Plastic Coating

[Guest Paulxe20]

A work mate has just bought some plastic coating equipment of Ebay (Electrostatic coating) and I am toying with the idea of getting him to coat my brake calipers. Has anyone tried it?

 

The process requires heating the item to 180 Deg C, but I don't know if this changes the coating properties and it can then withstand higher temperatures. I don't want to park the car and the brakes drip on my new alloys before igniting!

[agent_zed]

Hi,

dont know for sure but i'd prob avoid it myself incase it burns/melts, i would assume that it just melts on and doesnt change composition. Ive seen a sticking brake cause the brake disc to glow red which would according to a web page i found be around 400+ degrees C which could melt bits of the caliper paint that was nearby, although this is purely a guess and i could be wrong. Get him to coat a bit of metal if you can and put some heat at it and see what happens. You may find the paint doesnt melt or burn but could crinkle and fall off anyway and just look messy.

 

I just used hammerite, might not be the best but its easy to stick a bit more on when its looking tired.

 

hth

[Guest chris brown]

A work mate has just bought some plastic coating equipment of Ebay (Electrostatic coating) and I am toying with the idea of getting him to coat my brake calipers. Has anyone tried it?

 

The process requires heating the item to 180 Deg C, but I don't know if this changes the coating properties and it can then withstand higher temperatures. I don't want to park the car and the brakes drip on my new alloys before igniting!

I doubt it would melt under even hard "track" use but I would be more worried about the seals and dust covers over heating during the application process, unless you are going to strip the callipers down completely and fit new seals and covers afterwards in which case there is a chance that it may get on to the bores. I'm inclined to agree with Zed but would use Plasicote (spelling) rather than hammerite (which I hate)

[Guest Toejam]

Hope my sketchy memory holds in here. (Can't be bothered to look it up I'm afraid)

 

180 deg's is a bit of a give away that it will prob be a PVC based coating I expect.

 

Good news is that PVC is a thermoset plastic so it won't melt off ! Bad news, get your brakes over 450 degrees & it will catch fire !!!!

 

I'd stick with using it for more decorative applications just incase ! I know I've baked a few sets of pads in my time and wouldn't like the added bonus of a burning caliper to worry about.

 

 

Edit - If it helps, Green stuff pads (Fast road) State opperational to over 650 deg so the temps are probably realisticly reached if you push it.

[Guest salty_monk]

Stick with caliper paint.....

 

Dan

[Guest Paulxe20]

Email from the supplier :- Powder cures at 180, but is then good for 250 and shouldn't discolour if used on a caliper.

As my car has the brakes from a 4X4 with Mondeo front calipers i.e. quite big for a 700Kg car, I think I will give it a try.

I will post some pictures if it works.

[Guest Toejam]

Don't under estimate the brake temp.

 

I can't find anything specific, but I know racing saloons reach temps >600 deg's

 

Modified road car discs and pads all seem to be geared for temperatures of upto 550 / 600 deg's

 

(Keep a fire extinguisher ready )

[Longboarder]

Dry/new DoT 4 boils at 230deg C. The caliper will be a bit hotter than the fluid. Anyone had the brakes fade on a trackday but with a firm pedal. That's hot pads. Anyone had the pedal go soft on a trackday? That's the fluid boiling. And presumably at that point the caliper is well over 230deg C and the plastic coating would be sizzling. IMO.

 

Nigel

[Peter Bell]

Don't think the calipers will get as hot as suggested, the pads will! The seals used in most calipers will be rated at 150/160°C. The company I work for had to make special seals rated up to around 210° for some Fork lift trucks used at a docks in a hot country, the fork lifts pick up fully loaded 40ft containers and rush around with them, hoping to stop before they fall in the sea!

[zygoteer]

I know this thread is quite old, but its the only one I could find on DIY powder coating, that could be useful to me in my build.

There doesn't seem to have been any conclusions posted, but maybe someone knows more about the results you get from such a process ?

 

... described at :

DIY Powder Coating Kit

[Guest oddsocks]

I bought a powder coatin mc at stafford to do brake calpiers but after speakin to some brake specialist-you'd have to rebuild calipers coz of damage to seals and the time you pay for a calpier rebuild kit you might as well buy new calpiers which have already been done. Still good for coating brackets and bits and bobs tho. Make your own oven with hot air guns and a meat thermometer from ebay.

[Guest mikea]

painted mine in engine enamel .. simply because I bought some red stuff cheap .. seems fine and still very glossy 2 years 2,000 miles on.

[Knock-on]

Most people think that the job of the brakes is to stop the car but in fact the job they need to do is transfer energy.

 

The first part of the process is to transfer kinetic energy to heat energy through friction ie. Stop the car.

 

They then need to transfer this heat energy away from the brakes to continue to operate effectively.

 

It is vital to the brakes that no barrier however small restricts the brake from dissipating energy. Most will go from the disc which acts a a massive heat sink and can be improved by correct cross drilling / slotting to increase surface area (and reduce vitrification and gassing).

 

However, there will be some vital dissipation through the calliper and any barrier that prevents that happening correctly could lead to brake fluid boiling and the discs not cooling enough reducing efficiency. We call it spongy and long brake pedals.

 

If you want to have smart callipers, use a spray heat dissipation paint. I've used black X / VHT exhaust paint which keeps them looking nice (although there are other colours) is very fine at just a few microns and therefore wont build up heat.