I have a question. Can you powder coat a Brake Master Cylinder? I've tried paint, clear coat, in a can. But whenever some brake fluid leaks, it peels. Any ideas on this?

Thanks Buddy

as long as it metal i cant see why not

it should work quite well, just make sure to completely seal off everything that you don't want powder on. I would recommend an epoxy or hybrid powder the polyester powders will get soft and discolor under certain chemicals

I've seen powder coated master cylinders before so the answer is yes, it can be done. One thing to consider is that you will need to completely disassemble the master cylinder because the powder coat has to be baked on and the temperatures might damage the seals in the master cylinder. Other than that, I say go for it!

The brake fluid is the culprit alright... I was wondering if any one has tried POR-15 on their brake master cylinder. I'm installing a new one and it has no paint on it, looks plain and I wanted to paint it. Powder coating sounds OK but I don't have the equipment to powder coat or use of a baking oven...

Brake fluid has eaten through just about every coating I have seen. All of the guys that have street rods and show vehicles at the shows and cruises I attend have them powder coated. You don't have to do it yourself. There are 3 powder coating companies near me and they really don't charge much for this size of a part. I'm sure you could find a company near you. Harbor Freight even now sells powder coating guns and coatings. You can even use infra-red to "bake" the parts. I guess my point would be that if you think you might be doing or want to do a few more powder coated parts it might be worth the investment in the equipment.

I had this problem also and tried all the above remedies without much luck. After a little time even the powder coat started to peal. I found the solution is to have it chromed however I really didn’t like that from a looks standpoint . The final solution was to switch to the DOT 5 “silicone” fluid . I got a summary of the following information at:
http://www.vtr.org/maintain/brake-fluids.html

Advantages:

DOT5 doesn't eat paint.
DOT5 does not absorb water and may be useful where water absorption is a problem.
DOT5 is compatible with all rubber formulations

Disadvantages:

DOT5 does NOT mix with DOT3 or DOT4. Most reported problems with DOT5 are probably due to some degree of mixing with other fluid types. The best way to convert to DOT5 is to totally rebuild the hydraulic system.
Reports of DOT5 causing premature failure of rubber brake parts were more common with early DOT5 formulations. This is thought to be due to improper addition of swelling agents and has been fixed in recent formulations.
Since DOT5 does not absorb water, any moisture in the hydraulic system will "puddle" in one place. This can cause localized corrosion in the hydraulics.
Careful bleeding is required to get all of the air out of the system. Small bubbles can form in the fluid that will form large bubbles over time. It may be necessary to do a series of bleeds.
DOT5 is slightly compressible (giving a very slightly soft pedal), and has a lower boiling point than DOT4.
DOT5 is about twice as expensive as DOT4 fluid. It is also difficult to find, generally only available at selected auto parts stores.

bbenakjr wrote:I have a question. Can you powder coat a Brake Master Cylinder? I've tried paint, clear coat, in a can. But whenever some brake fluid leaks, it peels. Any ideas on this?

Thanks Buddy

bbenakjr, I do powder coating as my second income. You can do Master Cylinder and like quoted above remove all rubber seals, they don't like the cure process. As far as peeling, if it is cured correctly in a process controlled oven (not a home oven as I have saw mentioned before), and a special type clearcoat on it, it will not peel. I have my brake cylinders done and they have held up great, and have done many show bikes and they have not had any problems I know of, and it been about a year or so now. Also what color or you doing them in, what type of powder, and source of powder?

Ignore that last question, I didn't read your original post as well as I should have.

bandit: Whats 'process controlled' and why shouldn't one use a home oven? I was thinking of using a $20 kitchen oven to do small parts.