Racafella13

iTrader: (2)

Does anyone know steps on how to do and the exzact tools and if its only 98-02 that will look like that or will 93-97 calipers do the same?

Gabriel

iTrader: (6)

Yeah, the quality isn't very good. I couldn't use the flash because it reflected off of everything. That camera does take good pictures though:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/DSCN0022.jpg

Haha, I was just joshing you. You could do it yourself bro, trust me. Are you really in Ft Lauderdale? That's kind of a long drive just for me to polish your brakes. Tell you what, try it yourself and if you get stuck and are willing to make the trip I'll help you out for free

Gabriel

iTrader: (6)

Alright, I found the link to the walkthrough that helped me do mine, hope it helps. I think it was pretty straight forward:

http://formula.bambeezer.com/calipers.htm

dudemandanman

has anyone powder coated them??

Quickin

Damn j/k Maybe I'll give it a shot tomorrow, if one of them pisses me off I'll quit. Guess I need to buy a Dremel, a drill seems like it would be hard to handle.

How long should each take, say the front ones?


.

5550racing

Instead of buying a dremel, if you have a air compresser, go pick up a DA from somewhere, hell go to a pawn shop. They got all kinds of **** and it will be cheap, then go buy and assortment of sand paper. If you dont have a cordless drill, you will probably need one, and you can find little polishing wheels that will go in a drill at like a home depot or somewhere like that, Get you some 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, and 2000 if you want it took look like a ****** mirror... If you dont want it to be all that shiney, you dont have to buy everyone of these... You get the idea just get some sand paper in decent increments. Go buy some aluminum polish from autozone... some people choose to go to home depot and buy some bad *** compound but truley if you go all the way up to 2,000 grit... You wont need all that great of a compound. Get you car in the air and pull off a wheel, put the 320 on the DA and start sanding... You can use the 320 and 400 dry... Sooner or later you'll need to use some water to help you with the sanding... your not going to be able to use the DA for all of the caliper, youll have to do some by hand. Your going to make a big *** mess! Theres going to be black **** that you sand off all over the ground. Get it smooth with the 320 and 400, its going to look dull but just get all the big bumps out with the more aggresive grits. After you get done sanding, grab the drill with the polishing wheel and apply the compound and start polishing. The more you polish the better it will look... A couple of coats would be great... Basically it's very simple. It's well worth all the time it takes. Make a write up on it! Seems like alot of people are starting to polish their calipers now.

Damn, That was alot of typing... Hope this helps you and anyone else.

Quickin

Thanks, I think I'll give it a go. How much of each sandpaper grit do I need. I'll buy enough to do one and if its not too bad I'll go back and get the rest to finish them up. No compressor, so I'll get a dremel.

Gabriel

iTrader: (6)

I only did the fronts and was ok with just one package of sandpaper of each grit (the packs that come with like 4 or 5 sheets each cut for a sanding block).
It took me a few hours to do it. Again it's easy, just tedious.

Quickin

I looked at the directions and the pist of things I need.

When do I use the wire brush? That thing seems like it'll scratch grooves into the caliper.

chupr0kabra

iTrader: (10)

Unless you really push on the brush, it won't. You'll be surprised how well it cleans and brightens the metal after sanding.


-Mike

Quickin

So after I get done with say the 2000 grit, go ahead and lightly use the wire brush. Is there a certain level or degree of brissel strength like in different grits of sandpaper?

Gabriel

iTrader: (6)

I didn't use a wire brush. I just dry sanded up to 800 grit, wetsanded with 1000, then I used a rubbing compound applied with a polishing pad on my power drill. I finished up with Mother's metal polish. My calipers looked like ******* CHROME after I used the rubbing compound and Mother's. The compound really makes the difference, but make sure you use a dremel or polishing pad/drill combo to really make sure you get in there with it. I applied the metal polish by hand though.

Quickin

So use the drill for the big areas and the dremel for the hard to get nooks and cranny's, with the cotton cloth wheel and polishing compound?

5550racing

I never used a wire brush on my calipers...? DONT USE THE WIRE BRUSH AFTER 2,000 GRIT... I did'nt use a dremel to get in the nooks and craneys either. You should be fine just using a drill attachment. If you have the stock wheels, you only going to be able to see so much of the caliper, so i wouldnt worry about getting to carried away unless you want too.

Quickin

Cool, glad you mentioned that about using the wire after 2,000, although I was weery of it the whole time today looking at one. It would **** up all the work from the sandpaper.

Yeah, I'm just gonna do the side you can see and a little bit around it, maybe 1/2". No reason to do more than what you can see. I found a chrome plater for the brackets. I have to bring it to him to get a quote.

I'll have before and after pics tomorrow, if I don't get rained out. A rain shower went through here about an hour ago...WTF!

Gabriel

iTrader: (6)

I did not use a dremel either, I don't even own one. I was saying you could use a drill OR dremel. I used a drill with a polishing pad to apply the compound once I was done sanding.

5550racing

Cool... yeah, after 2,000 grit it wont take much and the will look like a damn mirror if you did all the privious grits good. Here's a picture of mine... I didnt spend much time at all on each side, I havnt polished these up since i did it like 4 months ago... so it will last a while.
Thats exactly what I did...

Quickin

So, I just got back from a chrome plating shop. I was getting a quote for chrome plating all 4 caliper brackets. $35 each. Not a bad price. The guy asked what I'm going to do with the calipers and I said I'm going to start polishing them today. He said he would polish them for $25 each.

You think its worth $100.00 to let a pro do it? $240 for chroming and polishing.

Gabriel

iTrader: (6)

It's up to you. If you do it yourself it will take you 1/2 to a full day to get it perfect. It is easy to do, just tedious. It probably won't come out looking any different than if you do it yourself, it just depends if you want to spend the time or not. That is a pretty good price though. I just like the fact that I did it myself so when people compliment me on how badass they look and ask where I got them done I can say "My garage" .

5550racing

I don't have that kind off money so it would'nt be worth it to me... If you chrome the brackets, I think painting the calipers would look better. no? I don't know. Go for it and post up some pics of how it looks!