Engine paint for brake calipers?

First I was going to powder coat, but the vendor said I'd need to rebuild the seals, etc. That's a bit more work than I need right now, so took the easy route and blasted / painted. But the brake caliper red that I used seems a bit dark, not as red as the Ferrari calipers I've seen. I could live with it but...has anyone used high temp engine paint instead? Maybe this comes in a brighter red. FWIW the cans read almost identical - contains ceramic, identical cure times, etc.

 

A few friends of mine have done it this way mate.

The paint on the calipers still looks ok I guess.

 

Here it is with the real brake caliper red. Seems darker in person... I used high temp engine paint for the white letters
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They look good mate. Why dont you just leave them be?

 

You may want to check w/ Silvergts1998 on the board. He has quite a bit of experience w/ this and just repainted his airboxes on his 512 because he ran into the same issue.

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=185144

good luck

 

One question...........how do you paint the letters?

I am going to paint my calipers yellow and then the letters in black.

How do you do that????

I have figured it out but do not know if it works.

1 paint the letters black

2 cover the letters with grease or wax or something

3 paint the calipers

4 wipe off the grease/wax


Does it work or do you have any other suggestion?

//B//

 

Looks nice J!!

 

I did the letters with a stencil sticker I picked up on Ebay; there's also an Fchat member who was selling them too. Basically painted the whole thing red, let it cure 7 days per instructions. Then applied the stencil (tough to place accurately, takes some time and measuring), then masked off all around the stencil. First attempt I sprayed on 3 coats of high temp engine enamel, let it dry, peeled off the stencil...and half of the paint came with it. So that caliper I had to clean up and repaint red.

Second attempt with a new stencil on the other caliper...2 very light coats of white, then a 3rd heavier coat. This time I peeled off the stencil before coat #3 dried and had no problem. The edges aren't 100% factory perfect, but pretty good I think.


The only lighter shade of red I could find in engine paint was 'Chevy orange'...and I just couldn't use that for Ferrari calipers So I guess I'll stick with this color, I'm sure once it's behind the wheel and exposed to years of brake dust the darker shade won't bother me

 

One more note; I painted the whole thing red because on my original blacks the bleed nipple (including rubber cap) were coated black. Seems strange, but I'm sure that was the OEM finish since the letters were painted on perfectly. Plus who would change a red caliper to black?

 

Here is my attempt at painting the calipers using the POR-15 caliper kit... it's tedious work as the process requires 3 coats of paint... brushed on. The cleaning solution really works well as the calipers looked brand new after 3 cleaning cycles

It doesn't look bad but I think the finish is smoother on Jay's attempt (sprayed on).

DF
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Maybe the long road. But the results speak for themselves.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132079&highlight=powder+coat+rotors

 

Looks good to me..

 

+2!!

 

Wow... definitely the way to go...


Did you have to rebuild your calipers afterwards because of the heat applied to melt the powder?

DF

 

That's what I was wondering. My powder coater said I would have to remove all the seals and rebuild them, which is more work than I was looking to get into. But powder coating 'only' needs about 400F...don't brakes get that hot sometimes? Sure rotors get hotter, but I be calipers get close to 400F with conducted heat. Powder is the way to go for the best finish. If I get 5 yrs out of my paint I'll be happy, then do a full rebuild and powder.

 

I rebuilt mine. They stripped them, powder coated and then rebuilt them with new rollover seals which are better than the originals. I stenciled them and painted white on red. Total cost for all 4 $550.00.

 

......... ...............

 

Yes. I took the calipers apart and then took them down to the powder coater. I call it a labor of love. It was a pain!!! But the results speak for themselves. I am very anal about the car and just want everything perfect. As my buddy always says, I make it real nice for the next guy. The weather sucks but I have had some other things powder coated as well on the car this year. For example the rear grill, front grill, door sills, inner door handles and some other things. I will gets some pictures up soon.