Brake Caliper painting

[richardm]

Does anyone have recommendations for brake caliper painting (in-situ)? My car is a 986 gen2 with the original grey colour.
Are there firms you can go to that will just take off the wheels and paint the calipers (I don't want to have to strip it all down)
Rough idea of cost would be good. I'm over in East Yorkshire R4/R7
Many thanks for any advice....

 

[3286ib]

If your callipers are grey is your 986 a 2004 550 Anniversary?
Grey callipers distinguish this model over those with Red or Black versions,

 

[Cozza_987]

Hi,
I highly recommend you remove the calipers for painting - you will get a MUCH better finish.
Check out BCS www.bcs-automotive.co.uk.
They offer a one-day service where the calipers are removed, stripped, serviced, painted and refitted. I opted to do the work myself and send the calipers to them for painting. Great service and really nice finish.
Cheers,
Coz

 

[richardm]

many thanks Coz, have asked for a quote online.
Examples of their work look excellent ??

 

[Cozza_987]

Thought it was worth you having an "independent" before-and-after...

My calipers were in a poor cosmetic state but still in good mechanical order. I did have two seized nipples (!) which BCS extracted; one even required a helicoil which they quoted to me before work. This took a bit longer than I would have liked as they had to send it out to a machine shop. That aside, the final result is top notch! They have even sent a touch up kit FOC.

Since they were off I serviced them myself with new piston seals and boots, new hose-to-caliper pipes and of course a complete fluid replacement. Here they are in the original condition:

And the final result:

I ceramic coated them before refitting so keeping them clean and shiny is a breeze.

Hope this helps further.

Cheers,
Coz

 

[richardm]

Great pics, wow that's very impressive! That was a good idea to coat them too.
I presume they spray the logo on at the end of the process,
rather than just a decal that could peel off...

 

[Cozza_987]

I opted for the decals, but you can pay extra to have stencilled lettering before the lacquer is applied.
I'm sure you've seen the custom colours available - I was initially tempted by the metallic red, but decided to stay safe with Porsche Red.

 

[Mike1960]

I took them off and did DIY with decals. Replaced all the bleed nipples since I used the old ones to block the threads from any paint getting in.
Hi temp paint and a coat of lacquer.

Left the car on jack stands overnight and did a fluid change when I put them back on.
A fairly big job and best to take as long as it takes to get them done. Cleaned them until spotless before starting. I would also suggest getting some plugs for the brake lines and plug them ASAP after you remove a caliper to save the fluid leaking everywhere.
They have been on for about a year and have stood the test of time and countless pressure washings.


I will redo them when I need to change the discs and pads, but next time with some slightly smaller decals.

 

[Cozza_987]

A fairly big job and best to take as long as it takes to get them done.

Sound advice, not a job to do when you need the car a day or so later. As in my case, a busted bleed nipple can easily ruin your day!

Nice job Mike!

 

[Mike1960]

Sound advice, not a job to do when you need the car a day or so later. As in my case, a busted bleed nipple can easily ruin your day!
Nice job Mike!

Thanks Cozza,

To answer your original question Richard. If I was going to do them while still attached, I am not sure I would trust someone who was prepared to do it. You wont get them coated evenly. Their are plenty of videos showing people spraying them in situ and they seem to do a fairly reasonable job, but I felt that while I was going to all the effort of masking the car off, I may as well remove them. I was going to bleed the brakes anyway and the bleed nipples looked a bit tired and I wanted to get shiny stainless ones.
If I was going to do them while still attached to the car, I would probably go with a paint brush. The decals are easy to get from ebay, go for a smaller size rather than the giants I picked. They fit OK on the front callipers, but the rears are slightly smaller. If I was going to bleed the brakes as well I would buy new bleed nipples, have them in my hand before I started, loosen and retighten the originals and just paint over them before replacing.
The finish won't be quite as good, but if you take your time and get it as smooth as you can, use loads of brake cleaner to get them reasonably clean before you start. Once you put the wheel back on you would need to get really close to know they have been hand painted.
If in the short term you just want to tidy up the look, it would be a quick fix and if the callipers ever need to be removed or repaired then it would be easy enough to send them off for a proper job or do them with a spray can and fresh decals.

Regards
Mike

 

[GregorF]

Hi,
I highly recommend you remove the calipers for painting - you will get a MUCH better finish.
Check out BCS www.bcs-automotive.co.uk.
They offer a one-day service where the calipers are removed, stripped, serviced, painted and refitted. I opted to do the work myself and send the calipers to them for painting. Great service and really nice finish.
Cheers,
Coz

I’ve used BCS a couple of times and they do good work but you have to be a little careful. Firstly, make sure to remove your bleed nipples before packaging up and sending off. If you don‘t I guarantee they will attempt to charge you extra stating that they needed to burn additional labour hours freeing them up. Secondly, you should expect to have to spring for new pistons as they will fail your existing items if they detect even the smallest level of pitting / scoring.