Cadmium Caliper Paint

I went through the same process a few months ago. Eastwood sells a pretty nice cad kit, but like you say, there's nothing specially made for the high heat of calipers, at least not anything I could find. Also, I'm not sure how it would look trying to fake a varied color coating with a rattle can and some mist on colors over the top.

I decided for me it either needed to be actually cad plated (expensive, but there are vendors that can do it), or another solid color. I decided on black.
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Like Jason said... try Eastwood, they might have what you're looking for.

http://search.eastwood.com/search?asug=cadmium&w=cadmium+paint&p=Q&ts=custom

 

Here's a picture of some that PMB restored. If you can afford it, I think this is the right way to go. I realize it's quite a step up from $10 of spray paint to this....

http://www.pmbperformance.com/catalog/item/4741552/4786464.htm
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Does anyone have a reputable plating shop that does stuff by mail? I just can't find anyone local. Hemmings is loaded with places that do "custom chrome," but what about simple blast and plate?

Can anyone vouch for a reputable place?

 

I've used this place a few times recently.

http://www.chromeplatingusa.com/

They're good and they'll give you a quote over email from a picture. Don't tell them it's a Ferrari though.

 

Chances are they also are in need of rebuilding. If you are removing them might as well. I just sent off my rear pair of calipers to PMB for a replating, correct yellow cadmium, and rebuilding. $300 for the complete job seemed reasonable.

 

This is the proper way to do it if you show your car, or concerned with staying original.

Since I got my car to drive the pajesus out of, I opted to rebuild them myself and paint them with brake caliper paint.
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Goldline Brakes in Seattle does a lot of restoration stuff. I think they do mail order. I also know they plate calipers.
Give them a call.

 

I replated my calipers last year with Caswell Plating's stuff, but to protect the finish (as the plating alone will oxidize over a short period of time), I protected it with a high-temp clear ("Dupli-Color" High-Temp Engine Enamel - Clear. Safe up to 500*F. I don't track my car, so under road-driving conditions, the brakes don't nearly come up to those high temps).

They are still in good shape and should stay that way for some years to come.

Considering the effort involved in the home DIY plating process and the fact I ended up covering them with a paint anyways, the next time these calipers will need restoring I'll simply use a gold-coloured engine-enamel paint, regardless if it's too much gold than a true cadmium colour.
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My local powder coater has a hi temp coating that is used on headers and exhaqust manifolds.

I had him coat an exhaust manifold for a vintage race car I'm restoring. He tells me its good to 800-900 degrees. Once he spray coats the part it is baked in an oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. He then puts the part into a vibratory polisher. The media is round plastic balls. The part depending on surface finish is tumbled for 12 to 24 hours. Now because the vibratory tub is lined with polymaterial and the media is little plastic balls no damage is done to the part.

After the polishing is completed the coating is now a polished bright part that had a hard finish and will not fade tarnish or discolor. This process is used on all kinds of parts both manifolds, headers, and parts such as hood hinges on street rods. Ask you powder coater if he has this process availible. I would suggest this process be done on a dissasembled caliper with the rubber good removed, due to the baking process.

Howard Musolf
1981 308gtsi
1982 400i Cabriolet
Maserati Spider
2 many brass era cars

 

Careful with the cheap Cad Plating. Embrittlement is a real issue on critical components such as brakes.

Play it safe and do it right if you are going to do it at all.

 

Is it true that authentic cadmium plating is almost non existant?? Mostly zinc chromate is what is being done to acheive the look along with the anti corrosion properties of cadmium? Some experts argue the zinc actually has better anti corrosion properties than cadmium.

As long as the part is baked after the zinc plate is done to release the hydrogen, catalyst for embrittlement, before the chromate process then embrittlement is nearly eliminated.

Just my $.02

 

No, we have a number of products we Cad plate albeit there are many doing Gold dye coat Zinc.

Read the above posts, how many do you think are being properly plated and baked? Start asking sublet plating sources specific questions and it might surprise a few. In our race car restorations we require a paper trail stating all of the plating and baking times on critical components, for that the cost goes up.

 

Where did you find the original size drilled rotors?

 

Brembo.

 

We get this one a lot... "Why not just "paint" the calipers?"

Because painted calipers are for ricers? OK... on a more serious note:

1. Paint only protects the outside of the caliper... not very well and only temporarily.
2. Paint comes off with odd things like... BRAKE fluid and BRAKE cleaner.
3. Paint is not a great thermal conductor.
4. Zinc is the factory finish and has superior corrosion protection.
5. Zinc re-plates the bore, which probably needs it by now.

Rebuilders that paint calipers do so because zinc is expensive. They can easily slap on a coat of paint in-house and it speeds up the process. They can even call it "cool" things like "Ceramic" etc.

To powder coat this type caliper "properly", nearly 30+ holes and surfaces need to be covered or plugged. Once you torque your M7 nuts (use black zinc on these and don't f'them up... they're hard to replace) to 17ftlbs... the powder will begin to chip and give false torque readings. Most powders melt at 450 degrees. Most brakes get much hotter than that.

