what color to paint calipers?

[rac4bux]

Hello,what Color Should '72t Calipers Be Restored To? Thank You

[Neunelfer]

Yellow zinc. Do not paint them. Once they are disassembled it's easy to take them to a local plater. Well worth the money. They were cad but that is "very" hard to find these days and zinc will look almost identical side-by-side. We restore 90% of the stock calipers for show cars to yellow. When torn apart, you will see the yellow on the spacers and caliper 1/2's.

[Gearbox]

Plating is truely the way to go for a show car, but between the heat, etching of the aggressive pad dust, and general exposure, they won't last a year of daily driving. A more permenant solution is to powder coat, I believe Eastwood has a system on sale and powder that would replicate the yellow cad plating. They also have cad paint, but you'll be touching up every once in a while, but it'll keep them looking good for a longer time. Good luck Allan

[Neunelfer]

I hate powder.

Make sure you get high temp powder if you decide to go this route. This is what our coater advised. Brake temps can easily get over the melting point of std powdercoat (400deg). A nice hard day at the track means hot brakes, soft powder and lots of dust. Bad combo in my book.

I've torn apart hundreds of calipers and I don't understand the "won't last a year of daily driving" comment. Some of the ones we tear apart are 40 years old and the plating is still in good shape (under the grundge) The factory thought it was the way to go and 90% of the calipers on cars today are plated...

Unless you're simply going to shoot a caliper with powder, assembled, bolts and all... (which is the wrong way to do it) there's a "TON" of prep for powder.

All the through holes need to be filled (8 on a split caliper)
Surfaces need to be taped off (8 on a split caliper including spacers)
The fluid input/outputs need to be plugged (2)
The bore needs to be plugged or taped off (2)

Powder builds up around all of those plugs and makes it difficult to finish the unit. Once they're done you'll need to go in with a razor blade and trim it all down to ensure the fastener seats properly so you can get a proper torque setting.

It's only $20 to do it right. That's my version of reality, yours may vary...