remove front caliper bolts to paint the caliper?
 

I am planning on painting my front calipers soon. I am going to tape off the 'Acura' part so I can leave that part bare metal. my question is about the 4 torx bolts that hold the caliper together. Can I remove two at a time so I can paint them a different color? I am leaning towards black for the bolts and silver for the caliper. I figured I can remove them, paint them , and then do minor touchups after I torque them back in place. I have searched everywhere and I can't find any specific information about the calipers break down and or reassembly.

Anyone? I assume it is safe to remove 2 of the 4 bolts at a time without the caliper splitting but I don't know for sure. I've looked everywhere I can think of and I can't find any manual, pics, or videos about the Advic calipers.

^as long as you dont split it, i dont see why not.

if you split it and break the seals, then you'll have to rebuild the caliper.

it would just be easier to paint the whole caliper with the torx bolts one color.

I agree it would be easier. I might just go that route. I figured it would look nicer if the screws were black and the caliper was silver. Might not be worth the hassle and effort though.

^go slow. and be careful not to split the caliper.

I decided to not chance it and just painted the entire caliper silver except for the ACURA part. I taped the ACURA part off and cut it out with an exacto knife. I will try to post some pics when I have a change. It came out decent. The silver paint looks close to the brushed aluminum but I am sure in the right light it will be worth the effort of taping it off.

Here are a few pics. Once I get it all done I will post some pics with the wheels on. I think it would look better with the torx bolts painted black but I will leave it this way for now.

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Looks good! I was think of painting mine black with silver accents, leaving ACURA as silver, the torx silver, and the rest gloss black. Duplicolor makes a nice self-leveling caliper paint I've been considering.

You had the whole caliper off, might as well have tried to do the torqs bolts.
Nonetheless, it looks great!!

I was going to but I didn't want to chance it. I might do it down the road. I am gonna leave it the way it is for now and see how I like it. If it is bothering me a month from now I'll paint them black.

Nice! Are those the centric rotors for the RL? Just curious :)

Yes they are. I went with Centric rotors and Akebono ceramic pads. I used OEM rotors and pads in the rear. Because the OEM pads are so expensive I decided to give the Akebono pads a shot. Once I decided to go with after market pads I figured why not try after market rotors as well. I am curious to see how they perform and hold up compared to the OEM.

You'll love the Akebono pads; I just installed mine with AR rotors and it's been an absolute pleasure.

:thumbsup:

I also went with Centric rotors and Akebono pads all around. Installed last week, followed the stop tech bed in procedure. This week, smooth.

I have not yet tried with the new brakes, but can anyone engage ABS in the dry with summer tires?

If you have a steady hand, you could just get some black touch-up paint from an auto parts store and paint the bolts without removing them. I taped off the ACURA letters and bolts when I painted my calipers black and then went back through with silver touch-up paint on them.

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The silver is starting to grow on me. I might leave it that way. The more I look at the caliper the more I think that if I paint the bolts black that I will want to paint the Acura part black to match. Seems like a lot of work for me right now. For now I am happy with the silver. It looks damn good through the A-spec wheels. They look good enough to look clean but they don't draw attention to themselves, which is what I think the RL is all about.

Rims, Tires, Brakes. Your RL is going to look sharp - if it doesn't already. Any other plans?

So far, beside the brakes, rims and tires, I have installed new floor mats :), replaced the burnt out bulbs in the climate control/heated seat buttons, had the center armrest recovered, replaced the spark plugs, tranny fluid drain and fill, replaced both low beam HID bulbs with XB35 5000k, and refinished the drivers side headlight using a Sylvania headlight restoration kit (passenger side looks fine).

I still have to change the transfer case/rear differential fluid, replace the timing belt/waterpump, maybe the passenger side engine mount, replace the chrome trim on the rear bumper, repaint the front and rear bumpers/passenger side rocker panel and all the mud guards.

I am still looking for a good Ipod/aux adapter. I haven't had the time to research that enough. I have a pa15 but according to Usa Spec it won't show the information on the screen. They have a model, Alc15 I beleive, that supposedly does that.

After that I hope I am done. I have considered looking for a front lip and rear deck spoiler but not now. I am almost broke! :)

Almost broke and you have connections!!!!

Congrats and I'm sure you will be happy when you are done. RL is a nice car :thumbsup:

Unfortunately almost every part I've needed has been Acura only parts. I've been ordering from Acurapartsforless.com. They have been great but no insider deals for me. :)

Ohh, and I changed the front sway bar links. The drivers side was making an awful racket!

Are you providing all the labor or using your inside connections there? And even if you are doing it all yourself, maybe access to lifts and other tools???
Just figured you might be able to take advantage of what you can.

I am doing it mostly myself but I ask for help when I need it. Having access to a lift and air tools sure is nice. I am totally abusing that connection!

As you should - :rofl:

:thumbsup:

I just had my car cleaned today so I figured I would post some pics of the brakes looking through the A-spec wheels. It was getting dark as I took the pics. My HTC One seems to over saturated them a bit but you get the general idea.

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Close up.
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Full shot of the front wheel and tire.
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Full shot of the rear wheel and tire.
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Side shot of driver side.