I just finished installing brakes and rotors and test drove it already while changing them i noticed a bit of rust on the calipers my question is after breaking in the pads is it ok to remove them again to paint clean and paint the calipers and reinstall the same pads or would I have to wait until I need new ones?
Is this the 2006 pathfinder you have all the threads about ? If so how the calipers look seems like that should be lower on your fixit list. I would just remove the wheel , tape and cover stuff you don’t want paint on and spray heat resistant paint on the area that can be seen .
My neighbor did it that way and looks just fine.
That’s what I’d do too. Why go through all the work of doing another brake job just to put paint on there?
Just make sure that tape is preventing paint from getting where the pads slide in the caliper, or you could cause yourself problems.
K thanks I wanna get all the rust tho I think I just wanna dab it with a lil bit of oil to slow it . And yes I’ll avoid getting any on. The pads
??? Use no oil anywhere near the calipers.
Ok thank you I’ll just leave it I’ll paint the rears tho I diddnt do them yet was waiting til monday
Since you were just talking about putting a flammable substance on something that gets incredibly hot, I’ll reiterate that if you paint them, you must use high temperature paint. Otherwise, the paint will just burn off.
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I was wanting to do it on the torque plate The part the caliper bolts on to that’s what I was concerned about with the rust and I was gonna get the paint made for calipers and why I was wanting to remove the pads again just was not sure if it would change the way they are wearing
Those brake components are made of cast iron.
There will be other parts of the vehicle that will rust away long before those brake components rust away where they’re no longer serviceable.
Tester
So what?
doesn’t affect the brake operation
leave it alone
don’t paint the calipers
save your money
… and this is perfectly fine for the cast iron to get some rust atop, it will not progress much after getting that surface rust and the rest of the car will go to crusher long before any more rust will appear on the calipers…
consider other things on your 2006 Pathfinder to put your eager attention to:
- you likely have stabilizer bar bushings worn (from other post)
- same for U-joints
- is your engine “whining” with secondary timing chains? it is not purely cosmetic/annoyance, it damages your camshafts (been there, seen tat) and can lead to catastrophic damage if chain jumps
- at 150K, I guarantee your valve lash is overdue for adjustment, valve heads may get damage from excessive lash
- at 150K, my 2006 Pathfinder was leaking oil on valve stem seals, good to do with valve lash adjustments
- did you replace differentials oil and transfer case and transmission ATF?
- if you have a model with rear AC unit, make sure to clean/protect aluminum lines next to frame: these get rusted out on plastic holders, PITA to fix, better prevent the damage
I see a lot of painted calipers on cars, usually the higher priced models, with the wagon-train looking spoke wheels. The red painted caliper through the spoke margin has a sort of cool look to it. I can see why somebody would want to do that if they had those big-spoke type of wheels. I’d worry that the paint couldn’t withstand the heat though, maybe have to use a special kind of paint.