2016 S7: Painted Brake Calipers Red Using the G2 Brake Caliper Paint Kit

[AK$7]

Painted my brake calipers red this past weekend using the G2 Brake Caliper Paint Kit and thought I'd share some pics and thoughts.

Overall I am very happy with the results and love the new look. I know red is very overplayed in terms of brake caliper color for sports cars, but it was still the best choice for me personally. I am also planning on getting new rims this summer (most likely gloss or satin black finish) and really like the way the red brake caliper stands out on black wheels so that also played a role in my choice of red for the brake calipers.

My initial thought when I decided that I wanted to paint my calipers was to get them powder coated, but after receiving a ridiculous estimate of ~ $1200 I decided to try painting them myself.

I researched VHT caliper paint (spray on application) as well as the G2 caliper paint (brush on application) and decided to try out the G2 kit.

90% of the time was spent in preparation to paint with the other 10% of time spent actually painting. Preparing to paint involved jacking up the car and putting it on jack stands, removing all wheels, cleaning the calipers, and masking off areas that you don't want to get paint on. The masking step took particularly long, especially for the rear brakes as it was pretty tough getting tape to stick onto metal components of the brakes given physical constraints of the shape of the caliper. I also went a bit overboard with cleaning and cleaned each caliper about 5 times as I'm sure everyone with these massive 3-piston Brembo brakes on the front knows how much brake dust is produced and how nasty and dirty they can get.


IMG-0224.jpg IMG-0223.jpg
This is what the stock calipers looked like. As you can see they are grayish in the front and black in the back and do not really stand out at all. Well, the front brakes do stand out due to their massive size, but I'm not a fan of the dull gray look.

IMG-0234.jpg IMG-0233.jpg
I've jacked the car up and have it sitting on stands here. At this point I masked off rubber tubes / fittings, bleeders, other components I didn't want paint to get on and then used the provided brake cleaner to get as much dirt off of the brakes as possible prior to painting.

Note: You don't want to expose some of the plastic / rubber components to the brake cleaner so make sure you mask those off before spraying the cleaner onto the calipers

IMG-0242.jpg IMG-0241.jpg
These pictures were taken right before starting the third coat of paint I believe. The first coat had me worried as it did not look very good off the bat and was very uneven, but this paint thickens as it dries and the 2nd and 3rd coats really helped it all come together.
Note to anyone trying this: Don't try to get a perfect coat on the 1st layer. You will end up getting frustrated and wondering why it looks bad. You really have to just cover the caliper the best you can and move on, as the paint dries it expands and will look much better when you come back around to it for the next coat. I HIGHLY recommend that you also buy some good soft bristled brushes before painting. The brush that the kit comes with is decent but a bit small. Also I trued using foam brushes and it was absolutely terrible as the foam brushes just soaked up a bunch of paint and then ended up ripping so please get a good set of soft bristle brushes before you paint.

P.S. I'm new to Audizine and don't know how to rotate these pics so I apologize

IMG-0246.jpg
This picture was taken the next day after I finished painting and removed all the masking I had used. I also applied S7 decals (bought on EBay for ~$8) to the front 2 brakes. You can put whatever decal you want but I like the S7 one so I chose that.

P.S. Apologizing again for not knowing to rotate the pic

IMG-0247.jpg
Here's a pic of the wheel back on with the freshly painted caliper :P

IMG-0248.jpg IMG-0250.jpg
And here is the final result! :)

Overall, I was very happy with the end result. All things considered (time, money, effort) I'd do this again or help a friend if they wanted to pain their own calipers.
I would want to also try the VHT spray paint considering how much time was spent masking off the brake. It made me realize it might just be worth it to disassemble the brake and spray paint it and then reassemble the brake.
In total this entire project cost me less ~ $100 and a couple days of time. I really took my time with cleaning and masking and did not try to finish this quickly, but you might be able to do this all in one day. I recommend that you take your time as well. The end result is heavily dependent on how well you've cleaned and masked the brake.

I hope this post was useful to anyone thinking about painting their calipers using the G2 kit.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks!

[Mscarn2014]

+1 on the G2 paint kit. Used blue and its a great shade. Yours come out perfect!

