Brake Caliper thoughts...
 

Morning all,

I'm looking at my front calipers of the Z and shake my head :shakes head: every time i see them.

The powdercoat is missing near the bleeder, and faded everywhere else on the caliper. :eek: The dealership said it was a "bad bleed job." Yeah, that's it... the bleeder is the issue here.

They started black with white text.
They are now gray with yellow text. :confused:

1. How much for a set of Akebono front calipers?
2. Is there such thing as a better caliper option?
3. Yes they can be reconditioned, but that sounds like work for someone else. Track duty + Chicago winter salt = Death to brake appearance.

Thanks!
:tiphat:

If you're going to DD like that, nothing's going to help them over time. Are there better options? Yes!!! Material material materials all I gotta say. Check out some OEM caliper track pics like I've seen with burned seals and such where guys do 20min sprints. I'm sure in a 24hr of Le Mans race the OEM ones would explode after an hour or so while racing Stoptechs and such go the whole time. I would be interested to see if someone makes a better rebuild kit with better materials. This still won't fix your salty road issues though and paint.

Maybe PM Mike the Powdercoater? I wonder if there's something he can treat them with after a fresh powdercoat to provide more durability.

nope, the powdercoat won't hold up to track use, especially on our cars. Z1 does have an aftermarket rebuild kit with better dust boots, but thats about it.

I run stoptech trophy brakes, which are hard anodized and they still look new 3 years later.

That's an option then no? Find someone that anodizes? Might not be a horrible setup for 20 min sprints, better boots plus anodized.

A fancy powdercoat wont fix it.

Of course i'd love to have stoptech Trophy's... but the fronts were what?... $3k ?

Also, the rear calipers are still beautiful, even w salt and heat. <scratches head>

Racing brakes don't have dust seals and they have vented pistons.

In other news you can run your street brakes without dust seals on the track so they don't melt.

The reality is powdercoat isn't made for track temps but it doesn't mean the brakes are bad or won't hold up. You can strip the powder and send them to hard anodizing or like most people just accept the fact that they are going to look so-so.

Also, your rear brakes are not getting anything close in temp to your front brakes like not even in the same realm.

In all reality you would see a bigger improvement on the track with a racing ABS controller/bias then you would with a slight caliper upgrade.

Calling <Mike the Anodizer!!>