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FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
I completely agree. I think caliper covers are just as bad as those stick-on fake vents. Otherwise, it looks really nice.
timvracer
Member
looking awesome... amazing amount of work and attention to detail. That is all the more reason to paint your calipers, the problem with the covers is they clearly look unnatural (and when the wheels are turning, you see them fully). I used the G2 self-leveling 2 part (epoxy) paint kit, and they came out awesomely perfect -- I think it was $60. Chemical resistant, lasts forever, and looks like the Tesla genuine thing.
I am not being critical, if I saw this car on the road, I'd be like... whoa, beautiful.. uh wait, huh? WTF with those brakes??
I'd think you'd get top dollar from a Tesla enthusiast.. who is likely going to notice this.
But still, the work you have done is just remarkable... very jealous of your knowledge/skill on this build!
I am not being critical, if I saw this car on the road, I'd be like... whoa, beautiful.. uh wait, huh? WTF with those brakes??
I'd think you'd get top dollar from a Tesla enthusiast.. who is likely going to notice this.
But still, the work you have done is just remarkable... very jealous of your knowledge/skill on this build!
cmarshack
Member
timvracer could not have said it better! Seriously, great job with the re-fresh, the paint match side skirts, the headlights and everything...except...those brake covers
I used the G2 paint on my Audi Q7 and it has lasted 3 years. Last month I put new brake pads on the Audi and a little WD40 on a rag made them look like new again! The G2 takes a few hours but turns out amazing! I will be doing it again on my MS when I can find a few hours in my schedule.
Not the best picture of the calipers, but you get the idea...
So here's the inherent problem with painting the calipers on the S... jack stands. Without specialty jack stands (e.g. Jackpoint jack stands which run $300 for a set of 2 and are currently out of stock) you can't easily paint them yourself. Sure I could do each corner individually, but with dry-time, taping, etc. you're looking at ~4 hours per corner. I don't love the idea of the car being on a regular jack for 4 hours X 4 wheels... seems like failure might be a pretty decent concern. I will say this, I never thought there would be SO many negative opinions on the caliper covers. Sure, it's a short cut, but I don't think they look bad... all that said, painted calipers would probably look better. So... I've got something in the works with one of my buddies, so there may be more on that front. I'm still not interested in paying $1K for someone to paint red calipers for me, nor paying $300 for jack stands that I'll never use on any other car I own (which I guess isn't really an option since they're out of stock and have been for some time). That said, I may be able to do something else that may still be economical but give the appearance of painted calipers and allow one wheel to be done at a time. More to come as that comes to fruition...
cmarshack
Member
I'm not sure why you need special Jack stands, I have lifted my MS and did not see anything special about the jack points. That said, I live in Orange County CA (probably the most expensive place when it comes to overpriced installers) and I have received quotes from $450 - $800, so no one should be quoting $1000 unless they are going to take them off the car and powder coat them. You can have them wrapped too...but I have not seen a wrap job where the seams are not very noticeable.
The jack points aren't special, no, but putting jack stands under there while the jack is holding the car up on the jack points isn't possible... thus the specialty jack stands. The jack points are WAY too small to fit both. Unfortunately there aren't many places that will paint your calipers around here. California has a billion places that will mod your car to some degree of "perfection" but Utah doesn't have the same "tuner" scene. That's why more specialty things can cost an arm and a leg that probably shouldn't... supply and demand... or lack of both... Wrap is the idea that I'm playing with. I've had a few friends attempt it on Aston's and Porsche's, but the issue wasn't the seam, it was just that they had a guy do a bad job (one tried it himself on his 911... bad mistake). I think given someone who knows what they're doing, they can look every bit as good as paint and won't flake. I know of people on here that remove and ship them off to get them wrapped so without full blown removing them and doing it "right" (in which case I might as well powder coat them) this may be my only alternative.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
Maybe this is a dumb question, but why can't you jack up each wheel, remove the wheel and caliper, then put the wheel back on, then move to the next wheel? One jack and no jack stands needed. Just make sure the wheels are properly chocked and nobody drives the car. 
Then paint all the calipers on the bench at the same time.
Then paint all the calipers on the bench at the same time.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but why can't you jack up each wheel, remove the wheel and caliper, then put the wheel back on, then move to the next wheel? One jack and no jack stands needed. Just make sure the wheels are properly chocked and nobody drives the car.
Then paint all the calipers on the bench at the same time.
Definitely could do that, just trying to save the time from having to remove them all and then bleed the brakes afterword. May end up having to do that anyway, in which case I may just get them powder coated.
Ultimately, this is just all our opinion...and it is YOUR car. Don't get too caught up with what we think. If you're happy with covers, then who cares what we think.
timvracer
Member
Well, it is probably ill-advised, but I managed to get my Tesla up on 4 jack stands (at each jack point) in order to remove all 4 wheels and paint my calipers in one shot using the G2 kit. I have one high quality floor jack.
I agree that the specialty jack stands are not worth it, just ridiculously expensive.
That said, I would not want to share my procedure, because it is probably not predictable, but it has led to an idea I have for a jack stand "insert" that will allow standard jack stands to support on the suspension (designed to carry the weight of the car at each corner).
I agree that the specialty jack stands are not worth it, just ridiculously expensive.
That said, I would not want to share my procedure, because it is probably not predictable, but it has led to an idea I have for a jack stand "insert" that will allow standard jack stands to support on the suspension (designed to carry the weight of the car at each corner).
Ultimately, this is just all our opinion...and it is YOUR car. Don't get too caught up with what we think. If you're happy with covers, then who cares what we think.
True that, but it's true that painted calipers do look better. I will ceed that. That said, I convinced my guy to try it so next week I'm going in to get them wrapped. Will post pics as it goes down.
Yeah, the person that gets that figured out could be a billionaire... well maybe not quite that much. There are so few options, and these cars make it even harder due to the battery pack underneath. Corvettes, Porsche's, etc all have similar problems, but there are other points that you can use and the entire undercarriage isn't covered in plastic. The average person doesn't want to pull a ton of plastics off just to get to a decent jack point. When I was pulling the rear end apart I could see the motor under the plastics. I wonder if that would be a good jack point?
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