Caliper Colors. What do they mean?

[Robs72T]

What are the differences between the porsche brake caliper colors?

I know that yellow is ceramic.

What is the difference between Black and Red? (I have black on my 996).

Are there other colors besides (yellow, red, black)?


Thanks.

[911pcars]

If calipers couldn't be painted, there'd be less "upgrades" among us. Color is in the eye of whomever holds the spray can or brush.

There's a certain amount of blingness in having color-coded calipers, especially those among us who don't go all that fast. Sorry if I've offended anyone.

MHO,
Sherwood

[Won]

This is my guess: first they painted high performance calipers like the Big Reds red, then people wanted the "bling" look so they started painting their non-Big Reds red, then again they got bored with red so some chose yellow while others chose black.

Ceramic is yellow, not yellow is ceramic, but then ceramic can be red, or black, or blue... I believe the caliper color can be specified when ordering a new car, not sure about the PCCB but definitely the "regular" stuff, and the factory colors are red, black and yellow. So, nowadays, different colors mean absolutely nothing, especially with everyone painting their caliper, or the drum brakes on Civics, in their favorite color.

Were Big Reds always painted red? Were there any road-going Porsche from the factory with gold Brembos on?

[S2GART]

C'mon guys, we all know that painted calipers make a car brake faster. It goes along with NOS and K&N stickers on the back window to make the car go faster. I too get a big kick out of people painting their drum brakes.

[RallyJon]

From the factory, Black is standard. Silver (or titanium color?) means AWD. Red is usually used on upgraded brakes, like big reds. I think with the 996 on, Porsche realized that they could sell caliper paint as a "style upgrade" and make a few more dollars, so on modern Porsches caliper color doesn't mean much.

[wcc]

Did someone mention gold brembos? I know this is on my Ducati but I thought I'd post a pic.

[GeorgeK]

Painted calipers are like penis extensions. Useless and gaudy...
Unless the treatment is for performance or protection, it is a waste of time and money.

[wcc]

I like the big reds. Especially if you can get a good look at them through the wheels. That's the OEM color, just like the gold brembos I have on the bike. They came from the factory like that. I think they make the car look aggressive. Now, if you have wimpy calipers and paint them, then they can look cheesy. Painted drum brakes are just a joke!

[TheMentat]

Originally posted by GeorgeK
Painted calipers are like penis extensions. Useless and gaudy...
Unless the treatment is for performance or protection, it is a waste of time and money.

penis extensions are actually quite useful... any girl who tells you different is just trying to make you feel better

[RNajarian]

I know these to be fact for the following cars. I suspect the logic also applies to 996s and 997s

If the calipers are original

Cayenne V6 Black Calipers
Cayenne V8 Silver Calipers
Cayenne V8 Turbo Red Calipers

Boxster 2.7 Black Calipers
Boxster 3.2 Red Calipers

Cayman Red Calipers

[Blanco]

Red calipers make you stop much faster...

[Kahuna]

Originally posted by GeorgeK
Painted calipers are like penis extensions. Useless and gaudy...
Unless the treatment is for performance or protection, it is a waste of time and money.

thats one of the dumber things that I have heard, might as well say "a clean car" or "nice paint" in place of "painted caliper"

[GeorgeK]

Glad you liked it... Are yours painted?
Never seen a race car with paint on the calipers. The 917 did not need paint there... Of course, surface treatment like anodising for protection is welcome, but the money spent on paint would be better spent elsewhere.

[charleskieffner]

cant wait until someone CHROMES THEM! asked my wrench about this anomoly...........his answer, WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO KEEP HEAT IN, ON SOMETHING YOU REALLY WANT HEAT TO GO AWAY FROM! so hearing that , mine will stay unpainted forever!

[randywebb]

I am fighting the Bling Battle within my self to not paint my calipers red. I know I will lose someday tho.

“Welcome, O frictional forces! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of de-acceleration and to forge in the smithy of my garage the uncreated color of my calipers.”


- you could win a literary prize for that...

[johncarlos2003]

My humble opinion---

yes, painted calipers can look cool but here are the rules ive self- established should i go paint:

if upgraded / go big! (brembos etc.)- red, gold, yellow, black, bronze are okay

if stock on sc/carreras etc- black only or they'll look weird

i wanna paint my rotor hubs as they rust and look bad-

anyway. . .

[Bill Verburg]

Oh my, look at all the black paint slowing this car down



Seriously the colors mean little if anything, originally the 930 calipers were anodized black and later painted black as protection from corrosion.

When the switch was made to Brembo, which has 2 lines unsurprisingly referred to as painted and unpainted. They chose the painted line for the same reason.

Later when they started really going crazy(using adequately sized rotors and calipers) they painted the top of the line red. Later they used other colors to delineate cosmetically, one model from another or as an option.

Lately the top of the lines are yellow w/ other colors optional.

[911pcars]

Perhaps the cost difference between anodizing and painting doesn't make that much difference to companies like Brembo. Anodizing provides a measure of corrosion protection and is, in fact, a thin layer of the base metal (.0005-.003"). Being part of the base material, the anodized layer doesn't insulate and allows heat to dissipate as fast as the base metal allows.

Paint also provides a measure of corrosion protection, but it adds a thin layer on top of the base metal - maybe .0002-.0005", which reduces heat transfer to a certain extent. I imagine the bright colors were more a decision by the marketing group rather than the engineering dept.

Anodizing could be more of a popular aftermarket alternative except for the fact that any ferrous parts of the caliper that can't be removed (e.g. assembly bolts) will be consumed by the anodizing process. There may also be manufacturing and mass-production assembly considerations (cost) when deciding to anodize or to paint.

Sherwood

[randywebb]

"reduces heat transfer to a certain extent"

- Trust me - the extent is completely negligible.


Nobody is gonna call me on mangling Joyce, eh...

[911pcars]

For those thinking of powder coating things like calipers and wheels, I found this on the net:

from http://my.execpc.com/~davewrit/Powder.html

"A metallurgist friend told me a few years ago that things like aluminum wheel spindles should not be powder coated. He explained that aluminum billet material (6061-T6 ?) changed crystal structure at a critical temperature around 410 degrees F (as I recall). The thrust was that the heating step would adversely affect the strength of the material. Non-structural components would be OK, but not something that "holds the spokes on". The metallurgist is correct. Products like wheel billets, scuba tanks, etc. can be powder coated, but only with powders which cure below peak metal temperature of 300 degrees F. The magic temperature is about 275F. The crystalline realignment at 400 degrees F causes the previous ductile aluminum to become brittle. Imagine the catastrophe when an 80 cu. ft. scuba tank explodes under 3000 psi pressure after an unauthorized powder coat (this actually happened). To my knowledge, all Aluminum wheels and other strength-critical aluminum components are powder coated with these cooler curing powders. "

Sherwood