Anodised calipers

[Mike968]

Just taken charge of a Gen 1 997, with which I'm very pleased.

The one thing that seems to let the side down is the finish on the brake calipers. The anodising seems to have gone very dull. When I first saw it, I thought that the calipers had been stripped down the the bare aluminium...

Should I put up with this, or is something not right...? What might the 'cure' be...? Can I apply laquer over the anodising...?

[Sean Smallman]

I wonder if wheel acid has killed the paint?

[garyw]

On base models I think that was the finish... however you can buy the brake paint kits from various suppliers

[Mike968]

On base models I think that was the finish...

It's meant to be like that?!

[kingroon]

The one thing that seems to let the side down is the finish on the brake calipers. The anodising seems to have gone very dull. When I first saw it, I thought that the calipers had been stripped down the the bare aluminium...

Could you post a photo? I'd be interested to see the finish..

[tr7v8]

New callipers would have been cadmium plated, passivated or painted. I'd expect in period they'd have been cadmium plated.

[Mike968]

This is one of the 'better' ones...: (this is my first photo upload, so apologies if it breaches forum guidelines...)

Caliper small.jpg (122.12 KiB) Viewed 13453 times

I suppose it could have been silver at one time, but now it just looks dull grey (the flash makes it look a little brighter than in 'real life'...). Even the 'black' bit with the 'Porsche' lettering looks pretty dull...

I don't know if anything can be done; I'm not sure if it's a good idea to apply laquer directly over the anodised finish and I certainly don't want to have to remove the anodising...

[Lee 944]

You could try lacquer, look at www.frost.co.uk to see if they have anything? Personally I'd take them off and paint them black or red before a lacquer coat. Roy on here sells the new logos for the caliper if you do paint them.

[Mike968]

That's what I'd like to do, Lee, but I don't think the paint would 'take' well on the anodised surface (it's sapphire... )

I think I'm stuck with it, unless I can find something that will clean up the anodising...

[Paul Mabley]

That's the standard finish in afraid, that's one of the reasons I had mine painted

Before



After

[RichardKS]

Thought yellow indicated PCCB?

[Paul Mabley]

It does, I had them painted that colour as I liked it rather than because I had pccb. Thought long and hard and changed my mind a few times.

Didn't think silver would suit with white car and get wheels, had red on the 997 and boxster and black on the 996 so went yellow this time.

Very pleased with how they look and the quality of the work.

[RichardKS]

Quality of finish looks spot on.

[kingroon]

..that's one of the reasons I had mine painted

They look great! My Calipers are an anodised gold.. And they do look a bit aged..

[Mike968]

That's the standard finish in afraid, that's one of the reasons I had mine painted

And they look great, Paul!

Do you know if they removed the anodising first or managed to paint over it?

I'm loathe to remove the anodising, because it is the best barrier against corrosion (I don't want to have to go through what I did on my 968 again...), but it just looks naff when it isn't brand new...