Kubs

I have noticed that aftermarket calipers such as Wilwood and Stoptech have their calipers powercoated black or red or whatever. There is no option for a plain finish (that I know of). Wouldnt the caliper cool better without the paint holding heat in? Or does it not matter? I am in the middle of a poor mans brake upgrade (putting C6 brakes on my C4) and I want to clean the calipers. I want to make the caliper bare aluminum with red "CORVETTE" letters and then clear the whole thing. Would this be ok or should I just leave it bare?

ZR1 MK

Some are anodized, like my Wilwoods. Both finishes will give you trouble if you want to have a track car look good. I do, but its work.

VetteDrmr

IMO anything other than black just gets dirty and is a pain to clean. I painted my C5 calipers with hi temp engine gloss black except for the raised lettering.

Over time the black has dulled from heat, brake dust, and general exposure, but still looks much better than dirty cast aluminum.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

Aardwolf

A brass bristle brush cleans the bare caliper very well.

bobmoore2

Leave the calipers bare aluminum, then keep them clean.

If you put any color on them, even clear coat, it will discolor and look bad after a few heat cycles, and it will reduce the cooling capability of the caliper.

Bare aluminum looks better than discolored powder-coat.

geerookie

I have been there and done that. Last year I switched from my C5 calipers that were stripped and just bare aluminum to Black Anodized calipers. The black will eventually discolor but takes much longer than the powdercoated ones.

Bare aluminum wasn't that hard to keep looking OK. I didn't take the time to keep them polished like chrome but I guess if you had the time or desire you could.

davidfarmer

I agree with all above, but ideally the rotor is dissipating most of the heat, NOT the caliper. I wouldn't think that convection from the caliper itself is a very large percentage of total heat dissipation. So while I agree with you, I don't know that the Caliper finish actually has a measurable effect on the total system.

96CollectorSport

I've had calipers ceramic coated before, we have headers ceramic coated and other parts powder coated. When it came time to do a set of calipers I talked with my coater (Classic Coatings in Sheboygan,WI) and they had a finish that is actually supposed to pull heat away from the metal. Does it work I can't say for sure but they haven't discolored in over a year. Finish is black.
Just another option, I believe it was roughly $75 per caliper.

Kubs

I was more worried about the caliper transferring heat to the fluid.

This would be a cool option but I can have powdercoating done at work for free.

I think I will try leaving it bare. I am going to sandblast them and then rebuild them with new seals and boots. When I cleaned my old ones I used a brillo pad.

Kubs

Even clear will discolor? What if I dont put it on the whole caliper but just over the red letters and outside facing side? I dont what the inside looks like no one can see it.

95jersey

I had my Wilwoods powder coated on my C5 and they held up great. Of course with use they are not going to look as perfect as the day you got them, but that is simple reality.

I will say the powdercoat held up much better and resisted dirt than regular paint by far. Keep up with them after every track event and they will look decent for a few years at the very least. You can always take them off down the road and get them repainted fairly cheaply.

Go with bright red, the look SOOOO good!!

0Todd TCE

Anodized finish is the most common. Studies have also shown that black anodized finishes aide in heat dissipation also. While I have no firm data to back it up....I believe that any powder coat finish can tend to hold heat in the caliper more than would be desired. That being said, I've not seen a problem with its durability on track either.

trackboss

A good anodize or nickel plating are the best coatings with nickel probably being the most durable. Those are the only I would ever recommend. I've had several sets of stoptechs on various cars and the powdercoat is fairly durable, but with intense heat it does discolor and my latest set actually flaked a few pieces right from the install. Stoptech actually anodizes their calipers and then coats them(that makes it very difficult for the coating to stick). I would prefer they skip the powdercoat. Unfortunately, most all "inexpensive" calipers are powdercoated. I would strongly suggest not to ever powdercoat calipers. I see it done all the time with the street guys on factory cast calipers. Really bad idea. It just softens the castings further.

Aardwolf

Cobra4B had some amusing pictures of rocks stuck in the powder coat he had done. The calipers looked like a granola bar!

0Todd TCE

Never tried nickel on aluminum. Didn't know that could be one. Seems a cool idea but build up may be a problem for some aspects of the body.

All Wilwood calipers are also clear anodized prior to powder. I believe this is to provide a 'case hardening' of sorts on the body but the anodizing is not truly a 'hard anodize' to any depth.

Not sure I'd say to never to this.....for the street enthusiast it's durable and appearances are important. For the hard core track guys it's probably more fluff than function of course. Most pc is cured (at least the shop who does mine) at 375f so that's not above what a caliper can see in track use so I've had no fear of softening them. In fact today I refuse to disassemble a new caliper for pc, it gets plugged and taped where necessary and goes straight for paint. Despite any naysayers there's never been any issue with seals or durability. Problem I have had with fully disassembled parts is cleaning them upon return and the chance that powder has contaminated the bores! Total pain in the ***.

Kubs

It sounds like the general consensus is not to do it for track calipers. I could care less what it looks like at the track but on the street I have 5 spoke wheels where you can see the brakes in all their dirty rusty glory. I just thought I could spruce them up a bit but its not something I HAVE to do. I will try and keep them clean.

Nickle plating sounds lind of cool. Do you have a picture of a nickle pplated caliper?

ZR1 MK

My headers are ceramic coated with a rough finish. The coating is a heat barrier and would retain heat.
Aggreed and thats why I like my black anodized finish. The only disadvantage is that they turn color after many heat cycles. Same as my CCW wheel centers.

kwhiteside

I'm a reformed waxer. As such, my first vette I did the calipers MagRed to match, second vette I did yellow to match. After a number of track days, they never look new again. They get dull and scorched. I now have wilwoods (black) on the front and my stock yellow ones on the back. Last month I rebuilt the rears as a piston was sticking and tried very hard to get them clean. Long story short, the powder coating is just plain jacked up.

As far as performance goes, with both cars, stainless lines, good fluid like super blue, I never have had brade fade, even with the powder coated calipers.

davidfarmer

I always consider it the other way around, via conduction, not convection. The heat goes from the pad, through the pistons, into the fluid, then is dissipated by convection out of the caliper. This line of thought would benefit from a dark coating.

If you are thinking more of radiant heat being transferred directly from the rotor through the caliper into the pad, then I'd think you'd want a reflective/insulating coating.

Either way, I still think the coating would not change the overall heat dissipation enough to worry about. Cosmetically though, a natural or anodized finish is going to work better than a painted/powder coated surface.

btw, my PFC kit is anodized, BUT they did full corrosion testing for GM before I got it and the anodizing it pitted quite a bit. I always wondered about the quality of the finish until they told me about the testing they did. It also explains why all of the bleeders were seized solid (they've since replaced of course).

96CollectorSport

Correct, ceramic coating typically does retain heat but it also repels the heat initially (that's why they coat the inside and outside of the headers). The ceramic coating I mentioned was designed to pull heat out of the metal it's coated on. Again I'm not saying it works but the calipers haven't discolored at all since being coated. And it stands up to the brake fluid too.