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Plasti Dip brake calipers and discs/rotors


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Anyone who paints brake calipers and rotors might be interested in knowing that Plasti Dip appears to work well even on hot brake discs. So far, Plasti Dip is still looking good on the right side front brake caliper and disc, which I painted at least 500-1000 miles ago. This is surprising because Plasti Dip is only rated to 200 degrees. I originally painted the calipers and discs with PlastiKote 500-degree caliper paint but it simply does not stay on discs. It does well on calipers, but not on discs even though its temperature rating is much higher than Plasti Dip. PlastiKote will stay on for a while but then flake and/or burn off, which exposes the disc to rusting. Plasti Dip is rubberized and flexible, which I suspect is why it hasn't flaked off. Just tonight I took a good look at the caliper and disc and sure enough Plasti Dip is still looking good with no visible signs of rust even on the edge of the disc. I thought that by now Plasti Dip would have burned off, but it not only is still there, it basically looks as good as when I first sprayed it on. The real test will be during hot summer months when discs have less cooling ability due to hot weather.

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Doesn't that make your brakes rubbery when stopping? Just kidding, I know you don't paint it on the wear surface. Do you have any pictures? You don't put it on the outer fins do you? I would think that would hurt the cooling. So basically its on the hub area?

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I sprayed it on the outer fins and everywhere that is visible. Cooling fins look bad when rusty. So far, Plasti Dip is holding up better than PlastiKote 500-degree caliper paint. Plasti Dip is advertised to be good for painting rims, so obviously it can take some heat. I'm pleasantly surprised how well it's holding up on the disc I painted. Because Plasti Dip is rubberized, so far it's not drying out from heat and chipping off. You can buy it at Home Depot, which is where I found it.

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I'll take a couple of photos this coming weekend: One of the front, which is still looking good after 1000 plus miles; and one of the left rear, which I just painted over the weekend. I could take them now, but the wheels will be in the way. Btw, when I paint, I don't care if I coat the disc where the brake pads are applied since areas where friction is applied will quickly come off, leaving the rest with an even coat of paint. I don't try to coat the friction area, it's just that I'm not about to apply masking tape because it's not necessary. Just paint away and let the brake pads take care of the rest.

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Not a bad idea. Wonder how it would stand up to the rust issue here in NY

I tend to believe Plasti Dip will stand up to road salt even better than PlastiKote caliper paint because it's rubberized, which I would think should provide better overall durability and sealing. As long as Plasti Dip can handle the heat, it should work. So far, Plasti Dip is handling the heat without a problem on the two calipers and brake discs I sprayed it on. Actually, the reason why I tried Plastic Dip is because PlastiKote was not doing well on the brake discs. Then again, to my knowledge, PlastiKote is not advertized to work on brake discs, so to this end I'm not going to fault the product.

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Here is a pic of Plasti Dip ("PD") on the rear brake caliper and disc, which has been on for about 300 plus miles. Notice PD has a matte finish. Plasti Dip does have a glossifier that can be used to make the paint glossy looking. YouTube has an instructional video on how to apply glossifier. The disc is a couple of years old. I had applied PlastiKote caliper paint when it was new, which eventually flaked off in some areas and there were visible rust spots. So, the PD was applied over PlastiKote. The edge of the disc was pretty bad due to rusting and flaking of PlastiKote. I used a wire brush to remove rust before applying applying PD and scraped the edge of the disc to remove flaking rust and PlastiKote. I didn't go crazy with the wire brush to try to remove all rust--I just wanted to remove anything that could flake off after applying PD. However, I did a good job on the edge of the disc because this is where there tends to be a lot of rusting.

post-253-0-15463900-1415585137_thumb.jpg

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However, Plasti Dip is minimally resistant to brake cleaner. Today, I sprayed brake cleaner on Plasti Dip and while it didn't peel, I noticed it was getting soft. Once the brake cleaner dried, it looks like Plasti Dip stabilized. Attached is a photo of Plasti Dip'd disc after being sprayed with brake cleaner.

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