Painting brake calipers

[Fluke996]

My 99 C2 calipers are looking really bad. The decal or some coating over the black is getting air underneath and bubbling the same way window tinting does when it starts to fail. I'm looking into either painting or powder coating. What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing one over the other? I also would want to replace the white Porsche lettering. Is this just a decal added after painting? Lastly, any cost estimates on both the options. Thanks.

[violaGT3]

My 99 C2 calipers are looking really bad. The decal or some coating over the black is getting air underneath and bubbling the same way window tinting does when it starts to fail. I'm looking into either painting or powder coating. What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing one over the other? I also would want to replace the white Porsche lettering. Is this just a decal added after painting? Lastly, any cost estimates on both the options. Thanks.

Check around your area for powdercoating services. Get your estmates and move forward from there. This would be the permanent reapir, but would be more expensive. You could also have them blasted and then just use high temp primer and paint, but this method's results are directly affected by the quality of work done. ie you do not clean and prep right it will come off. As far as the lettering. Hmm I do not know all porsche brakes but all the ones I've seen (My GT3, C2, and 01 TT's) had Porsche casted in them but if your do not you could go the sticker route. Either way you are going to be with out the calipers for a week or better. Good luck with it.

[jurichar]

My 99 C2 calipers are looking really bad. The decal or some coating over the black is getting air underneath and bubbling the same way window tinting does when it starts to fail. I'm looking into either painting or powder coating. What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing one over the other? I also would want to replace the white Porsche lettering. Is this just a decal added after painting? Lastly, any cost estimates on both the options. Thanks.

Check around your area for powdercoating services. Get your estmates and move forward from there. This would be the permanent reapir, but would be more expensive. You could also have them blasted and then just use high temp primer and paint, but this method's results are directly affected by the quality of work done. ie you do not clean and prep right it will come off. As far as the lettering. Hmm I do not know all porsche brakes but all the ones I've seen (My GT3, C2, and 01 TT's) had Porsche casted in them but if your do not you could go the sticker route. Either way you are going to be with out the calipers for a week or better. Good luck with it.

call up tirerack and ask for their 2-part caliper paint system ($38), then go to xenonmods.com and get yourself some high temp decals for the porsche lettering (real cheap <$10). Set aside about 5-6 hours on a sunday and you wont be dissapointed. It takes a little elbow grease to get the job done right, but it looks really good (comprable to powercoating at >3 feet away or a layer of brake dust ;) ). I've done mine and so have quite a few other guys. I can e-mail you some pics if you want??? Not sure how to post em here???

The other option is powdercoating which there is a guy on 6speed named sandoval that does em for $500 with a complete rebuild on the internals?!? But you have to go without your car while he's working on em?

Justin

[Doug]

My 99 C2 calipers are looking really bad. The decal or some coating over the black is getting air underneath and bubbling the same way window tinting does when it starts to fail. I'm looking into either painting or powder coating. What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing one over the other? I also would want to replace the white Porsche lettering. Is this just a decal added after painting? Lastly, any cost estimates on both the options. Thanks.

what did you do?

the car I just purchased has the rotors all messed up from brake fluid (I think). I'm still pondering which way to go with these...paint? powdercoat? or replace?

anymore thoughts would be appreciated

[KevinMac]

My 99 C2 calipers are looking really bad. The decal or some coating over the black is getting air underneath and bubbling the same way window tinting does when it starts to fail. I'm looking into either painting or powder coating. What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing one over the other? I also would want to replace the white Porsche lettering. Is this just a decal added after painting? Lastly, any cost estimates on both the options. Thanks.

what did you do?

the car I just purchased has the rotors all messed up from brake fluid (I think). I'm still pondering which way to go with these...paint? powdercoat? or replace?

anymore thoughts would be appreciated

Think on those all you have to do is wet sand with a fine paper and clear coat it. The base paint looks okay.

[Doug]

thanks kevinmac...we're on the same page

right now I'm in the process of doing just what you suggested

[Izzy]

I would first use windex and some paper towels, then water and paper towels to clean them up.