[19birel]

Deleted because I realized that I used a different product...

[raudiace4]

Looks great , love the contrast really makes the wheels pop.

[AK$7]

+1 on the G2 paint kit. Used blue and its a great shade. Yours come out perfect!

Thank you! That blue is really nice I like that look!

[AK$7]

Great job! I used the yellow G2 paint on my calipers and it came out nicely too, most people are surprised I painted them myself because the finish looks so smooth and vibrant. They've been on for a little less than a year and still look fresh! 10/10 recommend

Thanks!! I was thinking about doing yellow at first but decided to go with red to match the S7 badges on my car. Yellow calipers with the gray body looks really nice!

[AK$7]

Looks great , love the contrast really makes the wheels pop.

Thanks! Yes, it definitely pops more and catches your eye.

[five4A6]

I purchased Red G2 but haven’t had time to do it. Will the paint last if i do this over a few days? Just curious if the paint is only good for,a certain time.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[A6sport]

once you add the activator, it's a two part concoction, you have a couple hours or so to get the job done.

[19birel]

I purchased Red G2 but haven’t had time to do it. Will the paint last if i do this over a few days? Just curious if the paint is only good for,a certain time.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Yeah it should last. I did my front calipers over the span of a few days (they were off the car) and then did the rear calipers a couple weeks later and had no issues. Just make sure you seal the can back up nicely and give it a good shake or stir before you use it again.

[A6sport]

Yeah it should last. I did my front calipers over the span of a few days (they were off the car) and then did the rear calipers a couple weeks later and had no issues. Just make sure you seal the can back up nicely and give it a good shake or stir before you use it again.

I have used that stuff for years, and I could swear it says once you mix it, you have a few hours to get it done?
Am I wrong?

[19birel]

I have used that stuff for years, and I could swear it says once you mix it, you have a few hours to get it done?
Am I wrong?

Mine didn't have anything to mix, it was ready right out of the can. I used their caliper specific paint, maybe you used another one of their products?

EDIT: I'm a confused idiot and used a different paint (Por15) disregard this post

[ClaudeG]

+1 on the G2 paint kit. Used blue and its a great shade. Yours come out perfect!

I was debating getting the custom color but that blue looks great! Would you mind sharing some more pics? and how many kits did you use? did you only paint the fronts?

- - - Updated - - -

Painted my brake calipers red this past weekend using the G2 Brake Caliper Paint Kit and thought I'd share some pics and thoughts.

Overall I am very happy with the results and love the new look. I know red is very overplayed in terms of brake caliper color for sports cars, but it was still the best choice for me personally. I am also planning on getting new rims this summer (most likely gloss or satin black finish) and really like the way the red brake caliper stands out on black wheels so that also played a role in my choice of red for the brake calipers.

My initial thought when I decided that I wanted to paint my calipers was to get them powder coated, but after receiving a ridiculous estimate of ~ $1200 I decided to try painting them myself.

I researched VHT caliper paint (spray on application) as well as the G2 caliper paint (brush on application) and decided to try out the G2 kit.

90% of the time was spent in preparation to paint with the other 10% of time spent actually painting. Preparing to paint involved jacking up the car and putting it on jack stands, removing all wheels, cleaning the calipers, and masking off areas that you don't want to get paint on. The masking step took particularly long, especially for the rear brakes as it was pretty tough getting tape to stick onto metal components of the brakes given physical constraints of the shape of the caliper. I also went a bit overboard with cleaning and cleaned each caliper about 5 times as I'm sure everyone with these massive 3-piston Brembo brakes on the front knows how much brake dust is produced and how nasty and dirty they can get.


IMG-0224.jpg IMG-0223.jpg
This is what the stock calipers looked like. As you can see they are grayish in the front and black in the back and do not really stand out at all. Well, the front brakes do stand out due to their massive size, but I'm not a fan of the dull gray look.

IMG-0234.jpg IMG-0233.jpg
I've jacked the car up and have it sitting on stands here. At this point I masked off rubber tubes / fittings, bleeders, other components I didn't want paint to get on and then used the provided brake cleaner to get as much dirt off of the brakes as possible prior to painting.

