Painting Calipers and Drums

[mjk289]

I have a 74 Barracuda 318.  Did 74 Cuda's with styled wheels get the red painted drums in the rear.  I'm planning on adding a lot of 'Cuda options to my base model.  Were front calipers ever painted.  Even if all cars had them natural I want to paint mine.  I want them to be orange, but if I do the red band on the drums then I should paint the calipers to match.  I had wanted orange because the grill has orange in it, but maybe this is faded red.  I was reading a tread on here from 2007 about a 73 Cuda and there was a debate to whether the grill has a red or orange ring around the black part by the chrome bezel.  Well, I was looking at spray cans of caliper paint at the auto store and then I saw Chrysler Red engine paint which looks like a reddish orange.  Could this be the right color for the grille and drum?  ...and my front calipers?  Please comment.  I went to Borders today and they used to have a Barracuda and Challenger restoration guide by Paul Herd.  They don't have anymore so I couldn't look at it.  I'm also wondering if I should paint my upper control arms black or metalcast?  It's a 74.  And my drum backing plate black or metalcast?  The drums I think metalcast with a 2 inch ring of red/orange. 

[Chryco Psycho]

I did my drums with red engine enamel
front calipers were natural , I used a cast colored paint to prevent rusting
I though the backing plates were gavanized steel but I think they were black in 70-71 & galavnized / bare after that

[shadango]

I just painted my drums cast aluminum color.

Shiny. 

[Chryco Psycho]

not sure if the drums were painted red or not in 73-74
 the 70 Cuda I rebuilt definatly still had the original red drums & the whole drum was painted red

[burdar]

I have a pic of my dads 73 in 1975.  You can barely see it, but the drums are red/orange.  Someone on Moparts said that they put a stripe of color on the calipers too but I've never see it.

I'm going to paint the drums with the darker cast color Eastwood paint.(not the stamped steel looking stuff)  I may even spray a light coat of Krylon battery protectant over the cast color.  Looking at pics of the white R/T at the Nationals in 08, the drums and some other bare parts look like they had a slight cosmoline coating on them.

Upper control arms were bare from the factory.  Seymours Stainless steel paint works good for those and any other stamped part that was left uncoated from the factory.

As for the backing plates(rear)they were bare from the factory too.  A lot of people paint them black with the rearend.  The front dust shields are supposed to be black from what I've heard but I thought mine were galvinized...it really doesn't matter since they were all rusty anyway.  I painted them black.

[dodj]

Is paint heat resistance an issue for the drums or calipers?

[mjk289]

Thanks guys.  And in response to dodj, I would use high heat paint.  Intuitively, I'd think it would be more durable in any case.  I'm going to paint my calipers chrysler red engine enamel with ceramic even though its not correct to be painted.  It can be changed easily later on if my car turned out to be worth lots of money or something.  I'm just using the high heat Duplicolor or VHT spray cans.  For the natural looking paint there are some choices to make as to light and dark.  Should the cast iron parts be a different shade then the steel parts?  I'm not going to worry about it, but that's a thought. 

[73Chally]

Don't they have paint specifically for brake parts?  I think that's what I used, but maybe it was engine paint.

[burdar]

They do have caliper paints but honestly I've never needed them.  If the car was driven in the salty winters maybe but even then, if you do a good job of prep, any high quality paint should stick.  I painted the calipers and drums on my Durango with Eastwoods Spray Gray paint and have never had a problem with it flaking off.  It gets driven year round and just needs a few tough ups every couple years.  I think a clear coat over the paint is a really good idea too.

I've seen plenty of cars where caliper paint was used and it was flaking off.  That's why I think it is more important to prep the parts really well.  If you feel better about using a high heat paint then I'd go that route.

Eastwood has two different colors of gray paint that mimick bare metal.  They are Spray Gray and Detail Gray.  I always get them confused.  One of them is darker and is meant for a cast iron look.  The other is a lighter shade and is meant to look like stamped steel.  Seymours Stainless Steel paint is the same as Eastwoods lighter stamped steel color and it is a lot cheaper. 

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Is paint heat resistance an issue for the drums or calipers?

Absolutly brakes get hot you need a heat paint to withstand it , the brake fluid will boil at close to 500 * & it takes a lot to get it that hot , but most engine enamels are good to 400 * or so

[mjk289]

Yes they have caliper paint, but I think the Chrysler red engine paint will make a good color because it's red-ish orange-ish and I might use it on my grille too.  I repainted my grille a few years ago argent silver from Totally Auto Inc and black, but I didn't repaint the colored part.  I have a 74 cuda.

[TreeFrog]

Interesting, my 72 has red, on the rear.

I did not know this was a factory deal to painted them...

[Cuda Commando]

Has anyone had their brake drums powder coated? Am thinking of having mine done later this year.It is supposed to be a harder,more durable finish than paint.

[Chryco Psycho]

powder coating is definatly more durable & should take the heat ok