Nothing... if you leave them on as-is and try to paint them it'll look bad because you won't get the paint on all the right places and you'll get paint on a lot of wrong places - especially if you're using spray.

If you want to do it right you'll have to unbolt stuff to get it masked properly.

 

I would second what raine said. Using High Temp caliper paint works very well for a dismantled caliper even if the brake line is left unbolted.

I have a modified MiniCooper and painted the calipers before it was my track car. I found that painting calipers raises the temps on the calipers /pads after heavy braking. I don't need brake fade-- even it looks nice. I'm guessing on our trucks, it would be even worse.

Richard

 

I got the idea of leaving them on by watching some youtube videos where people have done it that way

 

I bought a caliper paint kit and did mine by hand, not with a spray. Used a wire brush and the air compressor for initial cleaning, then hit it with the provided cleaner, then used the brush and air again, followed by the spray stuff provided, then wiped it off with a rag, then used the brush to apply. Three coats with 2 hrs dry time between coats, drove the truck 10 hrs later.

 

Yeah that's the right way to do it, no matter what YouTube tells you.

 

Or go to rock auto and order the powder coated caliper with brackets for $45 each side front and $59 a side rear. Power Stop is the brand. That's what I did when I rebuilt my front end a yr ago. You also have to ship your old ones back the manufacturer for core refund, also $35 ea.

 

 

Are those the calipers off Rock Auto? Which rotors are those?

 

R1 rotors, hand painted calipers, more info below:

Wheel and Tire Upgrade, part 3 - R1 Rotors & Caliper Painting (11.24.15)

 

Exactly the results and walkthrough I was hoping for, thanks @raine! Now, to just find a good blue kit...

 

I had blue on my last truck, Rustoleum had a kit, but it was hard to find

 

Yeah, looks like they stopped making kits. I couldn't find a kit but I was able to piece something together. I'll be posting results on my build page in a few days...really like the all black with hints [mostly lighting, some parts] of blue.

 

On the plus side, I got my shipment today and they accidentally sent me a can of yellow. They are overnighting me the correct blue and informed me that I could just toss the yellow or do what I wanted, so if it turns out decent and someone would like to go yellow, I've got a can available if you wanna cover shipping =P