Zinc is what ATE used (not cad). I think one of the real benifits of zinc are the bore. While the bore is not a sealing surface, it can get wear from the piston. Wear, lack of fluid changes and rusty caliper shellac will cause a caliper to stick. This usually happens just above the seal where moisture can get in. We use to hone out bores but I recommend against that and I wholeheartedly endorse the zinc bath. The process will clean and replate the bore and make everything good for another 30-40 years.

Google "metal platers"... a couple $20's later and it's done "properly". These are Ferrari's we're talking about right?

 

All day long, slotted as well........

 

This is very interesting, everybody always seems to say these things are cad plated...

So to refurb 308 or 328 (and presumably Mondi) calipers, you're saying just take the pistons & seals out & plate the whole thing in Zinc inside & out (and then passivate to get the colour presumably)?

 

Everyone is entitled to an opinion on this one, and PMB certainly knows what they're talking about for sure. Personally, I prefer a non-plated bore for longevity of seals and sealing. So, a proper caliper paint works fine for me. Caliper paint doesn't dissolve with brake fluid, and is a high temp paint that can handle the heat of a boiling caliper.

Don't bother painting or zinc coating a caliper with pitted bores. Nothing is going to fix that. Be sure to get the proper Ate seal kits, not some junk put together by somebody else - this makes a difference over the long haul. Mid-70's 911 seal kits work just fine for the fronts. While you're at it, good to replace the brake lines too - I like the Goodridge ss lines.
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Splain yourself please?

Sorry, I'm really not following how an unplated bore would help the longevity of the seal. We've had big issues with unplated bores. Brake hones actually leave a fresh steel on steel surface in the caliper. If your car is a type of seasonal driver where humidity can be an issue (say upper midwest to northeast etc.) water will enter the system. It gathers around seals. Fresh steel and water make... ?

Factory bores are plated. At this point I would never rebuild a caliper with an unplated bore or with a honed bore. Also, I've "never" seen any of these calipers with a pitted bore. and I've rebuilt thousands of them. Not trying to be a ball buster, it's just that I've heard that a lot but, in ten years of restoring calipers I've never seen it.

Yes, zinc. Most common misconception is cad because companies like Porsche and Ferrari used a lot of cad on their various fasteners however, these calipers weren't built by Porsche or Ferrari, they're ATE pieces and ATE used zinc with a dichromate wash. Over the years and with cleaning etc. the dichromate can wear down leaving the calipers to almost look silver (clear zinc).

To refinish, take the pistons out, seals out, split the calipers (you'll then see the fresh yellow dichromate on the mating surfaces) and take them to a zinc plater. If you want a great factory finish have them double clear coated and then 20-25 seconds in the dichromate. Plate everything inside and out. The pre-bath etching process will prep the bores and they will come out factory new and ready for new seals.

 

Hi Eric,

I prefer a non-plated bore because I personally think the seal lasts longer against a nicely honed/semi-polished finish. The surface coating, whether it be zinc or cad or ? will eventually wear through, and leave a very, very fine lip, probably a matter of microns...much less than can be felt by touch, but there. Over enough cycles it might make a difference.

I have a NOS of front calipers in original boxes and the bores look to be naked to me - no sign of the yellowish tint, so, I'm assuming that's how they all came but obviously perhaps not.

I change my fluid a couple times a year and rebuild the whole system about every 3 years, so, corrosion in bores is not a problem for me. I realize not everyone is as regular about it as that so likely some surface treatment in the bores may be a better choice.

At some level I think much of this boils down to personal choice, and I respect the thinking and choices of others, this is just my $.02.

 

Just a quick FYI guys.

I do not recommend honing the bores on your caliper rebuilds. This will leave a fresh, open, steel on steel surface. I've rarely if "ever" have seen the need to hone a caliper bore. I use to do it in the past frankly because I was sold, like everyone else, that this needed to be done. Fresh plating will leave you with a perfect bore.

I've found that over the years, many "collector" type cars (Ferrari's, vintage Porsches, Alfa's) don't get driven often and this will lead to your freshly rebuilt calipers rusting and binding in the bores. With a fresh steel surface in the bore and, presumably, you've cleaned your pistons to a fresh steel surface, you can very easily develop rust on those two parts. Brake fluid is hydroscopic and water will get in there. I have "first hand" experience with this. As mentioned, our earlier restorations had honed bores. Suffice to say, many were purchased for restoration projects and not used for a year or two. A few had to come back and, the condition of the honed bore was alarming. We had to totally rebuild them again.

Again, stock calipers are "zinc" plated from ATE... bores and all. When tearing down calipers, we often (90% of the time) see the plating worn on the inside of the bore.

I just think it's a good idea to put the proper coating back on your calipers if you're rebuilding them. Zinc is sacrificial and will help protect your calipers for 30-40 more years...

I can plate cores for you guys if you want. We go to plating once or twice a week. realizing that a lot of platers have a minimum we can probably do them cheaper.