Painting Caliper
 

So I have been thinking about painting my brake calipers and I did some research over the past few days on the internet and reading some earlier threads on this forum. And I have made some decisions about how I am going to do this.

1) Color = Red: I thought about yellow but I think red just looks better on a white color Boxster. (Still undecided where I should buy it from) eBay or suncoast. I am also going to apply clear coat after I paint it as recommended by most people.
2) Caliper Decal: I am definitely getting it from xenonmods.com
3) My plan is to remove the calipers from the car and take my time cleaning and painting it instead of painting it while it is still attached. I assume it should be relatively easy to remove the calipers from the car?
4) Bleeding the brake: I read that some people recommend bleeding the brakes at the same time. Pardon my ignorance but is it really necessary?

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

I'm on the same project except I'm going yellow, replacing pads and going with drilled rotors. I'm still finding answers to stuff myself here's what I have for ya so far. If you do not remove the calipers you don't need to bleed. You do need to unweight the fluid supply line, which most do with a hanging device. If you remove the calipers you will not only need to bleed but you might as well change the fluid which is recommended every two years. You also need to know that brake fluid destroys paint on immediate contact. I ordered a motive power bleeder. I saw a pic tool pants posted showing a guy with the unit screwed right to the top of the main fluid tank. It looked to me like you could not only extract all the fluid from the main tank but possibly open the brake bleeder and empty the lines backwards. That part is an assumption, I don't know if it's true. I was going to read the Motive specs and ask if it wasn't answered there. Lastly, remember the clutch and brakes share a common supply, therefore you need to bleed the clutch too, good luck, maybe we can post pics when done.

The motive bleeder is made to "pressurize" the system. You put fluid in the bleeder, then connect it to the resevoir in your car. When you open the bleeder screw on the caliper, the motive bleeder provided the pressure to push the fluid thru the lines. It is NOT a vacumn style bleeder.

You will need to bleed your calipers if you remove them from your car to prevent any air from entering the braking system. As mentioned, a full brake fluid flush should be done every 2 years to keep the fuid and lines in good shape.

As for color? What color is your car? I find red a poser color (ie, trying to imitate the S brakes) but it tends to work well with many car exterior colors.

Racer, can you describe how to best minimize leakage and the sequence you use in the removal process as it relates to the management of the brake line?

Thanks.

Following this same line of thinking, yellow calipers imitate ceramic brakes—and $8,200 option, which is greater "poser" color, right? ;)

I'm a poser with red painted calipers, which look great on a black car.

I've done this a couple times. Once with hi-temp engine enamel and once with G2 caliper paint. I was very, very detail oriented when prepping the calipers for paint both times. I now wish I had never painted them. It's not a big deal, just a waste of time and money.
If I were to do it again, the only way I'd go is to have them powder coated. Of course, that is much more extensive than just painting them while on the car.

god with the poser crap again...is that where every post is going tolead on this forum :D

paint em, my car is white and when its time to do my brakes, I want to paint the calipers white...idea from another forum member and I liked it....

White sounds really hot and sporty. Cool idea. My boxster is black on black on black on black on.... gads. I thought about a cobalt blue because I don't like to do the same thing everyone else does, but I will probably go with red because it really does look nice. Your blue on white body colors might do well with blue calipers? Provided it was the right 'blue' and not a flat, navy sort of unsporty blue. Dunno. I prefer originality so white or blue appeal to me.

there is a another boxster board and a guy painted his calipers a real cool blue, I thought t looked amzing......I will go with a high gloss white or maybe black....but my current black ones are just too faded...

I like the red a lot and would have done red, but the white idea just struck me as unique....I'm not sure I'd be a fan of the yellow on the white though....post some pics when you decide!

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?

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

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.

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!

http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/wheels/dsc00688.jpg

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 :cheers:

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.

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

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?

Your car looks amazing as it is. That sounds like a really unique and striking idea to paint them white. You gotta post pics as soon as you get them painted!

Ya...its like $15-$20 for the kit at advance auto. I've had the kit a couple months and just never got around to doing it. Cleaner, paint, brush, masking tape and instructions all come in the kit. I bought some high temp. clear coat, but like I said above, I wouldn't clear them again. I'd just leave it w/the kit's paint and then the decals on top. The decals are so cheap, if anything were to ever happen to them again, the $5-10 wouldn't bother me too much to reapply lol Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.