WKD DRGN

2000 Honda Civic EX (Coupe)
Okay so a few weeks ago, I painted my rear drums black because I got new rims on my civic and the drums were horrible looking from rust...
That job turned out pretty good so far, and I want to paint my calipers and rotor "hats" (?) black as well since they are also all nice and rusty...
Now I know there are plenty of DIY threads about this, but most I've seen were the "brush-on" kind of paint and I want to actually completely remove the calipers and paint them with the Duplicolor Caliper and Drum paint (Spray Can). I've read the FSM and it seems easy enough to remove the caliper and all, but I'd like to know about the taking the brake hose off. Is it hard? Will there be a lot of fluid leakage? Is it easily breakable? I don't have really any experience with the brake system on my car and I just don't want to have to bug my dad for help, cause he doesn't understand my urges to have to paint stuff on my car.

I am concerned about the brake hose and bleeding the brakes. My FSM is kinda hard to read the sequence to bleed the brakes and I was wondering if it's really simple and can two unmechanically inclined newbies do it by ourselves?

Please Help! I'd like to start on this project tomorrow after work. Also, would it be easier to just buy new brake calipers for the front (and paint those)? I don't know the history of brake service on mine and if the calipers have ever been changed...don't know how much life they have left or are supposed to have.

Thanks!
-Kristy

B serious

iTrader: (1)

You will definitely need to bleed the brakes if you remove the hoses. Before you do this, make sure you understand how to bleed brakes a d make sure the rear bleeders aren't stuck shut from rust.

Have someone hold the brake pedal down. Crack a rear bleeder open and make sure it squirts fluid. Close the bleeded and THEN have them release the brake. Repeat on all 4 corners while you're at it.

Just monitor fluid level while you're doing this.

Basically, that is also one way to bleed brakes.

WKD DRGN

So are those steps bleeding the brakes or...? To check if the rear bleeder is rusted shut, is that hard and can you break the screw trying to find out?

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Brake bleed sequence might be in the owners manual as well.

I use a bottle and vacuum hose to make my own 1 man bleeder. This works 10000000000000000X better than the stupid pump and hold method that requires 2 people.

You take a bottle (gatorade, water, brake fluid, any of these bottles work).
You fill it part way with brake fluid.
You get a vacuum hose that fits snugly over your bleeder nipple
You take the other end of the hose and submerge it in the fluid in the bottle.

You open the bleeder and pump the pedal...no need to stop or hold. Just keep pushing the pedal repeatedly. Have the other person keep the reservoir full of fresh fluid.

When you're satisfied that you have evacuated enough fluid out of that corner, close the bleeder and move on to the next one.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Don't just open the bleeder. Makr sure someone is holding the pedal down. Tell them not to let it up till you re close the bleeder.

Don't turn the bleeder too hard if it isn't budging. It's easy to snap.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Tips:
-Don't use pliers to pinch brake hoses. Don't listen to anyone who says this is ok.
-Wear latex gloves
-Brake fluid eats paint. Be careful what you're getting it on. Don't touch the paint with your brake fluid gloves.
-use dot 3 or 4 fluid that's fresh. Keep it away from water. It will absorb water and become junk.
-Don't use brake cleaner on rubber seals. Don't get water or brake cleaner inside the caliper.

My trick is to use simple green and a pressure washer/wire brush/brake cleaner to pre clean the calipers BEFORE taking anything apart.

WKD DRGN

Okay so this method would be bleeding the brakes, right? Sorry, I'm more of a visual learner. And by saying keeping the "reservoir" full of fresh fluid you mean the actual reservoir on the brake master cylinder or the water bottle with the fluid in it? Also, do you need a cap on the water bottle or can you just put the hose in there with no air seal? My factory service manual is a photo copy of the entire book on a CD. The only thing I couldn't read was the sequence of which corner to work on first and so on. The numbers were hard to read. Thank you so much for the help so far!

One last thing, if I take off the whole caliper completely off the car should I just mask off the entire inside part or just the piston areas? I wouldn't mind if the inside had no paint on it, just don't know what would affect braking and all. Any ideas how to hang them up as well to paint all around? Thanks again!

WKD DRGN

Here are some pictures of how the caliper/rotor looks right now with the new rims, and the last one is the painted drum on the rear. Sorry it's pouring rain outside and cloudy...

B serious

iTrader: (1)

By reservoir, I mean master cylinder reservoir.

You don't need a cap on the bottle of old fluid. Just make sure the vacuum hose end stays submerged in the fluid.

Push the caliper piston all the way back into the bore. Now the dust seal will protect the piston surface from paint and you can paint the inside surface of the caliper too.

WKD DRGN

Okay I think I got it now.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

No problems. If you check youtube, I'm sure there's a tutorial. However, it seems like any car tutorial on youtube was done by a guy who is doing it while SUPER high.


"Ummm....so.....umm...you take the......... (5 mins later) vacuum hose......"

WKD DRGN

ROFL. Sounds like all the other kids trying to read in my 11th grade english class long ago! "The...c-c-c...at...r-r-ran..." The Fixbook guy seems to be okay for the most part so far. I've learned some stuff from his videos.

P-M-B,93EXsedan

[quote]I just don't want to have to bug my dad for help, cause he doesn't understand my urges[quote/]
ha

on a serious note your brakes are gonna look good, the drums already do

WKD DRGN

Okay, I got as far as cleaning the caliper with a wire brush and simple green while it was on still and then I took off the bajo bolt and tried to have the hose up higher than the caliper, or as high as I could get it, also with a towel wrapped tight around it. But it still kept leaking and I don't know if I missed a step or something? I just undid the bolt and moved the hose up, I didn't undo any of the hose from the surrounding "holders". I heard there was supposed to be "some" fluid loss but this seemed to be a couple of ounces and it kept leaking! So not knowing what I was doing wrong I just put the hose/banjo bolt back on. Any help or suggestions on how to make it stop leaking??

CX-Adam

They make plugs for the lines. You'll need to remove the banjo bolt from the line, though. Use line wrenches if you attempt or you'll ruin the fitting.

Plugs: http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/dorman-help-brake-hose-plugs-universal-13889/17191219-P

speedjunkie_g35

Rather tha removing the caliper completely, I would use a wire coat hanger and rig it up to hold the caliper. Tape everything off and then paint.

WKD DRGN

I went to AutoZone and got the universal plugs 13888. Hope they work. All the Advances around me didn't have them in stock. I took the banjo bolt off with a ratcheting combo wrench it wasn't too tight on there. I think the calipers have been removed recently by a mechanic to change out the rack and pinion boots but not for sure. The struts have been changed too. But this was about a year ago. I bought a flare nut wrench but I thought it was supposed to be 10mm but that was way too small. *shrugs* hope it's okay, I had no trouble getting off the banjo bolt.

I apparently like doing such a thorough job that I do things the most complicated way possible...

I just figured this way I could clean and prep better.

WKD DRGN

I had to give up on painting the calipers off the car, but the project is done now and the car is back on the road.

Here's a link to my Flickr gallery to see the pics and process!

Thanks for all the help!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31158472@N03/

hondacurious

Looks good! What type paint did you use? Pics please or P/N Let us know how they do after a month of driving. if the paint holds well and doesn't start cracking or chipping.

crazyhouse2011

Those are some dope *** rims.

/thread

WKD DRGN

I posted the link in the last post but I think you will have to copy and paste in the browser. Sorry!

It was Duplicolor Brake and Drum paint (aerosol not brush on) Will do with the future pics!