sophis

iTrader: (7)

Ok, I have these what look like air bubbles all over my passenger caliper as well as some peeling. When I ran my nail over the air bubbles, it would turn pink (my caliper looked like those in that thread about peeling stock Brembo brakes). I believe most of what people think are paint chipping/peeling off, is just the clear coat. Well, I was searching for any other cases like this and happen to run across this at lancerregister.com:

http://www.lancerregister.com/showthread.php?threadid=88539

Which led me to this (scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions):
http://www.lancerregister.com//showt...threadid=57766

So I figure what could I lose by trying it on my passenger side caliper. Materials used:
1. 400 grit sand paper
2. Soapy water
3. Duplicolor clear wheel paint (I do not know how this will hold up at the track)
4. Your fingernails

This is what I did (summed up from lancerregister.com):
1. Clean the caliper.
2. Using your fingernails, peel away the clear coat. Yes, this is the most tedious part of the process. Oh yea, as others pointed out on lancerregister, you do not want to use any other tools, like a flat head, as you may end up removing the paint.
3. I then used soapy water and 400 grit sand paper and began to wet sand the caliper lightly.
4. Make sure the caliper is DRY and mask off accordingly.
5. Paint away with your favorite clear paint or lacquer.

Duh, I forgot to take a picture of how my caliper looked before. I had just begun peeling off the clear coat before I took the first picture. You can see some of the air bubbles and scratches on the clear coat. The air bubbles and peeling were all over the front of the caliper:


Just use your fingernails and slowly peel off the clear coat:


This is what you are removing:


Closeup:


Almost halfway:


I used soapy water and wet sanded with 400 grit sand paper lightly:


Make sure everything is nice and dry. You should have a nice matte pink caliper now:


First coat of clear:


Second coat of clear:


End result after 3 coats of clear:

1sweetoz

sweet, they look good as new. Thanks for the write up

turtlelancer

iTrader: (3)

wow good job

GBEvo

iTrader: (4)

Looks pretty good. How long did it take?

AV8NDOC

Impressive

how much fingernail time did you have to invest?

sophis

iTrader: (7)

I was really taking my time so it took me around 1 1/2 hours. Once you remove the initial bit of clear coat from the caliper, the rest will peel off a little easier. I estimate roughly 30 minutes of fingernail action.

sylvester31

iTrader: (8)

what rotors are those? if you don't mind me asking.
Thanks.

scott88vr6

iTrader: (7)

Moderators need to put this in the how to section

Good job man, they look great

mrbkkt1

iTrader: (6)

i would guess that brembo uses a special heat resistant clear coat?, see if this will last as long.

SuperHatch

iTrader: (23)

They look like GiroDisk Rotors to me....

- Steve

P.S. Nice Writeup!!

TxEvo8

iTrader: (5)

They look great, nicely done! Can you give us an update and more pics after a day or two at the track? I would like to see how that application of clearcoat holds up.


Thanks for the write up and pics.

edwin

iTrader: (65)

ya..that is very well done!

bdking57

iTrader: (7)

wow nice.. i need to do mine, and ill tell you what could be a major cause of this peeling.. definately has something to do with the brake fluid seeping out or getting on the clear coat, in my case anyway i had some brake work done and you could see where the fluid has touched the paint after bleeding.. these areas began to peel.

sylvester31

iTrader: (8)

Thanks man .

sophis

iTrader: (7)

Yup, those are Girodisc rotors. My next track event will probably be towards the end of Oct. For normal street driving, the caliper won't get hot enough to know if the clear coat will burn off or not. I will try to do some series of hard braking over the weekend and give an update next week.