You can either put masking tape on the letters and then cut around them with a razor knife, or smear some vasoline on the letters only, and then you'll be able to just wipe the pant off them after you spray them since the paint won't stick to the vasoline...
As for pads, the Hawk HPS pads are real good street pads...get them from tirerack.com
I just painted mine not too long ago, I just sprayed the whole caliper black, and then went back wit some model paint, and brushed some silver on the raised letters. I even used the crapy brushes you get with model paints. If you are careful, the brush should only touch the raised parts. been about 6 months, and they still look good.
what do you use to strip the caliper for paint..to make sure you have all the road crap off...and what about priming..use high heat stuff or is there special caliper paint?.they should come painted from ford...
I didn't really prep any, just used some high temp black, sprayed the rust rings around my rotors at the same time. They just look new, black, with silver letters. it will probably take you longer to get the wheels off, than paint. sorry no pics I did use some blue painters tape to mask off the rotor surface.