[1schoir]

thanks kevinmac...we're on the same page

right now I'm in the process of doing just what you suggested

Doug:

If you can, when you have finished wetsanding, use a paint product called "Prep-sol" or "Pre-Kleano" to clean up all residue of oil, brake fluid, grease, fingerprints, etc. before you spray on the clearcoat. They are available at any auto paint store and do a great job of providing a clean surface so as to not get "fish eyes" or other paint failures.

As a last resort, you can use the original Formula 409 as a pre-cleaner. It's an old body shop trick because that particular cleaner does not leave any residue before painting.

Regards, Maurice.

[Doug]

thanks guys...I was done before I read your clean up suggestions.

I used Xylene and brake fluid cleaner. I hope that does the trick.

They sure look great...for now anyway! :D

[1schoir]

thanks guys...I was done before I read your clean up suggestions.

I used Xylene and brake fluid cleaner. I hope that does the trick.

They sure look great...for now anyway! :D

Doug:

Brake cleaner has a similar composition to the auto paint pre-cleaners, so you should be fine. If there was any oil or fingerprint residue on the calipers before you clear-coated them, you would have seen "reactions" when you sprayed on the clear coat.

Any before and after pics?

Regards, Maurice.

[Doug]

here's some pics...lesson learned is that the clear coat is applied to the powder coat and can be easily repaired

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/turbocaliper2.jpg

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/after1.jpg

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/turborcaliper1.jpg

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/after2.jpg

Edited November 8, 2007 by Doug

[1schoir]

here's some pics...lesson learned is that the clear coat is applied to the powder coat and can be easily repaired

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/turbocaliper2.jpg

Doug:

Nice job! Thanks for posting the pics.

Regards, Maurice

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/after1.jpg

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/turborcaliper1.jpg

http://www.dhsartstudio.com/doug/after2.jpg

[SNaray8442]

Doug, that looks great.

What exactly did you do to them? A simple wetsand?

I would really love it if you could do a quick write-up of how to do that.

[blinkwatt]

Bump. I could use Doug's advice. I re-ask the question above,my calipers look EXACTLY like the before.

[1schoir]

Doug, that looks great.

What exactly did you do to them? A simple wetsand?

I would really love it if you could do a quick write-up of how to do that.

Snaray and Blinkwatt:

Here is a simplified step by step.

Wet sanding is just that, sanding down a surface while using water to carry away the sanding residue. Using that method properly will eliminate the scratch marks that are caused by the sanding residue being rubbed into the surface by dry sandpaper.

You can get a small spray or stream of water and have it flow directly over the surface that you are sanding and use special automotive sandpaper made for that purpose (it does not fall apart when wet). For sanding just the clearcoat off, you can start with 400 grit sandpaper and then go over the surface again with 600 grit sandpaper. The 600 should be fine enought to not leave any sanding marks behind. You don't have to remove ALL of the clearcoat paint, so long as you feather out the edges between any remaining clearcoat and the color coat. If you get it right, you should not be able to feel any "step" or ridge between the color coat and the edge of the clear coat that remains and has been feathered out.

Before you start to sand, be sure to thoroughly degrease and to clean the surface, preferably with the solvents I mentioned above. Again, if you can't get those, you can use the original Formula 409 because it doesn't leave a residue. THE CLEANING STEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP FOR A SUCCESSFUL JOB.

Also, because of the shape of the calipers (i.e., a surface that is not flat), be VERY careful when sanding near any corners or protrusions because the sandpaper will cut through those spots VERY VERY quickly. If that happens, you may have to respray the color coat, or even worse, the primer and then the color coat. The best way to avoid that is to use a flexible (foam) backer for the sandpaper, but even in that case you must be extremely careful not ot cut through at the corners, etc...

