Caliper painting

[frankprozzoly]

What to use and how would you clean the calipers before painting

[281]

Are you completely removing the calipers or leaving them attached to brake lines? Just be careful if leaving attached, I used a couple cans of brake cleaner and wire brushes. I'd remove the pads from the calipers too...

[FUNX650]

You mean you haven't decided yet?

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/82087-painting-calipers.html

Bob

[swanicyouth]

IMHO paint at home calipers just look horrible. They look like, well...you painted them at home. If you want to paint your calipers, they're probably not a Brembos or similar - so they just look like regular calipers someone painted.

[FUNX650]

mike@thepowdercoater.com

Bob

[frankprozzoly]

I left them on. I don't have the time or knowledge of taking them off. I just did one side for now. I just put 2 coats on. It's a Honda not a Ferrari. It looks decent enough. I think black will look better than it did. When I get time I'll have someone take them off and power coat them

[frankprozzoly]

Powder

[Eric]

Powdercoating is by far the better option. That said, a well prepped and painted surface can look very nice.

[swanicyouth]

The question I've always had is: can you powder coat a caliper without removing the piston from it's bore - or without removing the outer rubber dust boot from the piston? Since removing the piston means basically rebuilding the caliper, that would be a lot more work and require a compressor. But, if you can just unbolt and tape up your calipers (piston/boot), pinch off your brake lines, and bring the calipers to the powder coater - that is not too bad.

I'm not intimately familiar with the powder coating prep process, so I don't know if the prep involves submerging the caliper in something that could ruin the rubber boot? Or, can you just seal up the brake line connection point and tape up the boot/piston?

[Eric]

The question I've always had is: can you powder coat a caliper without removing the piston from it's bore - or without removing the outer rubber dust boot from the piston? Since removing the piston means basically rebuilding the caliper, that would be a lot more work and require a compressor. But, if you can just unbolt and tape up your calipers (piston/boot), pinch off your brake lines, and bring the calipers to the powder coater - that is not too bad.

I'm not intimately familiar with the powder coating prep process, so I don't know if the prep involves submerging the caliper in something that could ruin the rubber boot? Or, can you just seal up the brake line connection point and tape up the boot/piston?

Standard prep is to sandblast the part.