HELP-2012 Carbon-Ceramic Brake Calipers

[NavVette]

I purchased a 2012 Yellow Z06 (2444 Miles) that is factory optioned to essentially represent a ZR1 in appearance...minus of course, the Engine, Hood and Fenders! The difficulty I am having is in identifying the calipers on the carbon ceramic Brakes. The Build tag on the car indicates that I have the J6E Yellow Calipers however, the calipers are actually satin black finished to match the finish on the RUV Black Cup Wheels with "Corvette" emblazoned in Yellow lettering. I have searched the web for any photos of these calipers and I have not found them either factory or aftermarket. Based upon the production numbers, this is one of a possible 17 corvettes produced (36S Yellow Stitching) for the 2012 model year but, I am surprised at not being able to validate the brake caliper options. All of the yellow caliper images I've found are of full yellow with contrasting lettering. I've included a pic to clarify the appearance.
Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[Hib Halverson]

Any chance the previous owner refinished the calipers from yellow to black with yellow letters?

 

[LLC5]

I purchased a 2012 Yellow Z06 (2444 Miles) that is factory optioned to essentially represent a ZR1 in appearance...minus of course, the Engine, Hood and Fenders! The difficulty I am having is in identifying the calipers on the carbon ceramic Brakes. The Build tag on the car indicates that I have the J6E Yellow Calipers however, the calipers are actually satin black finished to match the finish on the RUV Black Cup Wheels with "Corvette" emblazoned in Yellow lettering. I have searched the web for any photos of these calipers and I have not found them either factory or aftermarket. Based upon the production numbers, this is one of a possible 17 corvettes produced (36S Yellow Stitching) for the 2012 model year but, I am surprised at not being able to validate the brake caliper options. All of the yellow caliper images I've found are of full yellow with contrasting lettering. I've included a pic to clarify the appearance.
Thanks in advance for any assistance!

View attachment 20469

Call your local dealers parts department and give them your VIN number and the J6E yellow caliper option code. Have them look up the part number for a replacement caliper and ask them if the caliper comes painted completely yellow. If it does, then it would be like Hib stated, the previous owner changed the caliper color. Good luck with it.

 

[NavVette]

Any chance the previous owner refinished the calipers from yellow to black with yellow letters?

I guess anything is possible! Here is a close up of the caliper...if it was redone, he must have paid a pretty penny because it is perfectly matched powder coat including the yellow lettering!

 

[NavVette]

Call your local dealers parts department and give them your VIN number and the J6E yellow caliper option code. Have them look up the part number for a replacement caliper and ask them if the caliper comes painted completely yellow. If it does, then it would be like Hib stated, the previous owner changed the caliper color. Good luck with it.

I'm going over there today because I'm experiencing that wind vibration effect on the cowl...I'll see what they come up with!
Thanks!

 

[NavVette]

Spent an hour with the service department and 30 min with the parts department at my local dealership today. Service dept had never seen any calipers like mine so they sent me over to parts to see what they could come up with using the VIN. Same info, J6E - yellow caliper is what they show on their build info in the computer but, the depictions in the parts computer are only word descriptions and outline drawings. Short of actually ordering a replacement, they do not have any additional information. Parts dept suggested calling Bowling Green directly to see if they have any customization info. Went back over to service dept and another of the service advisers got up close with a flash light to inspect them. The powder coat job is absolutely professional in appearance but, he noted that the crossover line to bring the fluid from the inner set of pistons to the outer set of pistons was also powder coated satin black. He indicated that he believed this is not a factory delivered caliper as that crossover line is usually bare stainless tubing however, photographic evidence in a carbon ceramic brake search via Google images indicates that all of the crossover lines are fully powder coated the same as the caliper on the yellow, red and blue (ZR1) calipers. I did find images of one late model year red set that had the bare stainless crossover but, all of the 2012 images that I found had all of the crossovers coated. After inspecting all four, he noted one spot of fish eye in the powder coat on the Left Rear caliper and a slight deformity of the coating on the crossover line of the same caliper. A perfect job in all other aspects and as he noted, it really fits the car with the setup it has. I am going to attempt to reach out to Bowling Green to see if there is anything they can tell me regarding the custom designation on the build sheet!
Thanks for the suggestions on finding a resolution.

