speedraider

Sorry, I thought you were installing SS lines.

Nickcd55

Nice post

Red89gt

Thank god no, I am not looking for abuse on this car.

Redshift

Mike does great work. I recently sent some StopTech calipers (not Corvette, but hey, I owned two C5s before and have been a member here for a long time so I thought I'd share) that had seen better days, and here's what he did with them for me:

Before: yes, they have seen a lot of track use over the years:



After: from racer to waxer, I guess:

Red89gt

Yeah, those would look awesome on a BMW.

Mike has a good thing going. Have a feeling my car alone generated some more customers through friends. I have no problem recommending him to anyone that needs this service.

Red89gt

Redshift - Sent that pic to a guy I work with since he has a BMW M series. He wanted Mike's info, agreed your calipers look awesome.

Redshift

Red89gt

Just went to hook up brake lines and the front right banjo bolt, first one I tray only goes 1/2 way in. Top half of the threads are smashed on the banjo bolt, I have a lot of words for GM right now.

Trying to locate a bolt on Saturday to see if the threads aren't wasted in the caliper after just had them coated obviously.
edit: chased with a tap and all good.

j_digi454

Thanks for posting, I will be using this info this coming year as I will be upgrading my brakes to Z06 brakes using having them powder coated before the install.

gsflyer2011

Question?. GM shop manual recommends disconnecting the handbrake inside the car, than disconnecting the 2 handbrake cables from the bracket under the car in order to provide some slack for the rear handbrake assembly before removing the rear rotors. Did you have to do that on the rears??...it seems like lot of work so I painted mine on the car, naturally only one side (fronts got paint on hats inside the vanes and on the back also). (did not wanted to take a chance that they would not go back on although seemed pretty loose like the front ones)

Red89gt

Nope, no need to disconnect emergency brake cables.
Came apart and went back together no major issues.

Car is done:

snakeman56

They look awesome!!! Great write up!!

Red89gt

Did you mess with your pins at all or are you forever going to leave them as is and just change pads by removing the caliper?

I ask because I had all my pins loose prior to shipping to the powder coat and he only snugged them back in. I am debating leaving alone or pulling and anti-seize on them?
Wonder if these pins ever wear down that would necessitate removal and replacement?

Wish GM would have refined this solution since they have been in production for so long already. If memory serves the big boy brakes on zr1 don't have these pins. Cost savings GM could have eliminated on our cars and zo6's?

snakeman56

Since my pins are Powdered Coated I will remove the Caliper when I have to change the pads. I am going to get some new bolts for just in case. I did not have any problems removing the Caliper Bolts or Torquing them.

MrKris

I had Mike coat my calipers ZR1 blue. They turned out great but I sure had a lot of trouble with leaks after re-install. Before I shipped them to Mike, I stripped everything off of them. I pulled the bleeders, the pins, and the crossover tubes.

Here are some problems I ran into on the re-install:

First, I tried to use speed bleeders and that was a big mistake. They were more tapered than the stock bleeders and would never seat properly. They kept leaking. I kept tightening. I stripped one. I had to take the caliper to a machine shop and they installed a heli-coil and a slightly larger bleeder. Then, following the machinist's advice, I trashed the speed bleeders and re-installed the OEM bleeders. Because the speed bleeders jacked up the bottoms of the holes, I had to tap each OEM bleeder with a hammer, turn, tap, turn until I got them to re-seat properly.

Second, I did not know you had to replace the copper banjo washers if you ever disconnect the brake lines. I kept having seepage at the lines until I got new washers.

Third, make darn sure you examine the calipers after powder coat to be sure there is no powder coat in the area where the banjo bolt washer sits on the caliper. One of mine had a little overrun in that area and that washer would not seat flat. I had to sand the powder coat off that area.

The final result...they look awesome and no more leaks!!!

Red89gt

I waited a day after bleeding the system before putting the wheels on and the car on the ground and didn't see any leaks. Wife asked last night at dinner if it sealed up so I guess I will jack up and take a look to verify everything is still good. I didn't have paint on the caliper brake line face, stock bleeders being used and I did use new washers so should be fine.

Blue calipers look great with the cyber gray, nice job.

Red89gt

Buddy wants to put Brembo's on his G8 so I will consider my car a warm up.

forg0tmypen

Anyway to paint these yourself while on the car without pulling off the brake lines?

Red89gt

You could but the results will not be as nice. Place I sent mine to for powder clears them and puts on the factory graphics for oem touch and appearance.
The powder is very durable as well versus paint.

dabsplaza

Great post and pictures. Question: Do you know where I can buy the OEM graphics for the calipers. I have a place that will remove all the calipers, powder coat them and re-install at a resonable price. Don't think they have the OEM graphics though..... Pls help if you can. Thx.