Screw up? Caliper finish?

[tig]

I was cleaning my calipers on my '88 911 today and have a feeling I removed the zinc finish.

I was scrubbing away and decided to try my wire brush. Worked great.

They look great. But they are shiny silver. They used to be light gold.

Is this bad? Will they rust?

[James Brown]

That is the color they came with, most likley they were repainted with a zinc-like paint. If they were replated with zink, I doubt you could scrub it off with a wire brush. BTW, you car looks great!!

[tig]

There's no way these calipers were every painted or refinished.

I purchased the car when it had 6300 miles on it and the brakes were light zinc colored from day1.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Admission: I also used a little bit of carb cleaner on them. I _thought_ I had grabbed a can of brake cleaner and only realized my mistake after I had sprayed some.

Could the carb cleaner have done damage?

[Mitch Leland]

Originally Posted by ckindel

I was cleaning my calipers on my '88 911 today and have a feeling I removed the zinc finish.

I was scrubbing away and decided to try my wire brush. Worked great.

They look great. But they are shiny silver. They used to be light gold.

Is this bad? Will they rust?

Depending on how aggressive you were with the wire brush you could have easily done away with the zinc/cad finish. Both those finishes are rather fragile, unlike chrome which actually has copper and chromium attached as an extra surface.

You can send out your calipers and have them re-plated, or you can buy hi-temp special paint and paint them yourself. Our host carries a kit to do this.

I don't think it would be the end of the world if you didn't do anything, I'm guessing they're cast iron and that resists rust better than steel. (I have 930 brakes which have an alloy caliper) However if you have them apart you might cover the bases and paint or have them plated.

[tig]

I really want to get them to look factory. This car is in such pristine condition!

I saw other threads with pics of replated calipers and I think those replated calipers are TOO gold. Does any one know of a firm that will replate them "lighter"?

[911s55]

Brake Restoration Service

[tig]

Originally Posted by 911s55

Brake Restoration Service

Thanks. Good info!

[Mitch Leland]

Originally Posted by ckindel

I really want to get them to look factory. This car is in such pristine condition!

I saw other threads with pics of replated calipers and I think those re-plated calipers are TOO gold. Does any one know of a firm that will replate them "lighter"?

First, I think you need to find out what the original finish is, I wish I knew, but I don't... The bright yellow/gold is the zinc finish, the more subtle color is the Type II cad.

I'm sure you can do a search here and find services that will re-build your calipers per original specs since you want to keep things "pristine".

[Dixie]

Mine have most of the original zinc plating on them. It's the gold like color you describe. Yes, the color of the coating you removed. I think what you're looking at now is shiny clean cast iron.