Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot
Nothing to it, everything wipes off pretty easily. A big part is how smooth the surface is to begin with. I know someone here put a bunch of time into smoothing his calipers before getting them powder coated and they came out awesome.
Edit: Found it. Clicky. |
That would be me. I went a step beyond the normal to get a really smooth and glossy finish, that's why I used a flapper wheel on a hand grinder to remove most of the rough sand cast marks. This was a LOT of work, so be sure you understand everything that is involved in powder coating before going down that route:
- First and foremost, calipers need to be
completely disassembled before getting coated. You'll need compressed air to get the pistons out. The first set I took apart took me an hour. The second set (Sicksubie's - a work in process) had a piston stick, which ate up another hour to avoid damaging the piston. Set aside a couple of hours if you've never done this before.
- Almost of the SVX brake components are stainless and clean up nicely. Have some scotch brite and old toothbrushes handy as this will speed up the cleaning without scratching the surfaces.
- Disassembling old calipers will almost certainly destroy the boots and since rubber components age badly anyway, so you might as well rebuild them - you can still get factory Subaru rebuild kits for around $50 for both front and rear sets.
- The powder coating process heats the metal to 450F, so leaving the calipers assembled is pointless anyway as you'll burn off anything rubber. Unless you do these at home, no powder coater will take assembled parts.
- The fact that the powder flows and is cured at 450F makes this finish SUPERIOR to any painting option. The finish is impervious to just about any chemical. I once did some WRX calipers with the 2-part epoxy caliper paint kits and the finish looked pretty good, but everytime I washed the wheels and the calipers, the water that dripped off them was tinted red, an indication that the coating was coming off, albeit just a bit at a time.
- For the powder coating to be consistent, powder coaters will insist on a spotlessly clean surface. With aged cast iron calipers, that means sandblasted to a bare metal finish. Most powder coaters offer that service or have someone local to do it. My coater charged $20 additional.
- Powder coating gets EVERYWHERE, so the coater will mask surfaces you don't want coated. The more he masks, the more time it takes and the more it will cost you. It's wise to have them mask the piston bores, but don't bother with the thread bores. All you'll have to do is run a tap through every tapped hole. So to do this yourself, you'll need a selection of metric taps. My coater charged me $60 bucks for all four calipers and brackets coated with another $20 for the sandblasting.
- Powder coating is thick and will flow to fill small surface irregularites, but the smoother the surface is to start, the smoother and shinier it will look when it's all said and done. Expect to spend about 20 - 30 minutes each caliper and 15 - 20 minutes each caliper bracket. Altogether, you'll have at least a couple of hours in the smoothing process.
- Plan on tossing the bleed screws as they will likely look like hell. New ones are available at NAPA for around $2 each.
In summation:
- Caliper disassembly and cleaning - 2 - 3 hours
- Powder coating cost $60 (my source.) One place in Knoxville wanted $55 EACH.
- Sandblasting (if you can't get them blasted yourself) - $20
- Freight - These are heavy, so if you ship them, expect around $20 each way. (I delivered and picked them up, so no freight charge for me)
- Caliper rebuild kits - $50
- Prep time after coating to chase all threaded holes 0.5 - 1 hour
- Rebuild time - 1 - 2 hours (less if you've done a few sets)
- Bleed screws $8
Out of pocket, you can expect to spend anywhere from $140 - $250. It really depends on how much the coater charges. I use a great guy who does a lot of machine parts for our company, so I get a break on cost.
Time - it really depends, but you can easily expect half a day's work to take everything apart and clean and another half day to put it all back together once the parts come back from the coaters.
It may sound like a lot of work and it is, but the results speak for themselves. The powder coating looks as good after three years as it did the day they went on. The calipers clean up with some simple green and the spray from a garden hose - brake dust just falls off the smooth surface as the pores of the stock rough sandcast marks are completely sealed.
I'm finishing up a set of black ones for Sicksubie and will stop there for a while. I will take his old ones as a core and will therby have have another set to coat in the future. I highly recommend the time and trouble to have them coated as they will look great and stay clean for the life of the car. If we could get a bunch of old calipers, I bet I could arrange for a great group rate on the coatings. Maybe it's time for us to hoard some junkyard calipers for just that purpose.