Once you have properly prepped the part (cleaned, sanded, and masked), it should be relatively easy to spray on the clear. If you are using a spray can instead of a professional spray gun, it's a little more difficult to control the density, direction and amount of material sprayed out, so you have to be extra careful to apply very light coats. Otherwise, you will get drips or runs. If you do, either wipe off the entire surface with a solvent, or wait until it dries and sand off the drip or runs carefully and respray.

Regards, Maurice.

[Doug]

thanks Maurice for writing this up...for some reason I didn't get an email notification that other's had posted replies and questions.

however, I would not have been able to provide such concise and expert advice so it worked out just the better for the guys wanting the step by step process. great job!

I did take off some edges while sanding and will go back some time and fix them but they look fine for now. Other steps in bringing my new toy (this 2002 turbo) back to snuff have taken their place in front of the line of priorities. it's a real solid, one owner car but the cosmetics have been let go. That's right up my alley!

[1schoir]

thanks Maurice for writing this up...for some reason I didn't get an email notification that other's had posted replies and questions.

however, I would not have been able to provide such concise and expert advice so it worked out just the better for the guys wanting the step by step process. great job!

I did take off some edges while sanding and will go back some time and fix them but they look fine for now. Other steps in bringing my new toy (this 2002 turbo) back to snuff have taken their place in front of the line of priorities. it's a real solid, one owner car but the cosmetics have been let go. That's right up my alley!

Doug:

Thanks for the kind words. I know exactly what you mean by things getting in line for what gets to be done next. I keep chipping away at my list, and sometimes I actually feel like I'm actually making progress.

Regards, Maurice.

[Maverickhg]

I have a 2000 boxster 986 and i have the factory graphite coloured callipers. I really want to get red ones but cost is a major factor for me. Is it a simple process to recolour or is it a lot more complex then repainting the same as the original colour?

thanks for any help

[Hobbes]

After reading and doing some research, I decided to paint my calipers from black to a nice sharp yellow. Buying yellow calipers are pretty costly, and my current calipers are still pretty good. The task was pretty easy and done in a few hours. I thought I would share the before and after pictures. One thing to note, I recently replaced my front rotors, which were not painted. I slapped them on the car and in a couple of short months, they were rusted. So anyone who buys unpainted rotors, I highly recommend either getting them already painted, or buy a high-heat / caliper paint (or caliper paint kit @$38) and paint them yourself.

Here are a couple of before and after pictures. The PORSCHE lettering on the calipers were sanded off to allow for a more smooth surface. I ordered a set of decals from Ebay for less than $10. When they get here, they'll be added.

The final product on the car. I chose the yellow as a nice contrast to the blue and my wife didn't care for the red. You can definitely see the yellow over the black.

:drive:

Ken

[sikorskys70]

Hey guys, my calipers are shot and the paint has rubbed off on some corners. Do you know what the exact paint color or code is for Porsche Red calipers. Also maybe there is a paint manufacturer that matches pretty well I can just buy it off the shelf somewhere? I am thinking about painting them just as you guys have but want to match the factory red color as best as possible.

[londoner06]

This is a popular subject, red calipers are covered in this thread:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...ost&p=62329

[DFC69]

I plan to do this when it gets warmer here...

Dupli-Color makes a brush on kit. Here is some good reading on the subject with a few options. Most use xenonmods for the decal.

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/996-...ipers-pics.html

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/996-...d-top-hats.html

[torontoworker]

Most use xenonmods for the decal.

Ok... now what? From the Xenonmods website:

Attention! To those looking for Porsche decals, please read below

We have recently been asked by Porsche to discontinue offering any items with their respective logos or lettering on them (Porsche, 911, Turbo, etc...).

While we can't disagree with their request - it is their logo after all - we do feel that since Porsche doesn't produce or offer the items that we did that we (or someone) should be given the opportunity to make these for you in a legal manner.

We ask that if you would like to see our decals and other items available to send an email to Porsche's trademark team and have them possibly re-consider allowing us to offer these products to you.

e-mail:

laura.malone@porsche.us

Found lot's of them on eaby.

Edited October 22, 2009 by torontoworker