Painting Caliper

OK among all of us poser painters is there anyone who can describe the proper way to manage the end on the brake line and fluid flow from it when the caliper is totally removed?

[djomlas]

as 'cool' as white sounds, its a bad idea.
calipers get dirty all the time, and even a litle bit of dirt will make the white look bad.
you will be constantly cleaning then, well you will be cleaning them any color they are, but white will be just more work.
it would look good tho, on a white car, but so would red, it would stand out really nice

[jmatta]

Originally Posted by xusmnimij

OK among all of us poser painters is there anyone who can describe the proper way to manage the end on the brake line and fluid flow from it when the caliper is totally removed?

If I understand your question, you will not disrupt fluid flow when you remove a caliper. All you need to do is push the pistons into the caliper, and if done one at a time, will not pose a problem. If, however, you choose to do all four a once, you will need to open the brake fluid resevoir and drain some fluid out. When you press the pistons into the calipers, you push all the extra fluid back up the system and you will have an overflow at the tank (not a good thing). Be extra careful not to bend or kink a brake line. Also, only push the pistons back far enough to remove the pads; you don't want to damage the internal seals.

BTW, my S already has reds, but I know the "other" 911 guys always jump on the poser bandwagon. My friend has a beautiful 914 (white) and painted his tiny little calipers red...really nice improvement and he takes the prodding quite well.

JM,

I've done a ton of brake jobs the way you describe, what I'm asking is this:

I want to completely remove the brake line from the caliper and take the caliper completely off to go out for painting. With a full fluid tank, the open line is going to continue to leak. In the Fiat days we carefully pinched off the line till we were done, I'd prefer a different method for the Box.

[Chippy]

I removed mine when I painted.

I simply removed the brake line where it enters the rear of the caliper, and then popped the end of the hose in a freezer food storage bag and then taped it around the hose to catch the leaking fluid.

I then found a bolt with the same thread to screw into the back of the calipers to prevent fluid leaking out whilst the paint was being done.

I gave mine a total of 15 coats:-


1) remove the calipers

2) cleaned the gunk off with brake cleaner

3) used a dremel and a wire brush end to clean in the hard to reach areas

4) used brake cleaner again to remove any residue

5) made some cardboard masks for the inside of the caliper and wrapped thin strips of masking tape around the bleed bolts (after removing the rubber caps from the bolts first).

6) I then bolted the calipers to a plank of wood to make handling painting easier.

6) gave them 4 thin coats of red oxide primer

7) gave them 5 coats of red gloss then left them to dry overnight

8) gave them 6 coats of lacquer and left top dry for the day

9) applied the decals

10) reattached the rubber caps and fitted the calipers to the car

11) Used an easibleed system to bleed them - right rear, left rear, front right, front left

12) Nice cup of tea and stand back and admire the work!

[RandallNeighbour]

I didn't remove mine to do all that work. I just cleaned them good with brake cleaner (could have done a better job too) and painted them red with the G2 paint brush... 2 coats. No clear coat over the decal either, which still looks great after a year.

Behind wheels and with the Porsche stickers on them from an eBay seller, it's hard to tell that I brushed them on and they look fine to me. The paint smoothes out nicely.

I think if I were going to do the amount of work you did based on the desire to make them the best they could be, I'd pay to have them powder coated. Calipers get beat up due to the heat and debris bouncing off them at speed, and that much work is admirable, but seems like it would have diminishing returns.

We should both return to this thread in a couple of years and describe how our calipers are holding up to compare notes to see if the long process lasted any longer than the short process

[pompous]

I just finished doing this 2 days ago myself. I "sold out" and went red w/the white porsche decal as well. I simply went with the dupli color red caliper kit from advance auto. Used up the can of caliper cleaner, but nowhere near even half the paint and I put a good 3 coats on each caliper. Finished w/a light clearcoat over the decal, but looking back that part I think was completely unneccessary.

[djomlas]

and if you get any chips on the calipers, take the wheel off, clean it good, then take the can of paint, shake good, spray inside the cap or anything else that will hold liquid, then spray inside from close distance, and it will be just liquid paint,t hen take a soft brush, dip in, and touch up the caliper.
i did this a few times, couse after the alignment they kinda weren't as careful as i said they should be, but its not noticeable at all

[baseball]

Originally Posted by pompous

I just finished doing this 2 days ago myself. I "sold out" and went red w/the white porsche decal as well. I simply went with the dupli color red caliper kit from advance auto. Used up the can of caliper cleaner, but nowhere near even half the paint and I put a good 3 coats on each caliper. Finished w/a light clearcoat over the decal, but looking back that part I think was completely unneccessary.

Pompous, your calipers look great. I'm now thinking about selling out too Can you tell me a little more about the duplicolor kit. I've never heard of it. Is it a specific shade of red, or do I just ask for the Red Duplicolor kit? Do I need to get the cleaner, brushes and clearcoat separately?

Also, where did you get the white Porsche decals?