Painting brake drums?

I love Craigslist. I bought a set of 12k mile 15" MINI Cooper alloy wheels with Conti tires for $200, to replace the steelies on my '05 Scion xB. I couldn't get a set of new tires for that money!

But now my brake drums show. They look, well, shabby.

Can I rattlecan them with high-temp paint (engine or barbecue)? Or must I go for the high-dollar caliper paint?

Experiences welcome.

Thanks, Evan

I've had decent luck on drums by cleaning them very well, scuffing off the rust, treating them with Ospho and then rattle canning them with Rustoleum---which seems to have a higher pigment/solid content than other paints. Zero-Rust paint works pretty well in similar applications.

Just remember:

Red brake calipers = good Red brake drums = fail

Don't laugh, I've seen it happen.

Good deal, Even! Good luck with the project!

POR 15! works great on drums. If you bake (150deg) it on it last for ever on drums.

I saw a convertible Sebring yesterday at O'Reilly that had neon green drums, calipres, AND centre caps.

Per, what's Ospho?

phaze1todd wrote: Just remember: Red brake calipers = good Red brake drums = fail Don't laugh, I've seen it happen. Good deal, Even! Good luck with the project!

+1

It really depends how you use the car. If it is a daily driver, you will probably not hear the drums enough to burn off even regular paint, not to mention high heat. If the car is a track car or you live in the mountains, where you are using brakes constantly, than paint becomes a poor choice.

Rustoleum is good paint, but takes forever to dry. I have had real good luck with Eastwood Chassis Black. A bit more expensive and takes a few days to really dry, but damned near as god as powder coating.

Speaking of powder coating, do not powder coat brake drums. It cracks if you tap your drum on or off and if you get any on the inside, you will make a cleaning nightmare for yourself.

I've used Cast Blast on rear drums with good success. I've also used engine paint, though I'm not sure that the drums get hot enough to make it cure properly.

I use cheap flat black. It helps with the inconspicuosity.

Marty! wrote:

phaze1todd wrote: Just remember: Red brake calipers = good Red brake drums = fail Don't laugh, I've seen it happen. Good deal, Even! Good luck with the project!

+1

Yellow = fast. Remember the 90's wiper arms.

Red = faster.

I had red Rally double blade wiper blades, red Rally wiper arm wind deflectors, red Rally wiper arm boots, red shift knob/boot and a red Grant Formula GT steering wheel on a metalic blue on blue '86 Chevy Sprint.

I was 18 years old, had not yet developed good taste in autos and was breaking in my first credit card at Pep Boys. FTW!

914Driver wrote: Per, what's Ospho?

google to the rescue....

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=557&engine=adwords!6456&keyword=ospho

phaze1todd wrote: Just remember: Red brake calipers = good Red brake drums = fail Don't laugh, I've seen it happen. Good deal, Even! Good luck with the project!

Back in the late '60's to mid '70's Chrysler painted some of the brake drums red from the factory. I don't know the exact details, but I believe if you ordered styled steel wheels (Magnum 500's or Rallye) on certain models you got red drums. The red from the drum would show through the little windows in the wheels. Looked pretty cool.

With that said I do not paint my drums or calipers red. I did use flat black Rust-Oleum gas grill paint on the rear drums of my Barracuda and they still look good. A little rust is bleeding through in a couple spots where the paint was thin, but the paint held well.

-Rob

How about painting the rear drums silver with black lines so it looks slotted , then paint a red caliper . I just may do that on my tacoma.

I painted the drums on my dakota with black rustoleum, ohhh, roughly 8 years ago. Still looks good.

black would work best I think.. make the drums more or less disappear

clever canoe is clever

plain old semi gloss black rustoleum looks good and holds up forever.

I have had really good luck with flat black BBQ paint. Like all paint jobs prep is key. A good wire wheel on a drill goes a long way to getting them set. I usually do 4-5 coats of the BBQ paint. It drys very fast and seems to be very durable when it comes time to remove the drums later..

stiff wire brush, blow off, brake cleaner, blow again, paint

Another 2 year old thread brought back to life by a canoe..

Well, since this is an instance of CPR (Canoe Posting Resuscitation) the best look I've ever seen in painted drums was painting them the same color as the wheel itself.

Tim Suddard wrote: Speaking of powder coating, do not powder coat brake drums. It cracks if you tap your drum on or off and if you get any on the inside, you will make a cleaning nightmare for yourself.

Also don't powder coat your exhaust tip(s), like the previous owner of my car did. One of them is still black. The other is rust colored where all the powder coating has already flaked off...

I want to know what happened.