More Painted Calipers

A three day weekend seemed like the perfect chance to spend some quality time with the 911. Saturday I flushed my brakes and clutch with my new Motive Power Bleeder. Turned out to be an easy job thanks to Loren over at Renntech.org. I was surprised how clean the fluid was considering it's been at least 2 and 1/2 years since it was last done. Today I painted the calipers. I used the Duplicolor caliper kit and Duplicolor clear high temp spray. I decided to go with the yellow because I like the contrast against the midnight blue. Please, no flames for copying the PCCBs! Xenonmods had sapphire blue lettering which looks good in person but didn't really come out well in the pictures. I followed the advise of others on the board who suggested the wire brush to scuff the old paint. The only thing I would add is to wait 45 minutes between coats to improve the coverage. It took me four coats to get a result I liked. All in all, it took longer than I thought but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Purists should look away now before you are offended.

Nice job!!

Saweeeeeet! Love em!

looks fab!

Looks Great! I've always wanted those wheels

Looks SWEET! I just did mine last week, I have a Cobalt Blue Metallic car & did the calipers red, but seeing as to how good the yellow looks on your midnight blue, I almost regret doing red instead of yellow. Good job man.

holy cow, beautiful!! how much was the kit? Ed

Thanks for the compliments! Watching you do yours was what motivated me to get off my *** Raphael. I've had the supplies sitting on a shelf in the garage for a couple months. Ed, I've seen the kit for $15.95 at the local Autozone but they only carried red . I think I ended up paying $24.95 to have a yellow kit shipped to me. The decals were less than $10 from xenonmods.com. The high temp clear coat was about $7 and the brushes were about the same. When it comes to Porsche mods this is probably the most bang for your buck out there. Plus, the bright colors add 50 WHP and improve braking performance.

Looks great! The yellow covered very well, how many coats?

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Actually, I was nervous after 3 coats on the first 2 wheels because the coverage was so uneven.( I did 2 at a time because of the issues with curing times.) If you don't allow sufficient time between applications the next coat just dissolves part of the last coat. This ceramic paint requires you to reapply in less than 1 hour or wait at least 5 days. After the first 3 coats looked so bad I decided to wait 45 minutes to give it a better chance to set up. From that point it only took 2 more coats on that side. The other side was much easier and I achieved great coverage with only 4 coats. As an added bonus I was able to drink ALOT more beer on side 2 with all that waiting between coats.

Nice job, great visual improvement. It contrasts well with your car, and makes the calipers really stand out.

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Thanks for the tips, I have had the paint for a few months now, just need to find the time!

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A couple more tips: If you haven't already, get a soft 1" paint brush instead of that little one from the kit. Also, you don't see it in the pictures but, I covered the entire car in a 1mil plastic dropcloth to protect against overspray from the clear coat. Actually, I used 2 10'x20' sheets as one wasn't quite enough. What color are you going with?

Take his advice about the brush! The one in the kit sucks. It's too small & stiff. I used one that I had laying around from when I had to take art classes in college. It was like a $20 brush that they made me buy so I can paint like Picasso or something like that.

Has anyone done a Picasso caliper job? LOL

I think they look great. Nice job.

Ow, my eyes. The wheels/calipers/car look incredible!!!!

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I already have the soft brush, and plan to pick up the plastic once I am ready (I also have the clear and Porsche decals). I am going with red.

Nice job. I'm probably going to re-do my red calipers on my C4S soon, but seeing it in yellow has me thinking, especially since the car is Speed Yellow.

Thanks guys. If you're on the fence about doing this let me push you over. I know it's hard to find the time to spend on such a frivolous task but for me any time spent working on the 996 is both satisfying and relaxing. It was a gorgeous Labor Day in Baltimore!

Nice choice on the Yellow, it really looks great with the Blue! I want to do mine, my clear coat is peeling in some places. What is the best prep so the the paint will be smooth? I don't want the ridges to show through the next paint job.

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The brake cleaner that comes in the kit combined with the wire brush will take any loose paint off without much effort. If you got an extra can you could probably strip them completely.

Where did you get the yelloow from. I can't find it in Denver and I want to paint my calipers this weekend. Did the high temp clear come with the kit? It sounds like you did 5 coats of the yellow. Is that correct? How long did you wait to put the Porsche stickers on after the last coat of yellow. How many coats of high temp clear did you use? Is one kit enough or should I be safe and buy two kits? Thanks.

Nice job, I've been wanting to go from stock black to yellow on my car... just not sure I could go 5 days without driving it...

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I think the yellow on Black would look excellent. I want to do this too to my black cab.

What size Porsche sticker did you put on your calipers. It looks bigger then the 3.5 x .245. Did you wait 45 minutes after your final coat of yellow, put the Porsche label on and spray the clear. How many coats of clear. They look great. I hope mine turn out as nice. Thanks.

