Brembo Brake Caliper Refinishing

I buried my work on refinishing my calipers under another thread on bleeding brakes on cars equipped with PSM, and thought it might be of benefit to the community for me to file another thread devoted exclusively to the refinishing/rebuilding of my Brembo calipers. A previous owner had undertaken the refinish of the originally black Brembos to red. He did it with a spray can and some decals....while still on the car! I guess that I can understand you doing this on your VW Passat, but your 996?? Needless to say, the job was poorly done, with overspray everywhere, and the paint chipping-off. I ordered rebuild parts from Mike at Ohio Performance Solutions ( www.ohioperformancesolutions.com ), decals from Acromann in France ( www.acromann.com ) and paint supplies from Eastwood ( www.eastwood.com ). I will be replacing the flexible brake lines with steel braided lines sourced from Pelican Parts, but as they arrived a bit later, I choked-off the brake lines with a set of fluid line clamps from Harbor Freight (photo). If you intend to keep the rubber lines, using these clamps keeps the mess and the subsequent bleeding to a minimum. 1) Removing the calipers is a straightforward process. You might need to get a large flat blade behind the brake pad and help push it out of the caliper, but otherwise, it's an easy task. 2) I drained the brake fluid out of the calipers via the 2 bleeder ports, and then filled the bleeder openings and fluid supply port with grease fittings sourced at the local Ace Hardware at $1.19each. They are M10 X 1.0. They'll keep whatever residual fluid there is inside the caliper, and will keep paint from clogging the threads in these openings. 3) I used Eastwood's 'Down to the Metal' paint stripper and this stuff is amazing. It removed not only the bad red paint, but the powdercoating underneath. Or, at least, 95% of the powder coat. I then finished the clean-up with a wire brush in my drill to get the last bits that the stripper missed. If you know how steadfast powder coating can be, that this stripper performs this well is amazing. 4) neutralize the stripper with warm water. Once dry, I used Eastwood's 'Pre Cleaner' to get any oils or residual bits off the caliper to prepare it for priming. 5) I used Eastwoods' 2k Grey Engine Primer (good for 650 degrees) to prime the calipers with 2 solid coats. 6) Once dry, I sanded the primer with 1,000 grit wet/dry paper to produce a smother surface before the color coat. A final wipe of 'Pre' preceded the color coats. 7) NOTE: I left the pistons and dust seals in place to keep from having to mask these openings. Once the paint is finished and has cured, I'll removed them and rebuild the calipers. 8) I used Eastwoods 2K Gloss Red color coat with 3 coats of paint. These cans have a catalyst inside that once ruptured, creates a 2-part paint that hardens. It is urethane. 9) Once the color coat was dry, I applied the high-temp vinyl PORSCHE decals 10) I followed-up with 2 coats of Eastwoods 2K Clear Gloss that produces a wet-look finish to the calipers. I'll need to pop the pistons tomorrow and rebuild the calipers. I'll post photos when I'm done. the old red finish applied by a PO on the car! Here's what a Brembo looks like with the finish stripped. Caliper primed After 3 coats of 2k Gloss Red Now with decals and 2 clear coats applied I bead blasted the retaining clips and refinished with Eastwood's 'Silver Cad' paint If you are staying with the rubber flex lines, you can source these excellent line clamps at Harbor Freight Eastwood's excellent Stripper for powder coatings Here's a finished caliper ready for rebuild and then reinstallation

Wow, those look fantastic!

Excellent job!

Thanks! Almost done!

Looking good! I'm currently doing mine on my 99' cab with the caliper removed from the mounts, but with the brake line still attached. It needed pads anyway, so I figured it's a good time to cosmetically freshen up the decades old black calipers. I masked everything around to avoid any overspray removal afterward. And I don't know if it makes a functional difference, but I opted to mask off the pistons and boots prior to painting. Oh, and I'm using "Brembo" decals instead of "Porsche." As usual, cleaning, sanding and associated prep took most of the time. Also, for anyone that's interested, according to the guy at the auto parts store that has tried both, the VHT high temp caliper paint doesnt seem as deep red as their high temp red engine paint. I haven't seen them side-by-side, but I'm going with the engine paint and high-temp clear.

