To PAINT or NOT to paint ! - Silver vs Red calipers

[roxboxxx]

Trying to decide if I should paint my S's silver calipers red. All the 2 part epoxy manufactures make it look like you can easily paint them while they are on the car and that the finish will be smooth.

Sounds awfully fishy. I don't mind pulling them from the mounts, but I will draw the line at pulling off the hydraulic lines. So the question for the board:

1. Is it a cheesy thing to do? Will i bring on the scorn of other Porsche owners?

2. Has anyone painted them on the car (brush) and had positive results?

3. How do they look (including the vinyl stickers) after a few months?

4. Will Porsche cry foul if a caliper goes bad and try to claim the paint effected their operation? (I know - its a guess - but wondering if anyone had a bad experience).

5. Anyone spray them with an automotive detail gun? are they a real pain to mask off (inner piston boots, etc.)?

Thanks

[mudman2]

Lots of people do this. You can buy kits and replacement PORSCHE decals, it looks good in red

Trying to decide if I should paint my S's silver calipers red. All the 2 part epoxy manufactures make it look like you can easily paint them while they are on the car and that the finish will be smooth.

Sounds awfully fishy. I don't mind pulling them from the mounts, but I will draw the line at pulling off the hydraulic lines. So the question for the board:

1. Is it a cheesy thing to do? Will i bring on the scorn of other Porsche owners?

2. Has anyone painted them on the car (brush) and had positive results?

3. How do they look (including the vinyl stickers) after a few months?

4. Will Porsche cry foul if a caliper goes bad and try to claim the paint effected their operation? (I know - its a guess - but wondering if anyone had a bad experience).

5. Anyone spray them with an automotive detail gun? are they a real pain to mask off (inner piston boots, etc.)?

Thanks

[deepraver]

My CTT came in red but I did my '96 Camaro with Camaro decals and they look great. In hindsight I would definitely take them off next time though the overspray or taping is a B@%@#... Do it when you go in for a brake job... good to refill and bleed anyway... no biggie..

Lots of people do this. You can buy kits and replacement PORSCHE decals, it looks good in red

Trying to decide if I should paint my S's silver calipers red. All the 2 part epoxy manufactures make it look like you can easily paint them while they are on the car and that the finish will be smooth.

Sounds awfully fishy. I don't mind pulling them from the mounts, but I will draw the line at pulling off the hydraulic lines. So the question for the board:

1. Is it a cheesy thing to do? Will i bring on the scorn of other Porsche owners?

2. Has anyone painted them on the car (brush) and had positive results?

3. How do they look (including the vinyl stickers) after a few months?

4. Will Porsche cry foul if a caliper goes bad and try to claim the paint effected their operation? (I know - its a guess - but wondering if anyone had a bad experience).

5. Anyone spray them with an automotive detail gun? are they a real pain to mask off (inner piston boots, etc.)?

Thanks

[deepraver]

I forgot to mention that you want to put the decals on while the paint is still a tiny bit sticky/tacky to the touch so it bonds best to the paint/caliper... then they never come off.. neat trick the guy selling th decals told me... Also VHT SP731 paint is what you want to use VHT = Very High Temp brand... rock solid.

My CTT came in red but I did my '96 Camaro with Camaro decals and they look great. In hindsight I would definitely take them off next time though the overspray or taping is a B@%@#... Do it when you go in for a brake job... good to refill and bleed anyway... no biggie..

Lots of people do this. You can buy kits and replacement PORSCHE decals, it looks good in red

Trying to decide if I should paint my S's silver calipers red. All the 2 part epoxy manufactures make it look like you can easily paint them while they are on the car and that the finish will be smooth.

Sounds awfully fishy. I don't mind pulling them from the mounts, but I will draw the line at pulling off the hydraulic lines. So the question for the board:

1. Is it a cheesy thing to do? Will i bring on the scorn of other Porsche owners?

2. Has anyone painted them on the car (brush) and had positive results?

3. How do they look (including the vinyl stickers) after a few months?

4. Will Porsche cry foul if a caliper goes bad and try to claim the paint effected their operation? (I know - its a guess - but wondering if anyone had a bad experience).

5. Anyone spray them with an automotive detail gun? are they a real pain to mask off (inner piston boots, etc.)?

Thanks

[swanny2000]

I wouldn't have thought of doing this but now I'm all interested.

Can you guys suggest where to buy "kit" and replacement "Porsche" decals?

Couldn't have cost very much to pull off did it?

[bobgollihur]

I wouldn't have thought of doing this but now I'm all interested.

