Powdercoating Calipers

[Cyclops]

So I'm prepping my calipers to get sandblasted and powdercoated. The one question I have is should I remove all the Pistons and rubber seals. If I don't remove them, just wondering if the seals would withstand the baking process at 350°F?

[Steeler]

Originally Posted by Cyclops

So I'm prepping my calipers to get sandblasted and powdercoated. The one question I have is should I remove all the Pistons and rubber seals. If I don't remove them, just wondering if the seals would withstand the baking process at 350°F?

The seals my be OK with the 350f but the pulverized media turns to dust and will be everywhere once sandblasted.
I would advise to strip the calipers to bare castings.

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by dbarton62

The seals my be OK with the 350f but the pulverized media turns to dust and will be everywhere once sandblasted.
I would advise to strip the calipers to bare castings.

Well that's kind of my concern. If I take everything apart I don't want sand or dust ending up inside the cylinders.

[inTgr8r]

Can they not tape off the inside of the calipers?

(No experience with this)

[Steeler]

Well of course you seal off the bores


I meant that the dust would get into the seals and cause issues down the road

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by dbarton62

Well of course you seal off the bores


I meant that the dust would get into the seals and cause issues down the road

So why not just seal the Pistons and seal off then?

[Steeler]

You can try and make masking tape stick to rubber

[Vanne]

make sure you use heat resistant paint for the powered coat, if you don't , it will look great for about a day

[inTgr8r]

Wait.... are we talking about OE calipers or a set of BBK fixed calipers (I know you were looking)

If OE; yeah pretty hard to tape off the pistons.
Any particular reason for PC?
JMO, but with the rough surfaces of the OE castings PC really doesn't look much better than some of the off the shelf caliper paints.
& a lot less work.

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Wait.... are we talking about OE calipers or a set of BBK fixed calipers (I know you were looking)

If OE; yeah pretty hard to tape off the pistons.
Any particular reason for PC?
JMO, but with the rough surfaces of the OE castings PC really doesn't look much better than some of the off the shelf caliper paints.
& a lot less work.

BBK. For my e91 I have a 135i OE Brembo set that I actually painted using this method "How to paint brake calipers ANY color DIY". But I find that even with 5 coats of paint and 3 coats of clear still seems like it's pretty thin. I'm just worried it wont stand up to chipping.


For the coupe I picked up a front Stoptech kit wanted a more durable finish so thought to go and get them PowderCoated. There's a place in town that I visited and he has a tremendous selection on paints. But he needs them bare metal which means getting them sandblasted. I really don't want to take these a part if I don't have to.




The other option is caliper paint but as you can see I'm not going with a standard color so difficult to find. I have found a company in the UK which I just might order a can and see.

[inTgr8r]

To do the Stoptechs right, I don't think there's any choice but to split them.

Just spitballing here.....
I'm not sure if sandblasting is the best way to go, I think it would also rough up the surface.
what about stripping them?

there must be someone here that's done this that can chime in ??????

[Cyclops]

I think I'm going just try the brush Foliatec caliper paint first and if that doesn't get me the results I'm looking for I'll end up breaking them apart.

For those that might be intersted, I found out that you can get the G2 Caliper paint matched to any car paint you need. It will cost you a $100 USD +shipping. To save a couple $$$ proceed to check out but when you get to the payment don't check out, leave the browser open and within a couple hours you'll get an email saying if you buy now you'll get free shipping. Or at least I did but it's only free within the USA.

https://www.g2usa.com/product/CBCP.html

[elerner61]

We used the G2 paint on my son's IS350 and it has held up well through one winter so far. Very pleased with how it looks.

[Cyclops]

This was the end result using 3 coats of Foliatec caliper paint with a brush, wet sand, apply a caliper clear coat and finish off with a M Performance sticker.

[inTgr8r]

Those turned out great!!

[Steeler]

Looks good Adam

[Cyclops]

thanks guys, they look great in the pictures but it's no substitute for powder coating IMO. I think that the the brush caliper paint is more designed for a rough surface like the cast calipers (like OEM). Since the Stoptechs are really smooth, painting them left brush marks (lines) hence the wet sanding and clear coat afterwards. I tried several different brushes and techniques to try and minimize the visible brush marks but without success. So for anyone that will try this on a smooth caliper like Stoptech, Brembo, etc I would recommend painting 3 coats with no sanding between coat to build up the paint especially on any of on the edges. The paint will look really shinny like a powder coat finish, then wet sand smooth to get all the brush marks out. I used 400 sandpaper and then 2000 to really smooth it out. Sanding will give it a dull finish, the gloss is gone but afterwards clean the caliper up and use a caliper clear gloss paint to spray and bring the gloss back.

[dc_wright]

The G2 paint is very low viscosity, almost like water, so it flows very well and doesn't leave brush stroke marks. Because of this you should plan on at least 2 coats and more likely 3 to get full coverage. The powder coat will give you a slightly thicker coating, but both the G2 and the powder coat are epoxies so durability is similar. I did the G2 on my E36 and after almost 5 years it looked as good as the day if was done. For either coating you still have to be careful taking wheels off as you can chip the powder coat if you let a wheel drop on it just like the caliper paints.

[ZMCoupe]

Looks great!

[crawlin]

Did you put the sticker on then spray on the clear coat or brush on? The sticker would be protected a whole lot more. That's what I do when I put on stickers or vinyl and it works a whole lot better. Either way the calipers look good and i can't really see brush strokes in the pics.