996Outpost.com

I posted in another thread about getting new wheels, which is nice. However, that calls into the spotlight my "guards pink" break calibers.
Here's a pic of the car with the new wheels:

Here are pics of just the front and rear wheels, which better shows the offending pink:


So, like any good 996 owner, I start researching the process for a DIY caliber repaint. Sure, I can pull them and send them off for refinishing, but it appears the going rate is about $150 per caliber ($600 total, plus shipping). I find heat resistant caliber decals on ebay for $10. I find high temp caliber paint for about $10, and a high temp gloss coating for about the same $10. I'm in business -right?

That's where things begin to go awry. Looking at DIY threads, I quickly realize this job is filled with WYAITs. You know, the old "slippery slope" that turns the typical cheap & quick project into a 6-month long and thousands of dollars odyssey. You see, if you wanna do it right, you need to:
1. Pull the calibers off the car; which leads to
2. Bleeding the brake fluid; which leads to
3. Buying an expensive jug of Pentosin, and
4. Buying a pressure bleeder.
I'm OK with that, because I don't remember the last time I bled the brakes, and I may actually have a pressure bleeder stashed away somewhere in the garage from a few years ago. but there's more:
5. To properly prepare the surface for painting, you should use a parts cleaner; and
6. A blast medium;
Then, there's the question of new hardware for and rebuilding the calibers:
7. Bleeder screws with covers are about $21 each (OEM Porsche are actually the cheapest I found, interestingly) and there are 8 of them;
8. Springs & pin hardware;
9. New piston seals and dust cover seals; and
10. Of course, if you are going to all of this trouble, you'll probably want to do new brake pads.
And if you are going to do new brake pads, then
11. Maybe you wanna put on some new rotors; or
12. At least paint the top hats on the rotors.

However, I see that some people have (GASP!) actually just sprayed their calibers while attached to the car. Mask everything off and spray away. You can knock it out in a day rather than having your car out of commission for several weeks. Me being the cheap and lazy type, this appeals to me. After all, I'm not looking for break caliber nirvana - I just want to get rid of the pink. Has anyone done this? If so, would you do it again? Will it end up looking like this?

The other possibility is the "medium" approach - pull the calibers off the hubs, clean them up well and paint them on your workbench. Bleed the brakes in the process (I'm due for that anyway).

Lastly, I could just pull the calibers and ship them off for professional repainting, which will be about $700 with shipping. This doesn't include a rebuild of the caliber, though.

So, what say you? Which way to go? Any tips or thoughts to pass along?

Don't half ass it. Suck up the full rebuild, remove them, and do it right.

I have never see an "on the car" job look good, even from 20 feet. You either end up with glaring unpainted spot because you protected everything else or you have over spray mess.

Similarly I have seen people get burned with the "middle" approach (off the car, but not stripping the caliper down) and they end up with paint in the wrong places. In the worst example they got paint on a piston and it caused that piston to not move correctly (of course found after reinstalling everything and noticing a different pedal feel and finding uneven pad wear).

As far as heat resistant paint out of a rattle can, I'd prefer getting them powder coated as that will stand up better to the debris that gets chucked up into the wheels.

Does the boy need beer money? Could be a fun father/son project for over the summer. $20 for supplies and dad's choice of cash for incentives.

I'm with gnat, I'd at the very least take them off to paint and re-decal, even if you're not going to do the rebuild and flush.

YUCK! That bottom pic is AWFUL. I expect that quality of work from a backwoods DIY hillbilly mechanic. You have a nice car, don't half-arse it. You would actually be decreasing the value of it by doing that. Even if you don't have the time or inclination to do it yourself, I am sure you know someone who could do it on the side for considerably less, being that you run the museum. Or barter. Lots of ways to lower the price on exotics.

I know “caliber” was intentional, you stinkin’ troll.

5chn3ll wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:18 am I know “caliber” was intentional, you stinkin’ troll.

This photo makes me queasy...looks like something Garage 54 would do.

3 stage paint correction and then wrap them

all DIY

What did you end up doing?

Judging by his pre-meetup pic the other night I'm going with the über-economical option of: nuttin'