Tweet
Hey Guys,
I just finished this up on my Thunderbird a few weeks ago and figured you guys would enjoy this post.
Back in the Fall, I did a brake job on the T-bird. What I found was improper wearing on the brakes (For example, my front left brakes had no pad left and the backs had plenty of pad). Well it turns out my rear brake caliper froze. I found this out by accident when trying to twist the piston back into the caliper to reset the new pads (I accidentally tore the boot with my make-shift tool and brake fluid leaked out which wasn't good). Anyway long story short, I replaced the Caliper (Okay, that's a lie.. My dad replaced the caliper. I had a bowling tournament that weekend).
The replacement Caliper we used apparently was never rust coated and quickly began to rust and squeal (Brake squeal is a pet peeve... and it still isn't completely gone). I decided that I would then paint the calipers to give its some sort of protection and after some convincing, I got my father to let me do it. I chose Silver High Heat brake paint since that and black were the only two colors that would look right up against the Thunderbird Blue Paint. I took the caliper off the rotors as well as the caliper runners that hold them in place (by the way... Bolts that have Loctite (lock-tight) on them are a pain to get off) and painted everything front and back. Naturally, after the first was finished, I had to do the rest. Now each caliper has a set of silver calipers. While looking at the front calipers, I got the idea to do some personalization, so I had someone at my internship make me a few stencils.
The stencils came out great however, I learned a lot about paint that day; like for example, If it is too cold out, Paint doesn't like to stick to metal. I also learned I can't hold my hand steady, so in order to get the stencil right, I had to find a way around that. In the end I wound up having to quickly paint my caliper black, and hold a drop light to the caliper so that the heat from the bulb would allow the paint to dry. I then Exacto knifed the pattern out onto painters tape, and placed my design on the caliper and resprayed the whole thing Silver.
The whole thing wound up being a pain in the butt due to my lack of planning (who decides they are going to paint their calipers in 20 degree weather?) but in the end, the results came out amazing. Even my Dad liked them. I uploaded three pictures from the build. I have others if anybody would like to see the step my step of the process but could only upload three. Let me know what you guys think.
-P.S. Sorry for any typos, I don't have time to proof read this as I am heading to class.
0124001551.jpg
0124001605.jpg
0124001503.jpg
I just finished this up on my Thunderbird a few weeks ago and figured you guys would enjoy this post.
Back in the Fall, I did a brake job on the T-bird. What I found was improper wearing on the brakes (For example, my front left brakes had no pad left and the backs had plenty of pad). Well it turns out my rear brake caliper froze. I found this out by accident when trying to twist the piston back into the caliper to reset the new pads (I accidentally tore the boot with my make-shift tool and brake fluid leaked out which wasn't good). Anyway long story short, I replaced the Caliper (Okay, that's a lie.. My dad replaced the caliper. I had a bowling tournament that weekend).
The replacement Caliper we used apparently was never rust coated and quickly began to rust and squeal (Brake squeal is a pet peeve... and it still isn't completely gone). I decided that I would then paint the calipers to give its some sort of protection and after some convincing, I got my father to let me do it. I chose Silver High Heat brake paint since that and black were the only two colors that would look right up against the Thunderbird Blue Paint. I took the caliper off the rotors as well as the caliper runners that hold them in place (by the way... Bolts that have Loctite (lock-tight) on them are a pain to get off) and painted everything front and back. Naturally, after the first was finished, I had to do the rest. Now each caliper has a set of silver calipers. While looking at the front calipers, I got the idea to do some personalization, so I had someone at my internship make me a few stencils.
The stencils came out great however, I learned a lot about paint that day; like for example, If it is too cold out, Paint doesn't like to stick to metal. I also learned I can't hold my hand steady, so in order to get the stencil right, I had to find a way around that. In the end I wound up having to quickly paint my caliper black, and hold a drop light to the caliper so that the heat from the bulb would allow the paint to dry. I then Exacto knifed the pattern out onto painters tape, and placed my design on the caliper and resprayed the whole thing Silver.
The whole thing wound up being a pain in the butt due to my lack of planning (who decides they are going to paint their calipers in 20 degree weather?) but in the end, the results came out amazing. Even my Dad liked them. I uploaded three pictures from the build. I have others if anybody would like to see the step my step of the process but could only upload three. Let me know what you guys think.
-P.S. Sorry for any typos, I don't have time to proof read this as I am heading to class.
0124001551.jpg
0124001605.jpg
0124001503.jpg
VIN#16336
Comment