 

[LLC5]

Spent an hour with the service department and 30 min with the parts department at my local dealership today. Service dept had never seen any calipers like mine so they sent me over to parts to see what they could come up with using the VIN. Same info, J6E - yellow caliper is what they show on their build info in the computer but, the depictions in the parts computer are only word descriptions and outline drawings. Short of actually ordering a replacement, they do not have any additional information. Parts dept suggested calling Bowling Green directly to see if they have any customization info. Went back over to service dept and another of the service advisers got up close with a flash light to inspect them. The powder coat job is absolutely professional in appearance but, he noted that the crossover line to bring the fluid from the inner set of pistons to the outer set of pistons was also powder coated satin black. He indicated that he believed this is not a factory delivered caliper as that crossover line is usually bare stainless tubing however, photographic evidence in a carbon ceramic brake search via Google images indicates that all of the crossover lines are fully powder coated the same as the caliper on the yellow, red and blue (ZR1) calipers. I did find images of one late model year red set that had the bare stainless crossover but, all of the 2012 images that I found had all of the crossovers coated. After inspecting all four, he noted one spot of fish eye in the powder coat on the Left Rear caliper and a slight deformity of the coating on the crossover line of the same caliper. A perfect job in all other aspects and as he noted, it really fits the car with the setup it has. I am going to attempt to reach out to Bowling Green to see if there is anything they can tell me regarding the custom designation on the build sheet!
Thanks for the suggestions on finding a resolution.

Bowling Green is a good idea. I'm sure they will know, but if they don't I am also sure that they will find the answer for you.

 

[NavVette]

The Service Advisor at the dealership did point out one thing that I had noticed but not correlated...each of the carbon-ceramic rotors have their relative vehicle position (RR/LR/RF/LF) marked on their inner diameter. That would not be something that the factory would need to do, installing rotors and pads for the first time which therefore, makes it very likely that they were removed from the vehicle at some point, in this case, ostensibly to have the calipers removed and sent off for refinishing. Although...the rotors would not typically need to be removed in order to remove the calipers! All that said, it seems likely that they were removed at some point, all 4 corners simultaneously (requiring the marking), for some period of time. The low mileage (2444) and carfax history report do not provide any indication nor does the GM service computer. It did have two oil changes though as well as wiper replacement...I don't think it was ever actually driven in the rain to wear out the first set of wiper blades...strange!
I'll update any info I get trudging through various folks at Bowling Green!

 

[Hib Halverson]

On the calipers used on cars with carbon brakes, pipes are "caliper color" not bare steel.

In thinking this over more, I really believe you have calipers that were pulled and painted. I say this mainly because, when GM typically offers brake color options, the name of the color is what the entire caliper is painted/coated, not what color the "Corvette" letters might be.

 

[NavVette]

On the calipers used on cars with carbon brakes, pipes are "caliper color" not bare steel.

In thinking this over more, I really believe you have calipers that were pulled and painted. I say this mainly because, when GM typically offers brake color options, the name of the color is what the entire caliper is painted/coated, not what color the "Corvette" letters might be.

Well, I've spoken with Chevrolet customer service twice now and they indicated that they will call back again on Monday...

The gist of what they have related is that these calipers must have been removed by the previous owner and sent out for refinishing. Must have been expensive as the satin black powder coat perfectly matches the cup wheels and the yellow lettering is fully inside the raised metal outline of the yellow "Corvette" lettering.

Customer service indicated that, as my RPO code indicates J6E, those calipers would have shipped from the factory as main body yellow with black lettering. For 2012, there was an additional option for black calipers (J55 RPO code) but, those did not have yellow lettering and were not satin black but rather gloss black. They were going to conduct one last check with another contact source at Bowling Green and will get in touch on Monday to confirm their info.

Guess I lucked into a gem!!

Thanks for the help!