[mdmoore23]

Ever since I brought the ZL1 home I hated the muted color of the brake calipers. Those beautiful monsters just get lost behind the stock wheels, since the color is so close. So, my color of choice is and always will be red, so that's what I chose to go with. I had purchased the paint way back in April, but dredded taking on this task and have procrastinated up to this point (decals purchased on Ebay). I dreaded it because I know this needs to be done right in order to last. To me that meant removal of calipers, sanding, priming, painting, application of decals, and heavy clearcoat. As i get a naturally built in 7 days off work every month, I finally got a few goods days to throw at the task this week. If anyone wants to take on this task and wants it to be pro level, only tackle this if you have the time, skill, and patience. I made mistakes that and every time in hindsight it could have been easily avoided. First up. I painted the right front caliper. Paint laid down smooth, decals were applied, and clear went on. The caliper was looking great! I decided to let it cure over night before reinstalling. So I stored it in our laundry room since it's the warmest in the house. I woke up the next day feeling good about my accomplishment. I was horrified to find my beautifully painted caliper's finish marred by a stream of brake fluid that had been running out of the bleeder holes over night apparently. There was no pretty way to fix this, so sanding back down and staring over was my only option. This sucked! Needless to say I thoroughly blew out the other calipers to ensure no brake fluid was left. This set the tone for the whole project. Perfect paint jobs marred by small oversights. Left rear caliper went off without any issue though, so I guess I can live with 1 of 4. But all in all, when it was done they all look pretty good. The shade of red could be a little brighter, but I can live with that. Much better than the factory color, for my taste. Here are some pics of the journey.

[devnull]

DUDE! WOW. Looks fantastic. GREAT WORK!

[mdmoore23]

Originally Posted by devnull

DUDE! WOW. Looks fantastic. GREAT WORK!

Originally Posted by YARBIE 1

Looks fantastic.

Thanks guys. That VHT caliper paint is some good stuff if it proves to be durable. It goes one well and dries fairly quick.

[1hprush]

Well done! Those look great...now how did the brake bleeding go?

[mdmoore23]

Originally Posted by 1hprush

Well done! Those look great...now how did the brake bleeding go?

That's a whole other story. Started off with one of the vacuum bleeders from Harbor Freight. Good concept but that was an epic fail. Evidently some of the vacuum actually bleeds by the bleeder valve threads or something, judging from other info I found about those types of bleeders. The bleeders in these brakes don't fit nearly as tight as some I've felt before, so I can see that being an issue. Some actually suggest adding teflon tape to the bleeder threads. That's something I'm not willing to take a chance on though. So, today I enlisted the help of my wife to do it the old fashioned way. She worked the brake pedal while I bled each caliper. Progress was definitely made and much quicker, but I still need to go for another round of bleeding. The pedal is still not 100% as firm as it was before. With the vacuum bleeder, I literally had no brakes though. Right now the car could be driven, but I won't until we get another round of bleeding in. In hindsight, I probably should've clamped the brake lines because the calipers were off for a few days. There's probably a ton of air that got in the system.

[1hprush]

Originally Posted by mdmoore23

That's a whole other story. Started off with one of the vacuum bleeders from Harbor Freight. Good concept but that was an epic fail. Evidently some of the vacuum actually bleeds by the bleeder valve threads or something, judging from other info I found about those types of bleeders. The bleeders in these brakes don't fit nearly as tight as some I've felt before, so I can see that being an issue. Some actually suggest adding teflon tape to the bleeder threads. That's something I'm not willing to take a chance on though. So, today I enlisted the help of my wife to do it the old fashioned way. She worked the brake pedal while I bled each caliper. Progress was definitely made and much quicker, but I still need to go for another round of bleeding. The pedal is still not 100% as firm as it was before. With the vacuum bleeder, I literally had no brakes though. Right now the car could be driven, but I won't until we get another round of bleeding in. In hindsight, I probably should've clamped the brake lines because the calipers were off for a few days. There's probably a ton of air that got in the system.

I used one of these the last time I had to bleed my brakes. They work great!
I would call them and get the exact kit you need, these are adaptable with other cars too.
https://www.summitracing.com/search/...Bleeder%20Kits

[RDBill]

They look Great! If I had the skill or the patience I would do the same thing... "racing" brake calipers are supposed to be red!


When I would bled brakes I would fill the master cylinder with brake fluid and leave all the bleeders open until they all had a steady stream of fluid coming out... keeping the master cylinder filled during this process of course. If I didn't have a vacuum bleeder than I would do it the old fashion way starting with the caliper farthest from the master cylinder (passenger rear) and work my way around. Hope I was some kind of help... Great job again!

[Silverado57]

That looks great. Nice job!

[pcguy2u]

Couple of questions: is the paint rated for brake fluid or for a particular fluid? Where did the decals come from?

TIA, Nick

[mdmoore23]

Originally Posted by pcguy2u

Couple of questions: is the paint rated for brake fluid or for a particular fluid? Where did the decals come from?

TIA, Nick

The paint, primer, and clearcoat are all VHT high temp. The primer is rated to like 2000+ degrees and the paint and clearcoat are VHT's caliper paint line rated to 900 degrees. The decals came from Ebay. I specified what color I wanted for the "ZL1", since I need the 1 to be white now. I also had to request a custom "Brembo" decal because none of the Ebay sellers make them that small normally. It's still actually slightly bigger than the Brembo text on the stock paint job, but I made it work. The decal has to go on precisely and at just the right time while the paint is semi wet but dry enough that it won't pull up when you apply the decal. Then I just sprayed 3 layers of clearcoat over them.

[pcguy2u]

Yeah, but is the paint rated for being able to stand up to brake fluid. I once did some testing and very few paints hold up, especially when it's a one part paint in a rattle can.

[mdmoore23]

Originally Posted by pcguy2u

Yeah, but is the paint rated for being able to stand up to brake fluid. I once did some testing and very few paints hold up, especially when it's a one part paint in a rattle can.

Not exactly sure. But what kind of testing did you do? Prep, application, and final curing are all very crucial to the VHT stuff, as I understand it. So, after painting, and when they are dry enough to handle, the calipers should be baked at 200 degrees for around an hour. This can be accomplished by an oven or on the vehicle itself. But also, outside of an accident while bleeding your calipers, they should not ever naturally encounter brake fluid on the outside finish anyway. Am I missing something here?

[pcguy2u]

I missed the bake part - none of the paints I tested required baking. Did you have to remove the pistons and seals - they were probably ok at 200 degrees and I'm guessing that was Fahrenheit.

You must be more meticulous than some of us where it concerns brake fluid. LOL

[mdmoore23]

Originally Posted by pcguy2u

I missed the bake part - none of the paints I tested required baking. Did you have to remove the pistons and seals - they were probably ok at 200 degrees and I'm guessing that was Fahrenheit.

You must be more meticulous than some of us where it concerns brake fluid. LOL

Well, I didn't bake them all either. I tried one, but the fronts were too big to fit in the toaster oven I bought, so I said screw it. We'll see how they hold up. But, as far as the fluid goes, brake fluid is gonna ruin any freshly painted caliper. The paint says under normal condition curing will take 7 days. So assuming no heated curing you can expect 7 days before the paint is fully hardened and resistant. But as long as you have a hose that fits the bleeder and close the bleeder properly no fluid should be spilling out.