CSR ront suspension refresh and red calipers

[vertew]

I noticed some play in the lower front wishbone spherical bearings on my CSR 260 and used this an excuse to do a refresh of the front suspension, including repainting the brake calipers.  Thought some might be interested in a brief account of the work + before / after pics ...

The car hasn't done many miles, but it is 2005.  The track rod ends on top wishbone ball joints were serviceable, but also looked as though they were the original kit. Also, at some point in the car's history someone had painted some exposed plain metal parts silver, which I've never liked.

So, the plan was to replace spherical bearings, upper ball joints and track rod ends and to renew nuts / bolts / washers.  Also to strip strip back silver painted parts (such as steering rods) back to bare metal and lacquer with POR-15 (rust preventative) clear coat.  Finally, to fix any other issues along the way, as well as setting up geometry as part of rebuild.

Here's a pic before, showing silver painted steering arm and somewhat tired looking top wishbone ball joint ...

Brake calipers cleaned up, but before painting ...

And the results ...

Front hub carrier cleaned up and new parts fitted.

Calipers painted with high-temp POR-15 'caliper paint kit'.  The raised 'caterham' lettering was masked off with translucent masking tape, then cut around with a scalpel prior to painting.  Painting is messy but straightforward.  Bleed nipples also replaced.

Everything refitted.  Plain metal parts that were previously painted silver (such as steering arms), now stripped back and lacquered with POR-15 clear coat.  

Front wheel with freshly painted brake caliper ... which does kinda pop now!

Took a few weekends, but I'm pleased with the result - the front suspension and brakes are now factory fresh (and ok a bit more red in places than they were before).  Anyway, hope you enjoyed this mini refurb journey!

tks, Andrew.

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Edit: add image links to fill size pics.

[finmac]

Very nice!

[Hanns Per]

Thank you for the pics good looking, did the same a few years ago but yellow with callipper spay but the paint does not stick well and easily chips off.

[David aka Blue7]

Excellent  work, especially masking the Caterham letters, I think that I would just paint the whole caliper ... well maybe not.

[vertew]

@Finmac - thanks!

@Hanns Per - thanks + yes, longevity is a bit of a concern.  I chose the POR-15 caliper paint kit as it does have a reputation for being incredibly tough, so long a surface is correctly prepared.  Still, it is just paint, so it's not going to be immune from chipping.  I'll see how it goes.

@Blue7 - the bright aluminium raised lettering polishes up so well (see below), that I felt I pretty much had to paint around it.  Some swear words were said, but wasn't too bad.

For cleaning up bare metal, I found that this type of dremel (compatible) polishing wheels (no affiliation!) are pretty spectacular.  Each wheel doesn't last long, but they did a great job bringing metal back to clean & bright, esp my steering arms (5th pic above) and the caliper lettering.  They're much less aggressive than a stone or wire wheel, so they're not going to remove a lot of material and degrade the surface.

I've added links to the original pics, so you can click through to full size images (though these are only phone pics, they're not too bad).

tks, Andrew.

[polainm]

Another way of doing this is to paint the whole caliper, then file off the paint on the raised lettering, then hi-temp lacquer it all.