove the calipers or not - up to you. They have a dozen or so colors, and can also do a color match (although there might be a minimum order required).
 
Might want to check out the G2 system. It's a two-part epoxy paint you brush on. You can remove the calipers or not - up to you. They have a dozen or so colors, and can also do a color match (although there might be a minimum order required).

G2 system is great, but buy your own brush (theirs sucks) just get everything ready before you mix the reactor, you have 4 hours to work with it and I used it all. I masked it off and was real careful not to screw up or drip. First coat is a bitch, second goes on like glass and then just a little touch up if you missed something. I got my hi temp logos from Custom Brake Caliper Decals Stickers High Temp Vinyl Contact US for Your Needs | eBay He has the sizes and they are great.

After 24 hours it's rock hard.
before logos.JPG

It came out great, I love it. 1st pic is before logos
Finished Caliper.JPG
Joules 2.JPG