[grboggs]

Felt the need to take on the "paint the calipers" project, so after removing all four calipers and multiple cleanings to stop the brake fluid seep I tried the G2 brush paint epoxy. Warning for the perfectionist!! I applied the epoxy paint and during the third coat I could see this wasn't going to be to my satisfaction. Perfect for a Ford F150 but not my Boxster. So I immediately put all calipers in a bucket of lacquer thinner and scrubbed all the G2 paint off before it started to harden. Next I tried Duplicolor high temp spray paint. After six to eight light coats of the Duplicolor red I finished them off with six coats off Duplicolor high temp gloss clear. Absolutely beautiful!! Applied the Porsche decals from Maxspeed, a couple of coats of clear over the decals and the finished product looks very nice. Now this weekend reinstall and bleed. Quite a time consuming job. Would be much easier to purchase the calipers already painted and swap them out, but once again I can say I did it myself. Just wanted to share my experience with the G2 paint system. Horrible! Color was nice, gloss was nice but if you want brush strokes all over the calipers don't try it. Spray is the only way!!

 

[ELP_JC]

Good job man. Out of curiosity: Did you use a high-temp paint? If not tracking, should be fine. But supposedly, caliper paint has to be high-temp to withstand elevated temperatures when driving aggressively. Hey, one question: Which model of 'quickjack' do you have? I'm probably going to order one, but never wrote down which is the one that fits our wheelbase. Thx.

 

[grboggs]

Good job man. Out of curiosity: Did you use a high-temp paint? If not tracking, should be fine. But supposedly, caliper paint has to be high-temp to withstand elevated temperatures when driving aggressively. Hey, one question: Which model of 'quickjack' do you have? I'm probably going to order one, but never wrote down which is the one that fits our wheelbase. Thx.

Definitely high temp paint. The quick jacks I have are the BL-5000SLX, fits Corvettes, Porsches, Mazdas, Hondas. Just trying to think all the cars I've used them on.

 

[ELP_JC]

Definitely high temp paint. The quick jacks I have are the BL-5000SLX.

Good to hear. And thanks for the info on the quickjack. Forgot to ask you if you needed to buy 4 of those Porsche 'pucks' (I only have one, for my floor jack) between your jack and the car, or if the jack is designed to touch those lift areas without touching anything else without the need for the pucks. Sorry for the bother.

 

[grboggs]

Good to hear. And thanks for the info on the quickjack. Forgot to ask you if you needed to buy 4 of those Porsche 'pucks' (I only have one, for my floor jack) between your jack and the car, or if the jack is designed to touch those lift areas without touching anything else without the need for the pucks. Sorry for the bother.

You can use them with or without the pucks. I don't use them.

 

[cay7man]

Safe to remove the calipers? Most videos on youtube show in-place painting them

 

[lrcipo]

Felt the need to take on the "paint the calipers" project, so after removing all four calipers and multiple cleanings to stop the brake fluid seep I tried the G2 brush paint epoxy. Warning for the perfectionist!! I applied the epoxy paint and during the third coat I could see this wasn't going to be to my satisfaction. Perfect for a Ford F150 but not my Boxster. So I immediately put all calipers in a bucket of lacquer thinner and scrubbed all the G2 paint off before it started to harden. Next I tried Duplicolor high temp spray paint. After six to eight light coats of the Duplicolor red I finished them off with six coats off Duplicolor high temp gloss clear. Absolutely beautiful!! Applied the Porsche decals from Maxspeed, a couple of coats of clear over the decals and the finished product looks very nice. Now this weekend reinstall and bleed. Quite a time consuming job. Would be much easier to purchase the calipers already painted and swap them out, but once again I can say I did it myself. Just wanted to share my experience with the G2 paint system. Horrible! Color was nice, gloss was nice but if you want brush strokes all over the calipers don't try it. Spray is the only way!!

I bit the bullet about 6 months after I got the car new and had them powder coated for $1,500. Most of that was disassembly/assembly labor from my local Porsche dealer (I recall that the actual powder coating was about $250 for all four). At the time I guitilly felt (and received some P9 comments) that that was a lot of money (which it was) but I have been pleased with the result the past four years - they still look perfect. I rationalize this as just another high cost Porsche option. Since my car is GR, red calipers are a must and I was not going to pay another 10 grand like some people have said they have done to get red calipers (I have seen posts like that, no kidding). I have done several other DIY projects on the car that offset the cost of the caliper upgrade, at least in my mind. I admire people who go the DIY spray painting route but I was not confident that it would not cause issues when the calipers heat up. Unfounded because I have never seen anyone complain about that.

 

[grboggs]

Safe to remove the calipers? Most videos on youtube show in-place painting them

Oh sure, I would never paint them on the car, although many people do. Much better paint coverage, you can paint the whole caliper if you remove it. It is a lot more work. You have to bleed the brakes very well once you reinstall them.

 

[grboggs]

I bit the bullet about 6 months after I got the car new and had them powder coated for $1,500. Most of that was disassembly/assembly labor from my local Porsche dealer (I recall that the actual powder coating was about $250 for all four). At the time I guitilly felt (and received some P9 comments) that that was a lot of money (which it was) but I have been pleased with the result the past four years - they still look perfect. I rationalize this as just another high cost Porsche option. Since my car is GR, red calipers are a must and I was not going to pay another 10 grand like some people have said they have done to get red calipers (I have seen posts like that, no kidding). I have done several other DIY projects on the car that offset the cost of the caliper upgrade, at least in my mind. I admire people who go the DIY spray painting route but I was not confident that it would not cause issues when the calipers heat up. Unfounded because I have never seen anyone complain about that.

Powder coating is a nice way to go. Much stronger coating and tends to hold the high gloss finish. I put many coats of clear, we'll see how long that lasts.

 

[lrcipo]

Powder coating is a nice way to go. Much stronger coating and tends to hold the high gloss finish. I put many coats of clear, we'll see how long that lasts.

It should last well unless you track the car and heat them up to extremes.

 

[Grand-Cayman]

... (I recall that the actual powder coating was about $250 for all four).

I had four powder coated and cost (in NC) was about that as well...

 

[AndyA6]

Regarding caliper paint, have a look at my old thread here:-

http://www.planet-9.com/981-cayman-...iper-paint-such-long-pics.html?highlight=Andy

The G2 worked really good for me, I really thought it won’t work after 2-3 coats but then.... success! After all this time the calipers still look like new, very happy.

 

[grboggs]

Regarding caliper paint, have a look at my old thread here:-

http://www.planet-9.com/981-cayman-...iper-paint-such-long-pics.html?highlight=Andy

The G2 worked really good for me, I really thought it won’t work after 2-3 coats but then.... success! After all this time the calipers still look like new, very happy.

So glad it worked out for you , I chickened out after the second coat. They do look pretty good!