I had an exhaust manifold ceramic coated by Embee last year and it turned out great. I came back to use them for powder coating my brake calipers and I had a really bad experience this time around.
The initial conversation / start of the process was positive when I dropped off my calipers. Eric answered all of my questions and listened to what I had to say. I left my calipers with him along with a bag of my old piston seals. I recommended that they use the old seals as a masking template since they are consumable and I have brand new ones to install. Before I left, they told me it would take 1.5 - 2 weeks to complete.
When I picked up the calipers, I immediately noticed a problem with the spraying. They clearly did not use my old seals as a masking template and sprayed onto the lip sealing surface of my cylinders. Additionally, there was leftover blue tape trapped under powder coat and small amounts of over spray inside the piston bore. I asked the cashier if I should be concerned about this. She said, "no it's fine, we do it like this all the time."
When I tried assembling the brand new seals, they did not fit over the lip. The powder coated surfaced added over a millimeter of thickness to the lip and the seal would not sit over it. I returned the calipers to Embee for rework as it was unacceptable like this.
I reiterated that they should use my old seals as a masking template in order to avoid spraying in places they shouldn't be spraying in. I also alternatively suggested to just not spray the inside of the caliper entirely.
Another 2 weeks went by and they charged me again for service upon pick up. This time, the insides of the caliper were left as unfinished cast iron like I requested. However, there was still over spray from the masking. It didn't matter to me since I was going to use VHT over it and my old seals to spray the insides myself.
My second attempt at assembling my calipers was again halted due to over spray onto the threads of my bleeder valve. I will need to either use a thread chaser to clean out the powder coating and risk getting pieces of powder coat inside my caliper, or have them redone somewhere else. I don't want to return my calipers back to Embee for a third session of rework and service charges.
A few other notes:
- There seems to be a lack of communication within the company or something. From my experience, the front desk, cashier, labor in the back are not coordinated. Front desk originally quoted me $80/caliper, but cashier charged me only $60/caliper. Not a bad thing, but something was off. Both times when my calipers were complete, I never received a phone call telling me it was done. I had to check in to see if they were done.
- I notice that they like to get to the invoice first, before showing you the finished product/service. On both experiences with different cashiers, they presented me with an invoice and pen to sign first. I had to ask them to bring me my calipers first before I sign off on the work and hand over my credit card. read more