Hey-O,

Yesterday I dropped a load of boodle on the geriatric Volvo.. my wife wants to start using it, and Sonny is about to get his license, so I decided to go ahead and make sure the brakes were 100%. I want them safe.

The car now makes a lot less noise (rattles, squeaks,and whatnot) and stops better, so that's all good. So I guess I'm cool with the money spent. Rebuilt calipers, new pads and rotors, new rubber hoses all around. I've got the Girlings.

The old calipers were incredibly rusty. As in, rusty to the point I doubt the garage is going to get a core refund out of them. The new ones are nice and shiny. I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to slap some caliper paint on them to postpone the inevitable.

What do you folks think? Waste of effort? Any way it might compromise function?

Color suggestions? ;)

Thaddeus

Paint them lipstick red for most noticeable appearance. While waiting at lights you will surely notice the rolling eyes, shaking heads and maybe even laughter.

EX-cellent.

If you must go with the painted calipers be aware they will really look out of place without oversize wheels, maybe even with spinners, rear deck spoiler, dark tinting, lots of stickers, window rattler stereo, fart exhaust and full recliner front seats.

Have you researched how you would do this? would you do it with spray or brush? and would you remove them to do so or just do it in situ?
--
1991 745; 1993 965 -- RIP: 86 764T; 79 262C

Yes -- if you wheels through which they can be seen, painting them can really add that special touch to your car's appearance. I have a really spiffy (an old person's word, but I'm an old person :-) '93 240* with Hydra wheels -- they have large holes to see the calipers -- so I painted the calipers bright red! Together with the gold cadmium-plated, slotted rotors, they're at least as good looking as the wheels they're seen through!

Go for it!

~~~~~~~~
* 205/55-16 Mich Exalto PE2 (W-rated) tires, IPD f/r bars, poly suspension bushings, and many other mods.

I don't have see-through wheels.

Yet. ;-)

As nasty as your old ones were, they probably were original to the car, and therefore had approximately 20 years to get that way. Your fresh rebuilts will probably be OK for a while, but, as DogWaggin mentioned, if you have wheels that let you see the calipers, you might well want to dress them up a bit.

If you do go ahead and paint them, you can also do the "hat" section of the rotors (NOT the friction surface, or the outer face where the wheel touches them) which will rust quickly if left unpainted.

If it were mine, and I was doing it, I would be inclined to paint them black.

Why bother to paint?
Take the time and money and flush/Bleed the brake fluid out with new DOT4

Bill

I just finished up installing new rotors in the rear of my 240, along with new pads and hardware, and (you have to) bleed the brakes all around. One of my caliper pistons is iffy (rubber boot isn't leaking fluid yet, but looks weak, worn, cracked) and one piston seems to be stuck or real hard to move.

I'll be keeping an eye on them for potential replacement, and I'm thinking to just do it anyway so as not to waste new rotors.

After all that time spent, I wouldn't even consider lifting a paint brush to the darned things. But if I were you, and only if I had a set of wheels that show them off, I'd paint them Swedish blue or yellow...!
--
89 245 'loaded' with a Great Pyrenees