The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop brake hardware paint

So I have cleaned every piece of dirt and grease off of my brake backing plates, e brake levers, and pretty much any other metal besides the drum surface. My question is what paint should I be using to repaint these parts. I know not to paint the drums but I don't want to spring a magic leak and destroy shoes and all that because brake fluid peeled the paint and clogged my shoes.

I wouldn't paint anything inside except the backing plates, and for that use a high temp BBQ and wood stove paint

Bill

If you have a leak in the system that gets fluid on the shoes, they will be ruined regardless of whether there is paint present or not.

That is a true statement. The backing plates are already painted. I just wasn't sure if I needed a high temp or something special. I just want to know what would work better. Im thinking of a black rustoleum paint but the BBQ paint makes sense for high heat. just wanted to verify. Or am I being obsessive by painting my brake hardware.

If you don't want your paint ruined, flush the system and then switch to DOT 5 brake fluid. I painted all of my brake parts with single stage urethane after epoxy primer. Be sure to clean, clean and clean some more then use DX-330 (ppg) cleaner before painting. This removes any contaminants that can and will ruin your paint. I had a bad experience where I used the DOT 5 before I painted everything. I had a leak, so silicone got on my unpainted parts. Not good times 1000. Cleaning silicon off metal prior to paint is very hard. If you think its clean, clean it again. I wont make that mistake again. Good and clean, then paint, then DOT 5 and it should be great. The usual DOT 3 is a paint killer no matter how good your prep is.

Use extreme caution using DOT 5 silicone fluid in systems that did not use it as a factory fill. You'll need to verify that any rubber components in the system are made compatible with silicone fluid. Most parts made for passenger and light truck oem replacement are made for use with DOT 3/4/5.1 glycol base fluid, and will degrade if used with silicone fluid, which will cause leaks in the system.
As far as painting the brake hardware, it really isn't necessary, though painting the backing plates as Bill mentions will cut down on corrosion on the shoe slide points and keep the brake dust from sticking. The springs will fine w/o paint. The only reason you see them painted OEM or in aftermarket kits is for spring coding, not protection.