Anyone paint their rear drum brakes?

[aaronon]

Hey everyone,

So the standard Polo has dark grey / dark silver drum brakes - but after about 2 months out of the show room they turn to rust.

Mine have been rusted forever and I'm contemplating getting some paint. Has anyone done this?

Does it stop them from doing your yearly service as you've messed with brakes? Will it flake off? Do you just spray over the rust?

[Tim_GTi]

It won't affect service.

Sand them down properly, and they won't flake.

I'd recommend spraying them black/grey only, you don't want to highlight the fact that you have drums on the back with red paint.

Get some high temperature engine paint, and get a nice thick couple of coats on.

[blazeguarder]

I did mine before as well, I used satin black as there's no sense in advertising drums to the world.

I put the back of the car on axle stands, got both drums off, used a wire brush to get as much rust off as possible, and sprayed them up with Hammerite Direct to Rust. I would have used paint with a brush and done it on the car but there's a bit of a lip that prevents you getting to the edge of the drum, so I took it off to paint the complete thing. Only problem I had was that one of the drums had seized onto the hub, but a few good whacks with a rubber mallet sorted this pretty quickly. Only had the car for a few months after that but it lasted the winter and still looked as good as new.

Just remember not to paint the mating face of the drum (where the wheel touches it). I removed the rust from it with the brush and then just masked it up.

[aaronon]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I'm not very car savvy so would it be possible to iron brush all the rust off. . .without taking off the drum?

Also. . .the direct-to-rust product. . is this something you spray on, leave for a while, and then just wipe the rust off? Sounds really awesome.

Yeah I was going to get Black or Grey from Halfords.

The lip you're talking about. . that's what's putting me off. . .there's a gap the whole way round that seperates the front of the drum from the back of the drum. . .would I be able to paint this? Can I paint pretty much everything you can see as I'm not taking the drum off?

[chris meardon]

Hammerite is your friend.

Get the smooth pain stuff in a tin not spray can and use a brush to do a neat job and you still get the same finish.

wrap the arch and wings in newspaper so there is no chance of splashing paint onto your paitwork, attack the drum with a wire brush, then brush hammerite in light coats, 2-3 coats leave an hour or so between coats do it on a sunny sunday when you dont need your car. make sure you wait until the drum is completley dry! if you put the wheel on before there will be a nice black mark on your wheel next time you take it off. leave it overnight to dry (24 hours if possible)

[aaronon]

Thanks dude!

Attack with wire brush lol. . .is it just to get the loose rust off or does it need to be perfect as there is a lot of rust haha.

As for the leave for 24 hours, do you mean leave with the wheels off and the car jacked up until the next day?

[chris meardon]

Just get the loose rust off and tidy it up then the hammerite will do the rest.

Yes I would leave on axel stands overnight if i was to do it as hammerite takes longer than normal paint to dry.

my advice is do it on a saturday morning and do without a car until sunday morning giving it a full 24 hours to dry

[blazeguarder]

Also. . .the direct-to-rust product. . is this something you spray on, leave for a while, and then just wipe the rust off? Sounds really awesome.

Hammerite do a paint line called Direct to Rust. Basically it's got stuff in it that neutralises the rust so you can apply it directly. Just needs the surface rust removing with a wire brush and put some on. You'll be able to tell when you've got as much off as possible.

I'd use axle stands as well. They are only about £20 or so for decent ones, and they are surprisingly useful. Wouldn't like to leave a car on a jack for 24 hours without wheels tbh.

[Joefield]

i just jack one back wheel up at a time, took the wheel off and use a wire brish to get the flakes, then sand the rest, then i put the bolts in to cover the holes and sprayed it with a base coat then 3 black paint coats then finally 2 laqures then repeated it with the opposite side

[aaronon]

Thanks for all the help guys :) Going to do this over summer. I don't have a garage or a drive so I won't be able to leave it on stands over night. . . Gonna have to figure something out

[john.p.clegg]

As someone said in a previous post

"Just remember not to paint the mating face of the drum (where the wheel touches it)."

Slap some copperslip or grease on the wheels mating surface,put the wheel back on for a second (to transfer some of the grease),then spray...the sprayed paint over the grease comes off easily when dry....won't work for brushed finish unless you're really careful...

[blazeguarder]

If you can justify replacing your rear drums then you can just paint the replacements and swap them over. Not really ideal but gets two jobs done at once. Otherwise, is there anywhere that you can blag a driveway from? Only wheels that are stuck on with rust/paint are seriously not fun when you get a puncture at the side of the road...

Slap some copperslip or grease on the wheels mating surface,put the wheel back on for a second (to transfer some of the grease),then spray...the sprayed paint over the grease comes off easily when dry....won't work for brushed finish unless you're really careful...

Interesting! Never thought of this myself but seems like a good idea!