Painting new brake drums

Post by **Orkney** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:34 am

Well all the new pads, cylinders & pipes working fantastically.
Now the pads are getting bedded in its obvious that the drums must be oval or at least some. (3 poor condition, 1 rear newish)
Going to order new drums, got to thinking about giving them a shiny coat of paint given the rust on the 3 presumably originals.
Have some great 'smoothrite' equivalent paint but it occurred that the drums might get too hot for it?
Is a flue/exhaust high temp paint the way to go?

Post by **picky** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:53 am

Ive often wondered if the brakes could be made to resist fading better if the drums were painted with something that transfers heat easily. Im not sure they would get hot enough to require VHT (very high temperature) paint though.

Post by **alex_holden** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:01 am

I used VHT paint on the Riley drums I tidied up recently, but it's probably not really necessary. I used black Smoothrite on the Landy drums and it stayed on fine.

Post by **Matt** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:45 am

A friend has used smoothrite on her mini calipers and drums and its stayed with no problems despite some spirited driving!

Post by **Orkney** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:50 am

Picky i suppose the best heat transfer you would get would be through conductivity to the mass of the wheels? would think a high temp paint might theoretically get rid of it a bit better but would be negligible.

Interesting about the smoothrite Alex - the stuff i have seems to have a more bitumous base so sadly daresay wont be suitable.
Reckon enamel might be the way to go - bake it in the oven for a day - wouldnt think the drums would get near to that kind of heat.

The flue paint i have in aerosols is better than exhuast paint but its only supposed to be for interior use so no good. The only experience i have of exhaust paints is that in baking themselves on your lucky to be left with a coat of stain after they have finished wreaking toxic smoke.

Suppose its not essential that the new ones are done just would be nice to do so if possible.

Post by **chickenjohn** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:06 pm

I used smoothrite on new Minor drums and it was fine on my 4-door. I agree, in this chassis chassis paint might be too soft- though its much better for the underside of the car in general than smoothrite, I do use smoothrite for brake components.

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:54 pm

I'm using black VHT paint for my drums, which has to be baked or cured before it will withstand solvents etc - drums not on van yet so can't report on results