On Saturday Dan ( @Caffeine Fiend ) and I ( @slixx ) painted our calipers
As usual Dan arrived at my house and almost blinded me with how shiney and clean his car was
Dan started by cleaning his calipers with some Brake and & Caliper Cleaner and a wire brush and as he weren't so bad they cam up a treat
Mine were much worse and I had to use a wire wheel with a drill
Calipers were then given a Wax And Grease Remover spray/bath and rub clean
I believe I was being careful, but Dan was suggested I was slower than a turtle through peanut butter. Dan had already prepped, masked and began painting without me
Starting with a light first coat and then applied the 2nd, 3rd and 4th in 15min intervals. The amounts of coats was determined with both of us looking at the calipers and saying "yeah, might need another coat"
After about 30mins, Dan and I agreed that he should try a coat of clear to see what the difference (if any) would be. The result came up almost in an instant, so a second clear was applied after another 15mins
By the time Dan was at this stage I finally started to paint mine. I applied only 3 coats
Dan kindly assisted me in carefully putting on the white MPS decals on my calipers.
Unfortunately when the Clear Coat was applied, the black paint began to bleed onto the decals and made a mess.
Dan saw this as trouble and quickly bid his goodbye and hightailed it way outta of there!!!
only joking!!
We decided that I should let it cure overnight and try again in the morning
I use some thinners and a cutip and carefully cleaned the excess paint off the decals, which worked better than I expected.
I wiped the decal down and applied another coat of clear, but alas, it still bled onto the decal.
With a exacto knife and a pair of tweezers i removed the decals, sanded them lightly, cleaned with Wax & Grease remover and reapplied 3 very light coats of black and then 2 coats of clears
I think I might order some more decals and try again after a week or so of drying, so I can be sure the black and clear coats are completely cured.
I like the black, but i think the white decal breaks it up a bit.
I think the red looks a treat on Dan's car and because of the RX-8 Rims, the really shows them off
A massive thanks goes to Dan for clearing his busy detailing schedule to come over and supervise, help and give me s*%t about being slow!!
Thanks again mate, appreciate the time