Painted my calipers

future9er24 · Dec 26, 2007

c'mon lady, its painting calipers, not redoing the front suspension. we dont need to take every component off and apart and then sandblast everything to get a good 10' car, which is what this car is right now. its a fun project car and a first car; its not like we're building a high dollar specialty car. he's just adding a little bit of flash to his car.

Its pretty cool if you go through all of that in the name of quality for your car, but some of it is a bit unnecessary for two guys just messin around on a car. I do see the flaws that come with not removing the pads, but like pete said, they're comin off. I'll be honest and admit that I also don't think peter and i are excatly qualified to disconnect the brakes entirely. I wouldnt feel safe doing that, and I'm pretty sure he doesnt want me futzin with his brakes mechanically either. not every mod on every car has to be done and held up to a ridiculous standard.

i really dont see how this degrades car modifiers as a whole. we're not ruining anything, nor are we making the car hideous, ridiculous or unsafe. most people wont be able to tell how we painted the calipers. they'll just see that they were painted, and comment on whether or not they like the color.

merry christmas,
Arin

PS- sorry for the rant pete

Paul · Dec 26, 2007

I have to agree with 95PGTTech, it is pretty crappy workmanship.

If it were me, I would've completely disassembled the brakes, blasted them, used various angle grinders and surfacing wheels to smooth out all the casting flash, prepped the calipers and anchors, and THEN painted them. (actually, I would powdercoat them) Then end result would NOT look the same as has been mentioned above.

It looks kind of ricer to me. Sorry.

Paul.

95PGTTech · Dec 26, 2007

Thanks Paul.

It's not the specific example that's the problem - if one is willing to take shortcuts on a project like this, it stands to reason you will apply and carry over the same mentality to other jobs. The quality of work you do is a direct and truthful statement of how you really feel about your car. I bet if this were a Ford GT, or some other car you truly thought was the greatest thing ever invented, you wouldn't have taken this shortcut, which, by your response, points out that it was caused by laziness, not naiveness. It is not unfair to reason that in the future you may snap a bolt and replace it with one that "fits closely."

I'm glad you won't be driving it until you replace the brake pads, that's a minimum, but very smart idea. I would have suggested you not paint the calipers at all than like this - no project is too unimportant to take the time to do it with safety and quality as the number 1 and 2 priorities.

What you are failing to understand is that someday someone else may see the work - their opinion of your car, and of Mustangs in general, could take a serious hit. We live in an age of stereotypes, and be it right or wrong, everything you say, do, or show in relation to your car reflects on all SN95's, Mustangs, and Fords in general. Cops harass Mustang guys because quite a few guys with Mustangs did some really stupid things, and now they assume all guys who buy a Mustang intend to do or have done the same.

- Julia

cntchds · Dec 27, 2007

95PGTTech said:
Thanks Paul.

It's not the specific example that's the problem - if one is willing to take shortcuts on a project like this, it stands to reason you will apply and carry over the same mentality to other jobs. The quality of work you do is a direct and truthful statement of how you really feel about your car. I bet if this were a Ford GT, or some other car you truly thought was the greatest thing ever invented, you wouldn't have taken this shortcut, which, by your response, points out that it was caused by laziness, not naiveness. It is not unfair to reason that in the future you may snap a bolt and replace it with one that "fits closely."

I'm failing to see where I went wrong, in your opinion. I don't see how a three hour project and all the work that was put into it could make us seem "lazy". The difference between our cars, and a Ford GT is that a Ford GT owner probably has the resources to have someone else take their brakes apart, and powder coat each piece. I, by the way, do not see paint and powder coating in the same category, as powder coating is not only more expensive, but also a much greater quality than paint. You can't compare how this turned out to how powder coating would have looked.

Other than not taking the pads off, I can't understand where you have come to the conclusion that we are lazy. We took the time to do this project (almost) exactly as we were instructed.

If you have the funds, and or resources yourself, to take the brakes off of the lines to work on them, then by all means that is the way to do it, and the way I would have wanted to do it if I could. If you don't have the means to do that, or have someone else do it, then I believe this is a perfectly acceptable way to make your Mustang look better to the general public. I don't know about you, but I doubt that anyone has ever gotten on their hands and knees to look at your calipers, and the quality of workmanship in the painting of your calipers. To be honest, I doubt anyone ever will. At no point in this did we think we were taking a shortcut, and if we did, it was through the instructions we received, not because of "laziness". A snapped bolt is not paint, and can not be held to the same scrutiny. Of course there would be more effort in finding the correct bolt to replace a snapped one than making your caliper paint job up to Concours levels of perfection.

When I get my set of PBR two piston calipers in a couple weeks I will make another write up, since they will (obviously) already be off the lines, and I can have my dad bleed the brakes to make sure everything is in check when they are mounted. I'll see if I can get whatever stamp of approval I "need" from you guys.

95PGTTech · Dec 27, 2007

The person who said they should have been powdercoated was NOT me. A proper powdercoating job would have necessitated entire disassembly of the caliper - piston return seal and all - and is far over the head of your average car enthusiast.

Even not removing the brake line, it doesn't even look like you pulled the second one off the car. You mind as well have jacked the car up and tried to spray the caliper between the spokes of the wheel as you rotated it.

Real car guys (girls) look at A LOT of things you apparently overlook - it's ALL in the details. I'm glad you enjoyed the project, and I'm glad you got a bad reception for it so at least you won't post work like this again and advertise the shortcomings of this method. Again, sorry if I'm coming across as an asshole, which I am to some degree, but I am trying to help weed out all of the ghetto rigging.

- Julia

94darkhorse · Dec 27, 2007

Ok, ok guys no need to bash him. Its his car and he can do with it what he likes. Everyone will tackle certain projects differently. I personally don't think it looks bad.

cntchds · Dec 27, 2007

95PGTTech said:
The person who said they should have been powdercoated was NOT me. A proper powdercoating job would have necessitated entire disassembly of the caliper - piston return seal and all - and is far over the head of your average car enthusiast.

Even not removing the brake line, it doesn't even look like you pulled the second one off the car. You mind as well have jacked the car up and tried to spray the caliper between the spokes of the wheel as you rotated it.

Real car guys (girls) look at A LOT of things you apparently overlook - it's ALL in the details. I'm glad you enjoyed the project, and I'm glad you got a bad reception for it so at least you won't post work like this again and advertise the shortcomings of this method. Again, sorry if I'm coming across as an asshole, which I am to some degree, but I am trying to help weed out all of the ghetto rigging.

- Julia

The only thing I plan on overlooking in a future post will be your reply. Nothing we did was lazy, or "ghetto". The work that was done, though not something you would pay to have done "professionally", is a fairly common modification on any vehicle, and unless people bring it up to standards like yours, then they would be more than happy with work that turned out like this. I'm glad that you are so elaborate in your quality standards on your own car, but to imply that anything that isn't up to those standards is "rice" or a similarly distasteful term is ridiculous. You're right in that it isn't a power adding modification, but in no way is it rice. I have thus far been accepting of your commentary, but if you plan on continually bashing my car, do me a favor and get off of my thread. I understand you don't like it, and you've put in your two cents one too many times in my opinion.

Scrutiny to detail can only go so far before it's just damn annoying.

Petek · Dec 27, 2007

Attention to detail can make or break a car. i agree with 95PGTTech, and paul on this one. a tip for the future though, dont paint stuff near your car. i dont care if your in the fenderwell, paint particulars manage to go where ever they please in some cases.