Can you guys suggest where to buy "kit" and replacement "Porsche" decals?

Couldn't have cost very much to pull off did it?

I haven't done it but am considering doing it for my '04 Cayenne, as repeated detailing (I assume powerwashing wheels) has made my calipers look crappy. Wandering at Suncoast I ran across

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant...y_Code=997logos (PORSCHE logo for caliper)

and

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant...ode=v6955brakes (caliper paint)

though I'm not sure I want red. :o

[RickyStickers]

While my car is being upgraded with new wheels and suspension I've asked my mechanic to remove

all the calipers in the cayenne to send to a body shop to paint red... I've made the stickers and the shop

will clear coat them after the stickers are applied.... I am also doin this on my s2000 at the same time...

[3ball]

I'm pretty sure the color of the brake calipers signify a configuration. Might want to think twice about; that if you do paint them, I would make SURE that's documented and on the checklist to notify whomever works on the vehicle's brake system. But then again, it would probably be obvious to someone who works on brakes all day!

[svansyoc]

As i understand the information I have recieved from Porsche, the calilpers with different colors are identical and only indicate model cayenne,s or t. (not including the larger turbo s and some of the later calipers)

[Dennis C]

The sliver calipers on the Cayenne S are the same as the red calipers on the Cayenne Turbo. The Cayenne Turbo S has bigger calipers, and they are also painted red.

This is not a consistent standard across Porsche's lineup. If you look, for example, at the 996 Carrera 4, you will also see silver painted calipers. These, however, are the same as the calipers on the Carrera 2, only painted silver instead of black. The red calipers on the Carrera 4S and Carrera Turbo are bigger. So... silver calipers aren't necessarily the same as red.

Then there's yellow for PCCB... another story.

[bobgollihur]

FYI, I found a source for caliper paint that looks pretty good, see http://motors.search.ebay.com/G2-BRAKE-CALIPER-PAINT-EPOXY for one source for the G2 BRAKE CALIPER PAINT. I bought a set in black and it has arrived, though the weather will not permit me to use it for a while. What drew me to the kit was that it is a two part high temp epoxy paint, and the kit includes a spray can of cleaner, too.

[ME2LOCO]

Red not to orange...

I did it and it looks great....Really pops now with my 20" real rims...

Edited February 26, 2009 by Loren
Removed ALL CAPS - please do not post in ALL CAPS

[bobgollihur]

FYI, I found a source for caliper paint that looks pretty good, see http://motors.search.ebay.com/G2-BRAKE-CALIPER-PAINT-EPOXY for one source for the G2 BRAKE CALIPER PAINT. I bought a set in black and it has arrived, though the weather will not permit me to use it for a while. What drew me to the kit was that it is a two part high temp epoxy paint, and the kit includes a spray can of cleaner, too.

Weather permitted me to do this job yesterday. My objective was to de-uglyfy the calipers, not sex them up with red paint. My wheels look great, but that graying, weathered mass of brake mechanism behind them detracts from the look.

I cheated and painted them without removing the wheels; mine are stock 2004 18". After rolling the vehicle in steps I could see that I could reach all points of the calipers, and I used the kit's cleaner with a rag to prep the surfaces. The kit has a small can of paint plus a little bottle of "activator" that completes the epoxy, it's ready in five minutes. I hand-brushed them using the supplied little acid brush, doing the exposed areas on each of the four wheels, following up with the final coat in rotation before rolling the car. After I finished I rolled the car as my wife observed each wheel to confirm my coverage was 100%.

Evaluation:

• brush marks are obvious only if you get on your hands and knees and closely examine the job. That said, if I were to do it again I'd buy and use a better brush. The view from normal height is fine, though I might have preferred flat rather than gloss, but they are not notable in a negative way. That said, I guess red could have looked pretty sharp after all. :rolleyes:
  
• it's a small can only partially filled, but there's plenty of paint for the job. It, BTW, has a working life of 4-6 hours before the remainder hardens into uselessness.
  
• fumes -- they are brutal. It was actually quite breezy, and my wife could smell them from 250 feet away. My anatomy is different from normal, I had throat cancer and breathe through a hole in my neck (hey, I'm alive nearly 19 years later!), and the fumes caused some bleeding from the tissues for a few hours. While I doubt you have this issue, I can't imagine the tissues in your nose would have been all that happy, either. I say this to warn you to avoid doing this indoors unless you use significant active ventilation to change the air continuously.
  

I chose this kit because of the specific high temperature two-part epoxy nature of the paint and have high expectations for longevity. I guess we'll see. At this juncture I can recommend the kit.