To my dismay, I spotted this white line across my front left brake caliper and upon touching it, I immediately suspected that it was a gouge caused by a rock just big enough to get stuck between the back of the rim and the face of the caliper. There's not much clearance on the fronts.
The big question for me is whether to replace it or try to get this repaired. I doubt this'll be covered under warranty.
I had thoughts about leaving it alone and just living with it, but aside from aesthetics, I'm also worried about corrsion.
Any advice, anyone?
Hi criptovince,
I'd go with one of these solutions:
1) Get it professionally repaired. It may be tough, however, to get a perfect OEM color and the lettering match, but should turn out close enough.
2) If you're somewhat artistically inclined, you can get matching red and black caliper paint, use masking tape to protect the edges and to concentrate the placement of the paint exclusively in the gouged area and yourself fill in the scratch using a small/thin brush. Fill the gouge so that the paint is actually raised above the surrounding surface then sand it down to level with 800 grit using wet sandpaper. Finish it off with a clear coat spray. Btw, all this should be done with the wheel off.
3) Buy a new OEM Caliper. Obviously the most expensive solution, and perhaps the less desirable particularly because, other than aesthetics, there's nothing wrong with it. Btw, corrosion shouldn't really be a concern.
4) Keep checking on eBay as there's a good possibility you're likely to find one being sold in the near future in your color. Incidentally, I checked there beforehand and found yellow and black ones, but unfortunately no red, selling for around $500-$600, so imagine how much they go for new!
If this happened to my caliper, I'd try option 2 first, and, if my first attempt wasn't to my satisfaction, I'd go for 1. If you don't want to go with either option 1 or 2, I would keep ocasionally looking for a used red caliper on eBay before pulling the trigger on 4, which would be my very last resort. Hoping this helps.
