Poor Brake Power after calip. paint

[AgntorangeDSM]

Hey guys, i just got done painting my brake calipers and now i have poor brake power. Meaning i had great brakes with little to no effort needed to stop and now after painting the calipers i HAVE to pump them to gain pressure and the pressure only lasts as long as i'm stopped meaning the moment i pump it and hold i have pressure but if i let it up it's gone and i need to re-pump them to stop..? I'm stumped b/c i NEVER opened a bleeder, just squeezed the brakes to pull the calipers up off the rotors thats it only one pivot bolt was removed and the other was just loosened. Any help is greatly appreciated thanks again.

 

[diablos991]

You could easily have air in the system. Be sure that you bleed the brakes properly and report back.

The pumping issue that your having sounds exactly like an air in the system problem. Other things to check include making sure that the piston(s) operate correctly without interference or sticking.

 

[boostnbuds]

yea man bleed the system. Have someone pump the brake pedal up to build pressure, after several pumps, while keeping pressure on the brake pedal, crack the bleeder screw a turn and watch the bubbles and fluid spill out,(make sure to tighten the bleeder back up before pumping resumes or you will draw even more air into the system). Go back and forth between the calipers untill the dude pressing the pedal says it feels tight, also when its done you'll notice no more are coming out the bleeder just fluid. while performing this operation always make sure your resevior remains full. Also you should start at the caliper furthest away from the master cyl.

 

[Artago]

Bleed'em. Tom.

 

[Midnight DSM]

How many miles have you driven since painting the break calipers? Chances are, you painted the calipers with them still attached to the car. You got some paint on the rotors so the clamping power has been diminished. Once you wear the paint off of the rotors the breaking power should be back to what you thought it was originally.

 

[StealthyDSM]

I would have to agree with MidnightDSM on this one since you say that you never cracked a bleeder. Seems hard to think air might have gotten in if you never opened a line for it to get in. If it was fine before you painted and bad after i'm gonna say it's possibly the piston sticking a bit or some over spray on the rotor like stated above.

 

[boostnbuds]

you nooobs do you have any idea how quickly spray paint on a brake rotor would burn/wear off?! hes pumping the pedal to make it stop....seriously that sounds like overspray to you? air in the lines or a bad master, you squeezed in the piston without cracking a bleeder on an abs vehicle....thats not generally a good idea, but did you atleast crack the cap on the reservior when you did that?

 

[AgntorangeDSM]

no don't have abs, and no i didn't crack any think like i said, no open lines. no bleeders no caps nothing. i have never cracked a bleeder or the cap just to pull the calipers off the rotors. i did just like if you were replacing the brake pads. and i bleed them today just to check it off the list and NONE of the bleeders had air in them and one piston had some paint around it. i sprayed some carb cleaner to rid of it and she was freeded up nicely. put her back on the street and she is doing just fine. master cylinder is leak free as well too

 

[roadrunner2176]

A master cylinder doesn't have to leak to be bad. The internal piston seal could be bad while the outers are holding just fine. Check your brake lines for a kink, or a leak. When you took your calipers off, you might have kinked the line, or twisted them.

Assuming that you painted all 4 brake rotors, test your e-brake and make sure that works properly. If your not stopping with your ebrake go back and check the above again.

For those inquiring about overspray, it would take a huge amount to make something like this happen.

 

[boostnbuds]

Hey guys, i just got done painting my brake calipers and now i have poor brake power. Meaning i had great brakes with little to no effort needed to stop and now after painting the calipers i HAVE to pump them to gain pressure and the pressure only lasts as long as i'm stopped meaning the moment i pump it and hold i have pressure but if i let it up it's gone and i need to re-pump them to stop..? I'm stumped b/c i NEVER opened a bleeder, just squeezed the brakes to pull the calipers up off the rotors thats it only one pivot bolt was removed and the other was just loosened. Any help is greatly appreciated thanks again.

So the pedal pressure is so low your pumping the pedal to stop...and your saying that you solved this issue by spraying carb cleaner on a piston?? this seems quite unlikely, if you froze a piston on a caliper by spraying it with a ton of paint (damn strong paint too) the pedal pressure might actually increase...your car might also pull while braking and a ton of other stuff. my point being i think your wasting peoples time with a bullshit post that doesnt make sense

 

[matt j]

john have you checked your master cylinder? what did the boots around the caliper piston look like?

 

[mochilli]

i just painted my calipers today and i dont know how your breaks would not work after. For next people to paint their calipers, this is what i did and had no problems:

I took the caliper off, but hung it with a coat hanger wire from a bracket at the top of the fend, the line didn't twist and hung perfect so i could brush it with a wire brush, hose it down with break cleaner and give it a couple coats. Also obv, take off your actual pads so you can give that piece a nice coat of paint as well. I have the stock alloy rims, you can't notice the new paint as much as i wanted for all the effort but you can still see it. Def. need some nice black rims and would look sick

P.S i also got a lil bit of paint on the rotars, but the pads obv took it off right away and didn't affect my breaking performance. The kit was like $23 (CAN) and comes with paint, paint brush and caliper cleaner (break cleaner, same shit). You have to buy a seperate wire brush, to take off all the excess rust and what not so the paint sticks better!