Has anyone powercoated a set of brake calipers. I'd like to do mine but I don't want to tear them apart if not needed. Since they bake in the oven with powder coating are there any parts than can be damaged ?. Any advice on this would be helpful. thanks for reading.

 

They should be fine, Ricks actually use to sell powdercoated brake calipers, so if a company would sell them like that, it must be fine. You will just have to remove anything that you dont want coated.

 

Thanks for the reply, I think I will look into this now if it's safe to do. Much appreciated

 

I have heard that the paint on powdercoated calipers have a tendency to chip. While I'm sure it looks great for a while, I would probably go with caliper paint instead.

 

Thats why people that powdercoat get the parts sandblasted before coating. I powdercoated a few valve covers before, and getting it sand blasted makes it much more durable, and if its more of a metallic color it will come out more even. If you use a metallic and the metal isnt the same, it will be a different shade just like paint.

 

Thanks for the additional replies on this. The reason I'm considering powdercoating is because the paint on my calipers seems to chip way to easy. I used Duplicolour silver paint on the calipers and I put high heat clear coat on them too, it seems if I just barely touch the calipers with a metal object it leaves a chip in the paint and I have to touch it up.

The guy who does my powdercoating bead blasts the metal, I don't know if that is as good as sandblasting or not ?. He's done wheels and a valvecover for me, everything I've done is metallic silver with flake. He also de-gasses the metal prior to powdering them, not sure how that works but that's what he says.

 

Bead blasting is the same thing as sand blasting, all it does it get off all of the material that is on your part. So one isnt really any better than the other imo.

I actually painted my calipers with some Suzuka paint I got compressed in a can from Automotivetouchup.com, and it actually lasted a while. About a month or so ago they started chipping pretty good though (They were painted for like 8 months), so I think I might try something different with mine also. No matter what, paint will get chipped or cracked if its near the wheels. Rocks hit them at very high speeds and will do damage. Since powdercoating is stronger it should last for a long long time. Just dont be like that corvette guy a while back that got his slotted rotors powdercoated . I heard about de-gassing prior to powdercoating, but I havent really looked into it that much. I'll put that on my list to research. If he is doing it, it must be a good thing. It probably makes the powder stick better to the product to get a more durable and smooth surface.

 

You might want to consider a facility that does thermal coating on those brake parts.

 

You will have to break down the caliper and do a rebuild if you are getting them PC'd. If your coater sand blasts first then you don't want that stuff getting into your brake lines. You also don't want to melt the rubber pieces within the caliper. IMO grinding, sanding smooth, then painting with a paint like G2 will be alot easier on the wallet and you'll get less headaches of braking down the caliper components.

 

thanks for the replies on this, great info. Yeah if I have to break down the calipers then I won't get them pc'd. I wondered if the seals could withstand the baking process, I could seal off the parts from the bead blasting media but I don't want to take the calipers apart internally.