Ken7258- Google Duplicolor and call their 800#. They'll tell you where you can buy it locally or who to order from online. I bought the clear at Advance or AutoZone, not sure which. It's pretty widely available. They could also tell you at the 800#. I had to do 5 coats on the first side because I didn't wait long enough between coats. I only did 4 coats on the second side which looks at least as good as the first. I waited the same 45 min. before I put on the decals. I was painfully cautious with this as the paint was still a little soft and I didn't want to screw up all that work. The decals adhere easily to the fresh paint so you only have to rub gently to get a transfer. If you rub too hard you will make n impression in the yellow. Ask me how I know! This happened on one caliper and seems to have resolved itself or been covered up by the clear. I did two coats of clear and you definitely only need one kit. I have more than half a can left of the yellow and almost all the clear. (Drop by and it's yours.) I don't recall which decals I ordered. My goal was to be as close to stock as possible. I'll check the receipt and get back to you. I hope this helps! Lerxst-You don't have to wait 5 days. I waited 3 hours to drive it. The 5 days was the wait between coats if you went longer than an hour.

Thanks a lot. They had the yellow at NAPA and I bought a can of the Duplicor clear. So 4 coats each side waiting 45 minutes then Porsche stickers and 2 coats clear waiting 45 minutes. I'm hoping to paint one side and then do the other side withing 45 minutes and go back and forth. I'll clean the day before. It looks like you actually took all the black paint off the calipers. The caliper cleaner must be strong. The whole process of painting, sticker then clear should take around 4-5 hours per axle. Does this sound about right.

I ordered black, burgandy and red stickers. I have a Orient Red 996 C2. I'm not sure which sticker color will look the best with the yellow caliper. They're only 8 bucks per set so let's get what looks best.

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My car is a C4. It had the "Titanium" a.k.a. silver calipers. The brake cleaner is strong but not that strong. I finished one side of the car completely and then went on to the otherside but I probably could have done them all together and saved plenty of time. My hindsight continues to be much more reliable than my foresight. Good luck and take some pictures of the final result. BTW- I checked the receipt and my decals are 3.25x.22 FWIW.

I did this with the same Duplicolor paint (in Blue). Tracked my car a couple weeks later and burned the paint. All turned black. I was running Hawk HP Plus pads... not sure what kind of temps were generated. Perhaps I'll put some temp lables on for the next event. Just another data point for those who track their cars and were thinking about this mod.

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That would be my concern too, thanks for that info... any one else had this happen of know of a better aproach so it doesn't E

Great, I will be tracking my car 5 days after painting. When I was at NAPA, they had clear that was good up 1000 degrees. Dupli color is only good to 500 degrees. I see the G2 paint from Tirerack is good up to 950 degrees. This might be safer. Does anyone know what temperature the calipers get to when tracking their car? Gaspasser19, have you ever tracked your car after painting you calipers. Thanks.

>> Does anyone know what temperature the calipers get to when tracking their car? This depends on ducting, the track, driver and pad compound, but having said all that I've measured 400-500 on our Koni Cup car (non-Porsche) in the pits. So on track under braking your likely seeing a couple hundred higher. Rotor temps are well over 1000F w/ race pads.

I use GT3 brake ducts, Pagid blue track pads and Nitto NT01 R compound tires. Our track is 2.2 miles long with one 120 - 40 braking area and a 100-30 braking. I've tracked my car for 4 years and the stock calipers black color has never changed or faded. The dupli color system sounds easier since you don't have to mix anything and be done within a certain time frame.

Apex, what car do you track? Thanks

Sorry, never tracked the car.

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Many... but my 996 that I use to instruct with is what I was talking about here. Here is a blog about the transformation from "plain" 996 to GT3-wannabe http://apex996.blogspot.com/ I'm a little behind in updating the posts.. a lot has been done lately.

After seeing the pics and reading about everyone else painting their calipers, I decided to do it myself this weekend. I also performed an amberectomy on the front headlights. Clear side markers are ordered, so hope to finish those up this week some time. Thanks to everyone for their help.

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headlights look great!! I am planning that 1 next, any pointers?

It really isn't that difficult. It takes longer than 10 minutes like you read online, but maybe that's because I was taking my time. Definitely wrap the hole with aluminum foil to help save it from damage. Don't be afraid to use a little force when trying to remove the plastic. I was pulling and twisting it pretty hard and had no issue. If you have any issues or specific questions, just let me know.

Has anyone used the painted stencils instead of using the decals? How do the decals hold up over time?

I don't recall anyone reporting any trouble with the decals. The decals were not a problem for 2+ years on my car. I sprayed a clear coat on the calipers to protect the decals. I turned the car back in at the end of those two years, so I can't speak for beyond that.

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There's a member over on 6speed named Boxstergirlie01 who had her calipers powdercoated in "Pornstar Pink". I think her text is stenciled.

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..... or tatooed!