Painting Calipers What Is More Durable

[PT]

I am rebuilding front rear calipers and figure might as well paint them while they're apart

I've had a search and didn't really come up with much besides how to's

What paint types are going to last longer and tolerate the heat better

Powder coating (only $10 per caliper)

VHT caliper paint (and do you need a clear coat)

Duplicolor Metalcast

cheers

[NA_Goodness]

I'd say powder coating, but dont quote me on that.

[PT]

I know with powder coating they bake at 200deg C.....

[Craved]

wow $10 a caliper for powdercoat- i would do that then - what colours they offering for that price. they are leaving the prep up to you?

Yep 170-230 degree's C for curing powdercoat.

i have the gold VHT and clear coat on mine - no discolouring or fading - clear coat keeps them glossy when cleaned.

Metalcast looks great, but the red will go orange in the heat - not sure on the blue

[PT]

I've already cleaned the calipers, any colour but some pearl/metallic style colours have 2 layers and cost an extra $10

(another joint quoted $30-40 for basic paint)

so you think powder coating will handle the heat OK

[Craved]

I've already cleaned the calipers, any colour but some pearl/metallic style colours have 2 layers and cost an extra $10

(another joint quoted $30-40 for basic paint)

so you think powder coating will handle the heat OK

i have seen LOTS of powdercoated calipers, from bikes to new corvettes. havent heard of them coing back with any problems after track work.

will be coating my own soon, trying to find a spare set of front calipers to rebuild and coat so i can swap out the whole lot in one go.

[mitchy_]

what parts cant be powdercoated? obviously the pistons, should i just strip them down completely, and advise them not to coat the inside?

i have a set of calipers here i want to fit to my legnum, and would like to get them powder coated.

$10 sounds about right too, i had a set of rims powder coated at $40/rim.

[Craved]

pistons and lips for the dust boots cannot be coated nor inside of the cylinder.

Mating face for the 2 halves of the caliper - if skyline like calipers canot be coated

bolt holes and threaded sections.

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hope they sand blast them before coating atleast - less likely to hold the coating if thats not done.

[Trav33]

Metalcast looks great, but the red will go orange in the heat - not sure on the blue

I used MetalCast paint, i think its heat rated? My blue calipers have not changed colour.

[MZBLTZ]

Just buy caliper paint...?

[WazR32GTSt]

caliper paint is more than durable (you would know this is you REALLY did a search i know there is a lot of info out there because i have personally posted in a few threads on this)

if you can get powder coating done cheap then go fot it - that's the ducks nuts

but if its going to be a hassle to pull things apart then caliper paint will well and far exceed the expectations of what you need

[siddr20]

I painted my front calipers with caliper paint (spray cans)

Sprayed mine about 1.5 years ago and the shine is still like it was from day one!!

only cost like 12 bucks a can i think.. cheaper than any other methods

[chuckie]

G`day lad`s i have had both painted & power coated & it`s not much different some times it hard to get a good coating as the ali is not the Best ??,iam Know looking at having a set ceramic coated piston`s as well,so i will post up some bit`s of info soon ??,that`s if you are interested ???,

[Craved]

Here are some pics of powdercoated calipers from coaters based in the USA - these are custom coaters and not industrial coaters

first 2 pics are brembo calipers

or look here at the stuff you can do with calipers

http://thepowdercoater.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=2

Alluminium coats as well as any other steel so if they are prepped properly and not just coated as they are you can have great reults with great durability.

PT - post up some pics once you get them done

[H@ME]

they look nice, i'v done my brakes to in gold i used KnH it great have a look in the NA section for my topic!

[PT]

couple of dust boots had splits, so I have bought front/rear seal kits and have already removed pistons and split the calipers...figured might aswell do full rebuild now, so powder coating is not going to make things harder in terms of prep etc

shall post pics when done, have connections to a powder coater now so may get it done cheaper again

[Yo-Yo]

I used Metalcast Red for my calipers, cost me around $9 from memory for the can and a lazy sunday afternoon

I already had brake caliper cleaner in my garage, and I used aluminium caliper paint as a primer.

Did this also on my previous R33 and after a clean they come up looking brand new again

3 coats of primer,

I originally tried 2 coats of paint, but it was too bright for my liking, you'll get this deeper kind of red from 4 coats

[Craved]

PT - did you get these done yet?

i spent today doing a test run on my daily driver lancers brakes as they needed a rebuild so i figured i'd powdercoat them at the same time.

[jenkies]

wow $10 a caliper for powdercoat- i would do that then - what colours they offering for that price. they are leaving the prep up to you?

Yep 170-230 degree's C for curing powdercoat.

i have the gold VHT and clear coat on mine - no discolouring or fading - clear coat keeps them glossy when cleaned.

Metalcast looks great, but the red will go orange in the heat - not sure on the blue

at the moment doing a corner an afternoon, vht gold brake caliper paint and clear coat....... excluding the pic i sanded the nissan logo back to silver and continued to clear coat..... looks alot better.... prep takes the longest

Edited April 12, 2008 by jenkies

[Craved]

jenkies, i have the VHT gold on my 33 atm too, looks good but im in the process of upgrading to a candy gold powdercoat.

VHT definately is a cheap good looking upgrade

and yeah i remember prepping them without removing them from the car lol - lots of effort