I have disassembled and reassembled the 2 front calipers using Ohio Performance's rebuild kit, which is spot-on. Once the pistons were removed, I cleaned them up and removed the paint overspray before lubricating the piston and the seals with the assembly lube Mike provides. Do not use brake fluid! Some notes: - have a few pieces of wood on hand to arrest the pistons as they pop-out of their bores when you apply air pressure through the inlet port. The idea is to get all 4 pistons fully extended while still engaged with the internal seal so the air doesn't escape. I ended up using a 1" X 2", plus a couple of pieces of 1/4" plywood to progressively extend the pistons. BTW, you'll only need about 35 lbs of air pressue. - Use a 90 degree pick to get behind the old seal and pop it out. Having 2 fingers in the bore to hold the new seal in place as you work it into the recess is key. -Mike at Ohio Performance gave me a tip on the seals. Use hairspray sprayed onto a Q-tip and wipe the outer surface of the seal with it. It will lubricate the seal and ease installation into its recess.

Awesome job!

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Quotes source post: 15464669

Thanks! They came out as well as I could expect. Vast difference from before.

I really need to do mine. I don't know which color to go with on Orient Red Metallic 996 I was considering bright orange at one time. But I think Porsche yellow might look good. Suggestions?

You did absolutely a fantastic job...how many hours of labor was it for you?

Quotes source post: 15466830

If you are going my route with the Eastwood 2K paints, the color selection is limited to the gloss red I used, or black, grey and blue. The red calipers are sort of period correct for our cars, which is why I went that route. If you have someone powder coat them (likely $80 per caliper), the choices are unlimited. In that case, I'd vote for gold or silver for your car. For the record, I spent $135 for materials including the decals. Bob

Quotes source post: 15467807

Thanks! Good question. A good amount of time was spent on removing the calipers and then replacing them, along with the bleeding process. The actual painting of the calipers was not too bad as the paint stripper is so good that it took the impossible task of removing powder coast and brought it to its knees. I spread the job over a number of days, allowing the paint to harden after each primer, color and gloss coat to ensure the best finish. Not having a paint booth, I sprayed outside and was lucky to have great days to do it. I used fine safety wire to suspend the calipers from the cross-over tube as they hung down from a piece of tubing I suspended. Immediately after spraying, I brought the pieces back into the warmer garage so they would cure without any excess humidity. If you use the 2K paint, make sure you use a respirator. So, I probably spent about 10 hours all told on the prep and finishing of the calipers by the time I was done. Final note, everyone on the PSM bleeding thread that I posted was absolutely right. You can bleed the brakes in a normal fashion without any need for a Porsche diagnostic tool. Bob

Completely jealous, thanks for posting the details. Best part about RL technical forums!

Two more shots. First is the right front caliper installed, and the second is the braided stainless line from Pelican Parts that fit exactly as OEM.

Quotes source post: 15467954

Thanks for details....really nice job....wish there was a company that specializes in doing this in the US. I would definitely pay for the service.

That�s how you save yourself hundreds of dollars while learning a valuable skill! Fantastic job!

My bad for resurrecting this.. I realize it�s 7 years old but how has the Eastwood product held up?

Quotes source post: 19928787

It held up extremely well for the 3 years I owned the car. I sold it to someone in Virginia Beach and I believe Jeff still has the car (it was a good one!). I did not do track events with the car so I have no idea how their paint would hold up under very high temps, but for street driving, the products is great. The 'too bad' part here is that they no longer sell the 'Down to the Metal' stripper. Per Eastwood, there was some environmental issue and they pulled it.

I replaced the 996 with this 997....