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I know some people laugh about people who paint their calipers (yeah, it sounds kinda foo-foo), but for those that are interested, I thought I would post my experiences using the G2 caliper paint.

I had used VHT spray paint on my WRX with OK results, but for the 951 brakes I am re-building for my S, I wanted something nicer and more durable. I was settled on powder coating and was intending to get a home powder kit and give it a whirl. My only reservations about powder were that it is not great if you are going to drive hard (i.e. track) as it will soften and the brake dust will stick permanently. Not a big deal for me, as I'm not planning on tracking the car. The other niggling issue was that I've seen some calipers done at home, and then don't all look like they're holding up as well as one might expect. This might be due to poor prep, or substandard powders.

Anyway, after reading up more on the G2 epoxy caliper paint, I thought I would give it a try (much cheaper than powder, but more expensive than spray...

For point of reference, here is how my WRX brakes look with the VHT spray paint (I completely disassembled the calipers before painting BTW):

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This is the G2 kit. It comes in a big box but the really important stuff is the paint can and the bottle of hardener. I wish they would sell these seperately as that is all I really need. The large can is brake cleaner, which is more useful if you choose to paint the calipers on the car, in which case cleaning thoroughly is harder. FYI, the can of paint comes a little less than half full (which is the right amount, enough for most applications), more on that later...

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I'm completely re-building the calipers (new seals, spring plates etc.) so I stripped them right down. The person I had bought these from had did a pretty rough spray paint job on them, so I stripped all the paint off. After thorought washing with dish detergent, these are the calipers ready for painting.

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Although G2 does not specify a primer, I sprayed a thin coat of etching primer.

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Now it's time to paint. The paint and hardener, once mixed, have a useful working time of 4 to 6 hours, less in hotter environments. I decided to split the materials and mix only half the paint and half the hardener. I had bought one kit, and was hoping I may be able to do all four calipers. However, as I was painting all the surfaces on the calipers (rather than just the outside) I was unsure if I could stretch one kit the whole way. I decided to only start two calipers and if I ran out of paint, I would mix the second half. Painting all the faces, like I did, is surprisingly time consuming and I'm really glad I only did two calipers at one time.

The brush that comes with the kit is a stiff bush similar to the acid brushes I use for applying flux when I'm brazing. I was pondering getting a quality brush, but decided to try the supplied brush. Looking back, I'm not sure if a softer brush may have created more problems with the later coats... I think you do need the stiff brush. The brush did lose a few hairs along the way, but the viscosity of the paint is so high that you have lots of warning and can pluck it out in time. No big deal.

Following the directions, you mix the paint and hardener, wait five minutes, mix again and then go.

The first coat brushes on with ease, but does not look too good at all. The brush marks (that you can see here) did not flatten out much at all. I was really questioning the product at this stage.

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The instructions suggest waiting 15 minutes between coats. When you do the subsequent coats, the key point to keep in mind is that you are not painting over cured paint at all. This is where the stiffer brush seems to be necessary. Rather than stoking the paint on in long strokes, I found that loading the brush up repeatedly and using short, light strokes works better. I painted the bottom half of the two calipers with two coats, and it started to look good after the second coat. As the film build increases, the paint starts to flow out and level much better. Althought the situation at two coats was good, I decided on a thrid coat, which really made the color perfect. At this point, I could see that I would not have enough paint to do three coats on the top half too, so I mixed the rest. If you are not being as crazy as I am, one kit should suffice. I will need to buy a second kit for the other two calipers. I started at 6:00 pm and finished at 10:30 pm. I had no idea it would take that long. Keep in mind that I am a little over the top on doing things like this, and many would be faster.

Here is one of the calipers right after the thrid and final coat (sorry for the blurry picture):

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Here it is the next morning (all I still need to do, is paint the "Porsche" lettering white):

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Conclusions so far:

This product has extremely heavy film build. Definitely rivals powder coat in that area. Spray paint is not even close to this.

The look is very wet and glossy.

The product is advertised with excellent heat and chemical resistance.

G2 offers a guarantee (I doubt I would ever take them up on it anyway, but it is nice to know).

I'm very fussy, and over-all I'm quite pleased. This looks like a "long-term" product and already has a very durable feel. I'll post back to this thread in a few days with the results from my "test" specimens...

apierce918

looks like it turned out pretty nice, your car is going to look sick when you are finished doing everything

testarossa_td

Looks pretty good. I would have just left them after you cleaned them...Delorean style

tifosiman

Those look great!

Hey, instead of painting the "PORSCHE", have you given consideration to just abrading the red paint off that raised area so that it is silver showing thru for the letters? I think that is how they are from the factory.

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That's not a bad idea either Tifo...

I figure I'll try the paint first, if I don't like that, I'll sand it back. I'm actually starting to think this might be where I end up as the film build is so heavy, that the edges of the letters have lost some of their definition and it may be hard to get a nice crisp paint edge.

shepcam

Man that really looks good!!! It makes a big difference when you do it right and take your time! By the way, how much did the kit cost?

shmucklebuckle

cool

BeerBurner

That looks really good!

I used the Duplicolor caliper paint on my Miata and was happy with it. I chose the spray paint because I wasn't sure how well the brush strokes would blend in on the kits like you used, but they seemed to work rather well!

My only gripe now is that my Axxis Ultimate pads are so friggin' filthy that all the red does is make the calipers look dingy after a month. Well, that and my early brakes are small, and now the calipers just reinforce that puniness...

BB.

Zero10

Interesting results. I thought an epoxy based paint would be the way to go, and it's great to hear a success story with it.
My 951 calipers are in need of a re-paint. I feel they are more than adequate for the track use they see, and so I will probably repaint mine instead of upgrading. Right now mine are black with white lettering, and they appear to have the original paint on them. I think I will re-do them exactly the same, since IMO it looks best like this.

Forgive me if I missed it, but did you mention where you got the paint from?