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powder coated calipers?

M

mattsBLK99cSVT

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Oct 12, 2006
Messages
1,030
Location
Bartlett, IL
I see that alot of people paint their calipers with caliper paint. I like the look and all but in detail you can see the brush marks and what not. Has anyone taken off their calipers and sent them out to be powdercoated? I think that look would make all contours look like they got some nice factory brakes :cool: Post pics if you've gotten it done, thanx
 
Well I used the brush on Duplicolor and you can't see any brush strokes on my calipers. Just take your time and follow the directions. Biggest problem is neither paint nor powdercoat is chemical resistant.
 
I did my fronts and rears.. calipers, brackets, rotors and hubs.

If you need any tips or tricks.. let me know as I did it all at home.

They stay looking like this for a long time too plus they are really easy to clean.

You asked for pics.. so here ya go (sorry for all the big pics).

IMG_3079.jpg

IMG_3078.jpg

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8f982198.jpg

Here's how the FSVT calipers started - fresh from the junkyark.. one of them is after bead blasting.
DSC08149.jpg
 
is there any silver caliper paint? i'd like to have my calipers painted the same time as the FSVT wheels possibly, or just black, but i'd rather not do black if i dont have to.
 
TRicker said:
is there any silver caliper paint? i'd like to have my calipers painted the same time as the FSVT wheels possibly, or just black, but i'd rather not do black if i dont have to.
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I have black and it gets lame cause no one can see ur calipers..I think in the spring im sanding them back down and going for silver
 
With T Red or Black, a nice bronze looks good. As long as it doesn't look to gold! :help: And of course it all depends on your wheels...
 
howabout a gunmetal grey type color? i guess that could be much like a bronze too. i just dont want gold, and surely not black. a metallic grey would be alright on my car IMO. any more input?
 
SVTforme said:
I did my fronts and rears.. calipers, brackets, rotors and hubs.

If you need any tips or tricks.. let me know as I did it all at home.

8f982198.jpg
Click to expand...

You betcha I'd like some tips or tricks to powder coat at home! They look great! Better than that. They look GREAT!!

First question - did you tell your wife you were going to cure paint in her oven or did you wait until she was out of town?

2 - can they be stripped at home or is bead blasting the only way to go for a tight bond?

3 - powder gun? I see them all the time in Eastwood's catalogues http://www.eastwoodco.com/ . Is that what you used?

4 - powder. How much does the quality vary from vendor to vendor?

thanks much!
 
As a mild powdercoating enthusiast I can at least provide some insight on your questions. They may not be what he did in his personal situation but I've been around this stuff for a while. Abraisive blasting is really the only way to get the calipers as clean as they look in this picture. I'm sure with a whole lot of time you could get them this clean by hand but abraisive blasting is cheap and easy. The portable powder guns are decent at best. You really get what you pay for in powder guns, at least to my experience. But apparently in this situation, they worked out great. The only place I've seen source powder is The Eastwood Company. They have some very decent powder that has proven to stand up over time. I have extremely cheap access to unlimited powder coating and abraisive blasting. If any CEG'er wishes to have any powdercoating done I am more than willing to help.
 
I have been doing this for years at a friends shop - then I moved far away from there so I got my own setup going.

I bought an oven locally from a friend who bought new appliances. Not a bad deal for $30. This way I could dedicate it to powdercoating.

As mentioned several times in this thread - the Eastwood setup is the way to go. The deluxe kit is only $120ish. Other than that, all you need is an oven and an air compressor, some high heat tape and aluminum foil. Then you just need to makes friend with someone with a media blaster.

I would stongly suggest blasting the parts and taking the time to prep the surfaces with laquer thinner etc to ensure there are no contaminates on the surface before coating.

Here are a couple of in progress shots of some parts I did more recently:
Note the high tech lawnmover/parts rack.
torino_brakes005.jpg

torino_brakes004.jpg

torino_brakes006.jpg
 
my next door neighbor has a blaster but i don't have a electric oven or a place to put it. but this summer i plan on stripping all the paint off my calipers and repaiting. i just cant figure out if i want my mounting brackets black or red. or maybe even silverish.
 
Last edited:
SVTforme said:
Here are a couple of in progress shots of some parts I did more recently:

torino_brakes006.jpg
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Eh? You're powder coating lockwashers and bolt threads?

I appreciate your input. The powder coating on the calipers looks soooo much better than the peeling paint that came on the used E0 calipers that I recently mounted on the car. How did you mask the piston hole? Did you mask the inside surface where it bears against the pad?

By the way, if any of you other readers haven't gone to SVTforme's Torino website you're really missing something. I'm totally impressed. I've long thought I'd like to do the same to a 1st gen Mustang fastback. Totally fun! 'fraid I have to deal with the Porsche project first though.
 
Powdercoating bolts and nuts is fine, as long as you run a tap through them or a die over them after they cool down, otherwise you are asking for trouble.

As for masking the calipers - I just went around the edge of the rubber boot and covered the piston in. I use Eastwood's fiberglass tape for this - it sticks real well, and the adhestive does not melt or fuse to the part. The key with castings is to bake them for 10-15 min at 300-400° to let them "off-gas", which gets rid of air pockets etc in the casting. This also gets rid of grease and some contaminates and makes them easier to clean up for the final coating.

The first time I did castings, I did not preheat them and it made a mess. The part was aluminum and had lots of porosity in it, which trapped gas just below the surface. When I baked the part, the gas expanded and blew bubbles in the powdercoat as it was curing and looked awful once it cured.

As for the Torinos - having a blast with that project. It seems to give the best of both worlds without getting out of hand $$ wise. Kinda been quiet with the project until I really get into the modifications. Still collecting the powertrain and suspension parts before I start hacking into the cars.
 
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