I am getting the wheels powder coated but wanted to paint the brakes while my wheels are off, but i got a few questions before i start.


Q1. Is it fine for me to take my wheels off my self with a regular socket wrench and then put them back on after i paint the brakes? or should this be done by a power gun that mechanics use.

Q2. when painting my brakes with high heat resistant spray paint, should i remove the brakes or just spray them? i dont want the paint to cause squeeking sounds or cause a malfunction in the brakes.

Other than that i think i can handle it, but if somone has painted there brakes before or removed there wheels themselves, any advice would be sweet. Ive taken wheels off my protege but somone told me there is a certain way to bolt them on, and my audi is more valuble to me then my protege.




Also i only got one set of wheels or i would take it to a shop to have them take the wheels off for me, but noone will let me keep my car in there lift while i take my wheels to get painted. it only take 2 hours to paint all 4. Any advice on how to get around this would rock as well, thanks.

 

1. yes

2. either way, if you leave them on, you must mask off the entire area, including the body. You DONT want overspray on your body panels or rotors.

3. no there nothing special about removing the wheels on your audi. generally a cross pattern is reccomended when tightening them back up. And don't over-tighten them.

 

4 jack stands will do the trick. Cheap, necessary tool for any garage.

 

I would advise you to get a paint brush and paint the calipers with the brush. This way you can leave the calipers on the car and still get a good, clean layer on just the caliper and not the entire wheel well. The best way is to remove the calipers but using a paint brush works just fine.

 

Just torque your lugs to 90ft/lbs when you put your wheel back on. And MAKE SURE you use a cross patern when putting the lugs back in. otherwise your wheels will wobble when you drive.

 

Always hand start the lug nuts, if you use an impact gun you could strip the threads and then you'll have a real fun time trying to put everything back together.

 

If you don't own jack stands and a decent jack (not the one that comes with the car), then go buy them. You will want to loosen all of the bolts for one tire before you jack it up. Then jack up one side and put it on a jack stand and remove the lug nuts completely. Repeat on other side. Take the tires to be painted, paint calipers, install, put car back on the wheels and then go to the rear and do the same thing. Note that if your wheels were put on with an air wrench before, you will probably need a good breaker bar to get the lug nuts off. I recommend you get one with a 1/2" square section and then a socket (17MM?) with a 1/2" end to go with it. I have sheared off sockets with a 3/8" square end while trying to remove wheels that were air wrenched on.

I def recommend the paint on kit for calipers. Its way easier than spraying. The paint is very thin, so use about four coats and paint them while still attached to the car. You will need to remove your brake calipers and hangers to do it right. You will need to clean the calipers very well so the paint sticks. You will need a C clamp to push in the caliper piston on the fronts to reinstall the brakes. You will need a special tool that pushes and rotates the rear caliper piston to reinstall the rear brakes. This can be rented from Autozone.

I recommend you get a DIY brake writeup before you attempt to do all of this.

If your brakes are very rusty, I almost don't recommend you bother painting them. You will need to spend an enormous amount of time cleaning before you can paint them unless you use chemicals. I recommend a product called Evaporust for rust removal. For bad rust, it recommends soaking parts overnight. It will be best to buy 1 gallon or even better 5 gallons of this stuff so that you can fully emerse the parts in the solution. This stuff is badass for rust removal but is water based so you don't have to wear gloves or anything to handle it.

If you are going to do it, do it right and don't rush to get it painted and all back together. Clean the calipers like crazy, allow time for the paint to cure before driving, and get the right tools before you have the car on jack stands and don't have a way to go get what you need. Do your research for DIY brakes too so you know what you are getting into before you rip into it. It isn't hard to do, just be prepared.

 

LOL, you work for the haynes manual people or something? All you are missing is a picture or two, and we have a brake painting manual!

Just kidding, thank you for being so thorough, it is very helpful of you. I have seen some brake paint jobs that dont look so great. I'm with you. take your time, clean the heck out of then and get the rust off. then it will look real good.

 

I suggest you use a brush on paint kit, its alot easier. Theres nothing difficult about removing the wheels just get a real jack (not the one that comes with the car) and a couple jack stands. Criss cross bolt pattern removing and installing. Goodluck.

 

LOL, well I did it on my car so I am just sharing my experiences and warning of the difficulties I ran into. My calipers were really rusty so cleaning them was a big deal. I seriously worked on them for three weekends in a row before I got them clean enough that I would paint them, and trust me they were still far from being back to bare metal. Thankfully the paint seems to be holding up well. I wish I knew about the EvapoRust chemical before I started. Once I got that it was much easier. The only problem was I didn't buy enough to fully dip the parts and I didn't want to leave the car up on jacks overnight out in the parking lot while the parts were soaking. I could tell it was working well, but I wasn't able to get the full benefit of it due to my limitations of living in an apartment (not having a garage or private driveway where I knew people wouldn't screw with my car).

And I learned about the rear brakes the hard way. I thought I might be able to push and turn that piston back in without the special tool, but it didn't work. The tool wasn't that expensive so I bought it instead of renting it. It of course works for the fronts as well and is a lot nicer than trying to use a C clamp.