Note: You don't want to expose some of the plastic / rubber components to the brake cleaner so make sure you mask those off before spraying the cleaner onto the calipers

IMG-0242.jpg IMG-0241.jpg
These pictures were taken right before starting the third coat of paint I believe. The first coat had me worried as it did not look very good off the bat and was very uneven, but this paint thickens as it dries and the 2nd and 3rd coats really helped it all come together.
Note to anyone trying this: Don't try to get a perfect coat on the 1st layer. You will end up getting frustrated and wondering why it looks bad. You really have to just cover the caliper the best you can and move on, as the paint dries it expands and will look much better when you come back around to it for the next coat. I HIGHLY recommend that you also buy some good soft bristled brushes before painting. The brush that the kit comes with is decent but a bit small. Also I trued using foam brushes and it was absolutely terrible as the foam brushes just soaked up a bunch of paint and then ended up ripping so please get a good set of soft bristle brushes before you paint.

P.S. I'm new to Audizine and don't know how to rotate these pics so I apologize

IMG-0246.jpg
This picture was taken the next day after I finished painting and removed all the masking I had used. I also applied S7 decals (bought on EBay for ~$8) to the front 2 brakes. You can put whatever decal you want but I like the S7 one so I chose that.

P.S. Apologizing again for not knowing to rotate the pic

IMG-0247.jpg
Here's a pic of the wheel back on with the freshly painted caliper :P

IMG-0248.jpg IMG-0250.jpg
And here is the final result! :)

Overall, I was very happy with the end result. All things considered (time, money, effort) I'd do this again or help a friend if they wanted to pain their own calipers.
I would want to also try the VHT spray paint considering how much time was spent masking off the brake. It made me realize it might just be worth it to disassemble the brake and spray paint it and then reassemble the brake.
In total this entire project cost me less ~ $100 and a couple days of time. I really took my time with cleaning and masking and did not try to finish this quickly, but you might be able to do this all in one day. I recommend that you take your time as well. The end result is heavily dependent on how well you've cleaned and masked the brake.

I hope this post was useful to anyone thinking about painting their calipers using the G2 kit.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks!

Dope write up ! And it came out looking amazing!

[A6sport]

Mine didn't have anything to mix, it was ready right out of the can. I used their caliper specific paint, maybe you used another one of their products?

It's been a while, but G2 is an epoxy and you mix it together and the reason you have only a few hours is it will begin to harden on you.

Maybe they changed the formula

[19birel]

It's been a while, but G2 is an epoxy and you mix it together and the reason you have only a few hours is it will begin to harden on you.

Maybe they changed the formula

....I feel like an idiot....For some reason I could've sworn I used G2, but I actually used POR15

Disregard everything I've said lol :P

[AK$7]

It's been a while, but G2 is an epoxy and you mix it together and the reason you have only a few hours is it will begin to harden on you.

Maybe they changed the formula

That is what I understood as well according to the videos I've seen and what it says on G2's website. It's possible that their formula used to be different

[Valpo A7]

AK$7, so how many paint kits did you wind up using. The data I can find says 1 kit will paint all 4 unless you have bigger calipers. I am guessing that you wound up using 2 kits?

[Taddeo]

This thread inspired me to do some COVID painting. lol.

I ordered a custom color from G2. I chose Audi's Matador Red Metallic, to give it some pop, but not over the top like the normal red. Hoping it will look sharp with my Daytona Grey Pearl and black optics wheels. I ordered two kits to be safe. Also ordered new decals and a can of VHT Clear Coat to top them off.

[Ahad5058]

I received a similar over $1K quote that seemed bonkers to me. Your results seem stellar....im going to give this a shot soon.

Quick question.....do the stickers need to be special or anything off of eBay or amazon will work???? asking because of high temps.

[AK$7]

I received a similar over $1K quote that seemed bonkers to me. Your results seem stellar....im going to give this a shot soon.

Quick question.....do the stickers need to be special or anything off of eBay or amazon will work???? asking because of high temps.

I dont think they need to be anything special. I just made sure I read the description of the decals I bought through Ebay and made sure they were good to use for high temperature applications.

