Replacing and painting brake calipers.

A

Astouffer512

Member
I`m interested in the idea of buying new brake calipers for my fusion and having them painted somewhere. Then I plan in coating them before changing them.

Do you buy calipers individually or are they a set of 4? And what is a core charge for calipers?

Would powder coat be a acceptable to be coated overtop of?


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You can get them individually. Don`t know what a core charge would be on them.

I would send the new ones out to be either powdered or painted. Most are powder coated.

Yes, you can coat over the powder coating.

Keep us posted!!!
 
Yep, powder coat them. In fact around here. Powder coaters are hurting for business, and are offer good discounts right now.


if you`re ok without that car for a few days. Save the money and just take your old ones in. They will clean them up like new, and powder coat them. They`ll end up sandblasting the new ones anyway. Just yo get them prepared for coating.
 
Besides powdercoating, there`s a different approach used by Goldline Brakes. I`ve had, uhm..mixed results, but I did send them *OLD and NASTY* calipers (like you wouldn`t believe). If only FYI, I`d check them out.

You`ll like starting over with new and properly finished ones, I do that on a lot of new-to-me vehicles when it`s time for brake work.
 
If you are looking to DIY then clean them up and use the G2 caliper paint. Then you can coat them.

The G2 paint lasts quite awhile.
 
The Guz said:
If you are looking to DIY then clean them up and use the G2 caliper paint. Then you can coat them.

The G2 paint lasts quite awhile.
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I thought about that, but I`d want to do it right and I dont have the tools or knowledge (at least I think I don`t have the knowledge) to remove the calipers and re bleed the lines during install.

I planned on buying new and having them painted. Then I would coat them and take them to my garage to get put on

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Astouffer512 said:
I thought about that, but I`d want to do it right and I dont have the tools or knowledge (at least I think I don`t have the knowledge) to remove the calipers and re bleed the lines during install.

I planned on buying new and having them painted. Then I would coat them and take them to my garage to get put on

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Brake cleaner and a brush and your set to clean them. They can be painted on the car with the G2 kit with good results. I’ve done it many times. The kit comes with everything. It’s not that hard.

Will save you money that you can invest in something else.
 
If replacing them anyhow, having them done makes a lot of sense IMO, but yeah..if they`re not *truly awful*, and/or you`re not aiming for show quality, DIYing it can turn out better than one might expect...well, depending on the design of the calipers (some are a lot easier/harder than others). And yes indeed, the G2 caliper paint works well (works well on drums too).
 
I`ll add a vote for just painting what you`ve got. With proper prep, I did VHT caliper paint on my E36 M3 and it held up even after track days. Just make sure to tape off the surroundings so you don`t end up painting your struts/wells/etc. :D

You`ve gotta be careful with aftermarket calipers IMO, as they frequently come with downgraded quality components (bleed screws, gummy soft rubber, cheap steel caliper slides vs... whatever the stock non-magnetic ones are).

Tech tip: If you pull your calipers off to swap/paint/coat them, apply a brake pedal depressor before you open the system. This blocks off the feed ports in the master cylinder so your brake system doesn`t gravity bleed all the fluid out allowing air into uncomfortable places. I can think of at least 3 X5`s that came to us from other shops that replaced brake lines where they couldn`t get all the air out when they were done. 1 small step up front pays off big on back end.
 
The Guz said:
Brake cleaner and a brush and your set to clean them. They can be painted on the car with the G2 kit with good results. I’ve done it many times. The kit comes with everything. It’s not that hard.

Will save you money that you can invest in something else.
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Thanks I`m looking into this. I think my hold up with doing them myself is that i never have time with 2 young boys to do a complete project like this in a days time. Once you mix the paint and the activator how long do you have to use the paint? Meaning could I mix theaint and do 2 calipers over a weekend and the next weekend do the second 2?

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What about buying the new ones and mixing enough to do what you can in a limited timeframe? I would *NOT* expect a two-part paint to stay OK once you mix it.

I *ABSOLUTELY* would brush this one instead of spraying if doing them on the car. I *NEVER* use any kind of spraypaint/paintgun in my shop. IIRC, it was Mike Phillips who said how so many Car Guys have overspray issues because "taking all the right precautions" is seldom good enough. Even to spray it into a cup/etc. to brush it on...I go into the shop`s bathroom, close the door, and turn on the exhaust fan.

But I *REALLY* relate to people who have other priorities, and your sons certainly qualify! If you can swing the cost, I`d just buy new ones and, if they`re not already properly finished, send them to a Pro. Easy for me to spend your $, but man would I like to see you not spend your *time* if that`s possible.
 
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