Red Paint Under Rims on Brakes

Was out playing with my Challenger and started to wonder about the Red Paint on the brakes. So what decides if these were painted red and who painted them red a line worker or the source of the product. I heard only Optional Rim Vehicles had their brakes painted. Did both front and back get painted no matter of the type of braking, disc or drums all around. When did Chrysler start doing this and when did the end this practice and how much was painted red. Also was there ever a bulletin explaining why Chrysler did this.

The paint was applied right before the wheels were installed on the car. Some original wheels show red/orange paint drips on the back side of the wheels. My 73 drums were painted so they did it until then at least. Someone posted a factory drawing that showed the calipers were to be painted as well. However, I don't think it's ever been proven that it actually happened.

If you could see the drum through the wheel, then it was supposed to get painted. So, a Rallye wheel and a road wheel equipped car should have painted drums.

It is for the 'styled' wheel cars so the red shows through the wheel openings.

My 1970 Sport Satellite with Rallye wheels still has the original paint intact.

The Rim Roof that is what they called it were I worked in automotive production was not any thing near or to do with the location of when then axle was put in the car. So was there another sheet of paper someplace in the plant to tell the person he needs to paint the drums and another paper squed for the person for the front end. On my Challenger it has front drums, came with Rallye Rims and under were I painted them black the drum is painted completely on the out side in RED. Why use the color RED, why not just save the money and source paint them or leave them alone. Maybe they did not like the rust showing through the RIms. They could of used black instead of red. There must be some reason Chrysler used RED.

Drums: When I went from wheel covers to Road Wheels. Personally, I like the red showing through the slots.

Well on my drums they sure did not follow the Chrysler Diagram of applying paint. The is red paint on my front drums is all over were the wheel would connect. I know why they would not paint were the matting surfaces come together so the rim would sit flush and would be in balance just like when you do your brakes or change your wheels you sand the rotor or drum and the back side of were the rim attaches to create a nice matting surface. Red looks nice with some rims but not on some colors of cars. But I would love to know the reason why Chrysler picked RED and not another color. On my drums even the cap has red on it. My June Built 1971 Challenger is a very low mile drag car and I have owned it since the 70s and I was the one that painted black over the Red. Never liked the red showing through the aftermarket light rims I ended up running.

David 1971 your front drums are nothing like mine. Mine seem so much bigger than yours but I think mine are the biggest front drums put on a 1971 E Body. What are the drums in the picture off of.

Here's a photo of the original rear drums on my 71 Challenger with 11" drums. I'll have to see if I have a photo of the front drums.
Terry

They are the drums from my 71 Barracuda 318 with manual brakes. I try to be a purist with this car because it has been in the family since 1971. But I had to make an exception with the wheel and tires. Going from whitewalls, steel wheels, and covers to styled wheels makes such a huge difference in the look of an E-body. The "before" picture is from 1994. The "after" picture is from last September.

Your rear Drums are painted similar to my front drums on your 1971 Challenger. Mine are painted right and including the cap. The red paint looks great with the 5 spoke wheels. Likely there is no reason why Chrysler choose the red. The only reason is to tell a worker these were Rallye or Five Spoke Wheels on this E Body but that is what a line spec sheet it for to make sure each Vehicle is getting the correct wheels. But If someone follow all the paper work through out the plant there should not be a loading mistake on each line but we are all Human. I still think Black would of been a better color for all types of rims. Red must of been a Key for the line workers but if the line worker misses painting the drum then what happened.

A couple of original red drums pics from my files.

They just gooped it on with a brush....the reason they went red is because it looks sweet....I love it. A couple of my originals attached.

My front drums are a lot like yours rarefish but even more paint even on the cap that goes on the drum. Funny how the Diagram states no paint on the studs and were the rim would bolt flush on the Drum but that was not followed. Being a Auto Worker over time I bet the person on the job of painting took other jobs and that person did the same and on and on and no one showed the Diagram of the paint and the net worker just painted it all like on my Challenger. The only time I have had the drums off was when I put long studs on the front end because NHRA would ask me every weekend to pull a lug nut to see if they were long enough and rules were had to be like 1/2 inch outside the rim.. They could not see how long the stock stud was using the normal Super Trick Wheel Nuts that were closed. So I pulled the studs put the long ones on and used the Stud Nut with the holes in the end so I did not have to be bothered with pulling one nut when I went to the track. I will have to look around to see if I still have those studs and I believe I do from the 70s. Funny how running 9 seconds with no safety equipment back in the early 70s was OK but by the late 70s things sure changed from many an accident at the track.

David1971, I like that Barracuda with or without the rim change. Leave it either way and don't change a thing in the future.

Red was "hot" back in the day as an accent color, actually still is.
Red fender liners, red Air Grabber screens, red stripe tires, red inserts on tailpipe tips...

^^ agree. The owner of my A12 painted the front bottom of the radiator support and K-frame RED and I think at the same time the swaybar too

On my 74 Duster360, the original rear drums were painted, the car had the 14" Rallye wheels. And on my 70 Sport Satellite, it came with the 14" road wheels, and the rear drums were painted red. On replacement drums I painted them red, should have put a slash of red on the front calipers . . . . Red really does pop when the sun shines on them !

At one time when I frequent auto wreckers I would look for the drums to be painted on the rear ends because that usually would tell me that they had a sure grip in them. Later learned it was for wheel type.