ron.eddy

Well, what started as "simply" a caliper repaint turned into a full blown bearing replacing, ball joint rebuilding, caster block replacing, new wheel buying, shopping/working spree. However, I thought I would share some pictures of the project that actually got me started, a month ago, when my car's tires were last on the ground.

My procedure was pretty simple:

1. Quick Stripper bought at Autozone (two applications - DONT GET ON YOUR SKIN!!)
2. Pressure washer
3. Wire wheel and sandpaper to get last bits off and scuff the surface
4. Air gun to get dust off then two cans of VHT caliper cleaner to get all contaminants off metal
5. 5 coats gloss black VHT caliper paint
6. 2 coats gloss clear VHT caliper paint
7. Oven baked at 200 degrees for 1 hour
8. Used dremel with sanding bit to sand Porsche logo back to metal
9. Mount them up
10. Beer

A couple things I will do differently if I do it ever again:

• Plug the brake line hole with something more than paper towel. The first two calipers leaked out the hole while I heated them and wrecked the paint on the back, so I re-did them (ugg), I hung the other two upside down so the leaking wouldn't get on the caliper
• Painted the rotor hats slightly overlapping the rotor braking surface, it burns off anyway and would have looked better
• Spent more time sanding the metal parts I didnt paint before painting (i.e. bolt heads, bracket, hard lines). I realized after painting I can't really make them perfect now without scratching the paint, oh well they will be covered in brake dust sooner than later!
• Sent them in for powder coating, this was way too much work to be worth it!!! Rewarding though

Last but not least here are the pics. Unfortunately the last one is a bit blurry but you can see in the second to last how well they turned out. I'm very pleased, but then I bet including everything I spent at least 20 solid hours working on these so they better look alright!

944CS

Looks good - thumbs up on the clear as well, it's easier to keep clean with the clear coat

ernie9468

Nice job looking good.

TexasRider

Nice.

When mine come off for seals etc I am going to do them too. My bearings are super solid right now so again I hate to mess with them. But sometime I have it down to put bearings on all 4 wheels and to put seals and scraper rings in all the calipers. Hopefully my pistons and bores are good.

How did you handle the PORSCHE lettering? It looks good too. I see it says Dremel - but about what grit? Flat or round?

Anybody used this brake caliper paint kit by G2 and sold by Paragon?

http://www.paragon-products.com/Prod...2Dkit&CartID=7

Thanks.

ron.eddy

I used a bit that was like a little cylinder covered in about 80-120 grit sandpaper (not sure what it was), then I sanded by hand with 320 grit but it would have looked fine even without the hand sanding. Oh, and be sure to put 2 or 3 layers of tape around the lettering so you don't scuff the paint off those raised lines.

I can't speak from experience directly but I will say the reason I didn't get that was because I had read two many experiences where it was difficult to apply (maybe 1 out of every 3 I read or so). May have been operator error but I never saw a single post about the VHT spray messing up and I just didn't want to risk doing it wrong and having to redo it all over again! I am relying on my meticulous prep work and 200 degree baking to result in reliability, only time will tell though!

sydneyman

did you clear the PORSCHE lettering after sanding it? i feel that would look a little rusty after a while if it wasn't protected...

looks great, nice job! I was actually at a parts store today looking at paint but decided against it... maybe this winter...

ron.eddy

Hmm, no I didn't... Why didn't I?!?! The calipers themselves are aluminum I believe (or something non-magnetic anyway) so I wasn't really worried about the logo, but the bolts and bleeders are steel. Fortunately I haven't actually hooked the brake lines up yet, so I am thinking I will take em down again and put clear on all 4 of them. It's a good idea regardless if it is aluminum, add that to my list I guess! Just when I think its done... haha.

mj951

good work...

sydneyman

well if it makes you feel better, i now have a little dimple in my hood after closing it on a wrench on top of the engine... rookie mistake...

ron.eddy

Haha, ouch! Well after mulling it over I decided I won't be putting more clear on at least in spray form... Just afraid it won't stick well to the existing paint and I am too lazy/beaten down to wanna mask the whole thing again (I hate masking!). I am thinking maybe I could find some high temp clear brush-on paint somewhere and could apply it only to the bare metal parts. I will update the original thread if I go that route, otherwise I can just touch up the sanding every couple years.

sydneyman

sounds like a good plan. im sure you'd actually get by with just sanding every once in a while. actually kind of fun with how easy it is to dremel raised surfaces!

CyCloNe!

looks like you messed them up.. ill just take them off your hands and give you my old original dirty ones exellent work btw

TexasRider

Thanks. I had NOT researched it as I was just on Paragon theother day and added the paint to my cart to save and to possibly have around later. I think I will be using the VHT as well.

It seemed as though I saw somewhere there was a shop doing these and the seals. I cant remember where - seemed like it was $600 or so for all four rebuilt and refinsihed. Beings I am a terrible painter I might should be looking harder.

But thanks for the input and the inspiration. Nice job again.

Tedro951

FWIW, I had good results with the G2 kit. We'll see on durability...

For the lettering, some 320 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of square tubing knocked the paint off quickly.

86 951 Driver

I would like to do this eventually. Did you remove the caliper completely?