Rezal

After purchasing a used set of Big Reds, I'm thinking of powder coating them since I already have them nicely sitting outside the car. I've seen numerous postings as to whether the calipers need to be disassembled prior to powder coating. Those that say no, argue that the temperature in the oven is less than what the brakes are subjected to anyway so the rubber dust and piston seals should be fine. Others argue that although the calipers may get hot, the seals are not subject to the same heat abuse vs. what it would experience in the powder coating process.

What do you guys think? Should I disassemble prior to coating?

Now, assuming I disassemble the caliper prior to powder coating, the next question is, should I rebuild the caliper? The donor 993TT had 22K miles on it and believable given the condition of the rotors (assuming original rotors when new). I could inspect the rubber parts or I could just go ahead and get new seals since the labor is immaterial given the fact that they all need to back into the caliper. Having said that, the seals are not cheap, esp. the piston/pressure seals at $10.85 each from truechoice.com.

With 22K miles on the calipers, should I use new parts?

Total for all four would be around $300. Thank god the powder coating is free. Suddenly the deal I thought I was getting with this set doesn't seem to be as good of a deal!

Eric in Chicago

I would only re bulid if the seals were in bad shape or if you damaged them when you removed them for paint. As for taking them apart for paint, I would.
22K street miles is not enough to warrant a rebulid unless there is some evidence of abuse or seal faliure. I have 20K track miles on mine and a new front seal kit waiting for a winter project but my brakes get abused and I have a couple of cracked seals