Some people who've used G2 and applied a decal have sprayed on a clear coat over the decal to help it stick, but I chose not to do this.

If the decal starts to peel off, I'll just order new ones as they are very cheap.

[AK$7]

AK$7, so how many paint kits did you wind up using. The data I can find says 1 kit will paint all 4 unless you have bigger calipers. I am guessing that you wound up using 2 kits?

One kit was just enough for me, although when I was finished painting there was basically no paint left at all. I suspect this was due to me initially using foam brushes since they just soaked up a lot of paint. I definitely recommend using a soft painting brush.

I think you should be good with just one kit, but I did cut it kind of close to be honest.

If you're really worried about not having enough paint then I'd say order 2 kits but I believe you should be fine with just one.

[AK$7]

This thread inspired me to do some COVID painting. lol.

I ordered a custom color from G2. I chose Audi's Matador Red Metallic, to give it some pop, but not over the top like the normal red. Hoping it will look sharp with my Daytona Grey Pearl and black optics wheels. I ordered two kits to be safe. Also ordered new decals and a can of VHT Clear Coat to top them off.

Haha nice! I'm glad you're gonna try this!

Please share some pics when you're done... looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

[paul-g]

Painted my brake calipers red this past weekend using the G2 Brake Caliper Paint Kit and thought I'd share some pics and thoughts.

Overall I am very happy with the results and love the new look. I know red is very overplayed in terms of brake caliper color for sports cars, but it was still the best choice for me personally. I am also planning on getting new rims this summer (most likely gloss or satin black finish) and really like the way the red brake caliper stands out on black wheels so that also played a role in my choice of red for the brake calipers.

My initial thought when I decided that I wanted to paint my calipers was to get them powder coated, but after receiving a ridiculous estimate of ~ $1200 I decided to try painting them myself.

I researched VHT caliper paint (spray on application) as well as the G2 caliper paint (brush on application) and decided to try out the G2 kit.

90% of the time was spent in preparation to paint with the other 10% of time spent actually painting. Preparing to paint involved jacking up the car and putting it on jack stands, removing all wheels, cleaning the calipers, and masking off areas that you don't want to get paint on. The masking step took particularly long, especially for the rear brakes as it was pretty tough getting tape to stick onto metal components of the brakes given physical constraints of the shape of the caliper. I also went a bit overboard with cleaning and cleaned each caliper about 5 times as I'm sure everyone with these massive 3-piston Brembo brakes on the front knows how much brake dust is produced and how nasty and dirty they can get.


IMG-0224.jpg IMG-0223.jpg
This is what the stock calipers looked like. As you can see they are grayish in the front and black in the back and do not really stand out at all. Well, the front brakes do stand out due to their massive size, but I'm not a fan of the dull gray look.

IMG-0234.jpg IMG-0233.jpg
I've jacked the car up and have it sitting on stands here. At this point I masked off rubber tubes / fittings, bleeders, other components I didn't want paint to get on and then used the provided brake cleaner to get as much dirt off of the brakes as possible prior to painting.

Note: You don't want to expose some of the plastic / rubber components to the brake cleaner so make sure you mask those off before spraying the cleaner onto the calipers

IMG-0242.jpg IMG-0241.jpg
These pictures were taken right before starting the third coat of paint I believe. The first coat had me worried as it did not look very good off the bat and was very uneven, but this paint thickens as it dries and the 2nd and 3rd coats really helped it all come together.
Note to anyone trying this: Don't try to get a perfect coat on the 1st layer. You will end up getting frustrated and wondering why it looks bad. You really have to just cover the caliper the best you can and move on, as the paint dries it expands and will look much better when you come back around to it for the next coat. I HIGHLY recommend that you also buy some good soft bristled brushes before painting. The brush that the kit comes with is decent but a bit small. Also I trued using foam brushes and it was absolutely terrible as the foam brushes just soaked up a bunch of paint and then ended up ripping so please get a good set of soft bristle brushes before you paint.

P.S. I'm new to Audizine and don't know how to rotate these pics so I apologize

IMG-0246.jpg
This picture was taken the next day after I finished painting and removed all the masking I had used. I also applied S7 decals (bought on EBay for ~$8) to the front 2 brakes. You can put whatever decal you want but I like the S7 one so I chose that.

P.S. Apologizing again for not knowing to rotate the pic

IMG-0247.jpg
Here's a pic of the wheel back on with the freshly painted caliper :P

IMG-0248.jpg IMG-0250.jpg
And here is the final result! :)

Overall, I was very happy with the end result. All things considered (time, money, effort) I'd do this again or help a friend if they wanted to pain their own calipers.
I would want to also try the VHT spray paint considering how much time was spent masking off the brake. It made me realize it might just be worth it to disassemble the brake and spray paint it and then reassemble the brake.
In total this entire project cost me less ~ $100 and a couple days of time. I really took my time with cleaning and masking and did not try to finish this quickly, but you might be able to do this all in one day. I recommend that you take your time as well. The end result is heavily dependent on how well you've cleaned and masked the brake.

I hope this post was useful to anyone thinking about painting their calipers using the G2 kit.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks!

my A6 doesn't have that smooth of a finish like yours, I think i'd have to lightly sand them to get a good finish like that

[Taddeo]

So I was inspired by this post. Had G2 mix a custom blend using the Audi paint code for Matador Red Metallic. Pulled the calipers last week, cleaned/masked them up. I used a disposable aerosol sprayer to spray three coats of the G2. Followed up with new S6 decals off of eBay. Lastly, I cured them in the oven at 190F for an hour, to speed the drying and hardening up. Reassembled Friday. So freaking happy with the results!

Caliper6.jpgCaliper4.jpgCaliper3.jpgCaliper2.jpgCaliper1.jpgAudi4.jpg

[AK$7]

So I was inspired by this post. Had G2 mix a custom blend using the Audi paint code for Matador Red Metallic. Pulled the calipers last week, cleaned/masked them up. I used a disposable aerosol sprayer to spray three coats of the G2. Followed up with new S6 decals off of eBay. Lastly, I cured them in the oven at 190F for an hour, to speed the drying and hardening up. Reassembled Friday. So freaking happy with the results!

Caliper6.jpgCaliper4.jpgCaliper3.jpgCaliper2.jpgCaliper1.jpgAudi4.jpg

Looks amazing! you got a really good finish taking the brakes off the car and using the aerosol sprayer.

[dbsterben]

So I was inspired by this post. Had G2 mix a custom blend using the Audi paint code for Matador Red Metallic. Pulled the calipers last week, cleaned/masked them up. I used a disposable aerosol sprayer to spray three coats of the G2. Followed up with new S6 decals off of eBay. Lastly, I cured them in the oven at 190F for an hour, to speed the drying and hardening up. Reassembled Friday. So freaking happy with the results!

Caliper6.jpgCaliper4.jpgCaliper3.jpgCaliper2.jpgCaliper1.jpgAudi4.jpg

How hard was it to fully remove the front brake calipers?

2016 3.0T C7.5 S-Line Prestige Ibis White APR Stage 1 tune

[Taddeo]

Not too bad. The key is removing the brake hoses with the caliper (remove at the hard line connection). Then its just un-clipping the pad wear sensor and removing the two mounting bolts. I used a piece of PVC pipe with a tennis shoe on each end as a pedal prop and used the power drivers seat to push the pedal to the floor and hold it for the three days while I prepped/painted/cured etc.

[Taddeo]

Looks amazing! you got a really good finish taking the brakes off the car and using the aerosol sprayer.

Thanks! And thanks for the inspiration!

[dbsterben]

Not too bad. The key is removing the brake hoses with the caliper (remove at the hard line connection). Then its just un-clipping the pad wear sensor and removing the two mounting bolts. I used a piece of PVC pipe with a tennis shoe on each end as a pedal prop and used the power drivers seat to push the pedal to the floor and hold it for the three days while I prepped/painted/cured etc.

Nice, I haven't seen any write ups or videos showing exactly how to remove them.

2016 3.0T C7.5 S-Line Prestige Ibis White APR Stage 1 tune