BMW Roundel Blue Calipers

SAM135iAM · 03-25-2013, 10:36 AM

I've been having the itch to make my car a bit more unique. I'm looking into getting BBS LM style wheels and having the centers painted a golden bronze with a brushed stepped lip and use the BMW roundel center cap. I am a fan of colored calipers, so I thought having the calipers painted the same color as the blue in the BMW roundel would be pretty boss and have the BMW decal on the calipers in white. Red is out of the question as I believe it is a bit to played out. The other option I considered for the calipers is to have them painted black and have the BMW decal in the same color as the BMW roundel blue. Feel free to throw your thoughts out there.

MLSavage · 03-25-2013, 11:46 AM

I tried that personally on my E46 and failed miserably. The calipers were too dirty to clean well enough. My blue turned out too light and it was not worth the hassle of doing it myself at all. I would definitely take them to a professional.

Note the calipers on my E46 are uncovered steel but on our E82 they are already covered in paint/something. This will either aid the painting process or hinder it even more. The upside is that there is no way the calipers could be as dirty as a 10 year old car. I know I have seen photos of the stock brakes turning colors due to extreme heat.

My thoughts were to paint them BMW blue with the M logo stenciled on, basically what the M135i is equipped with as standard. The lucky bastards...

Gray_Panther · 03-25-2013, 11:50 AM

Stencil it! Use an all purpose cleaner to get it clean.

SAM135iAM · 03-25-2013, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MLSavage

I tried that personally on my E46 and failed miserably. The calipers were too dirty to clean well enough. My blue turned out too light and it was not worth the hassle of doing it myself at all. I would definitely take them to a professional.

Note the calipers on my E46 are uncovered steel but on our E82 they are already covered in paint/something. This will either aid the painting process or hinder it even more. The upside is that there is no way the calipers could be as dirty as a 10 year old car. I know I have seen photos of the stock brakes turning colors due to extreme heat.

My thoughts were to paint them BMW blue with the M logo stenciled on, basically what the M135i is equipped with as standard. The lucky bastards...

Hey thanks for the reply man, and good info! Yeah, those M135i guys are lucky!

631twentyeighteye · 03-25-2013, 11:53 AM

I painted my 128's red with caliper paint.. Just use a power drill with a wire brush and clean them really well with brake cleaner. My paint stuck on fine after prepping the surface, I used brush on paint but spray paint would work fine as well as long as it's caliper paint. The hardest part would be matching the color, but you can test it on something else to compare before you put it on the calipers.

SAM135iAM · 03-25-2013, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 631twentyeighteye

I painted my 128's red with caliper paint.. Just use a power drill with a wire brush and clean them really well with brake cleaner. My paint stuck on fine after prepping the surface, I used brush on paint but spray paint would work fine as well as long as it's caliper paint. The hardest part would be matching the color, but you can test it on something else to compare before you put it on the calipers.

Good advice. I did the same on my S4. I'm planning on having this all done professionally at a local powder coating shop though. Order my paint through http://www.prismaticpowders.com and have the shop do the work. I'm hoping I'll have it all figured out by summer time and get everything set up nice for summer.

andrey_gta · 03-25-2013, 12:26 PM

This reminds me of BMW 135i tii concept

http://www.roadfly.com/new-cars/wp-c...im-caliper.jpg

SAM135iAM · 03-25-2013, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrey_gta

This reminds me of BMW 135i tii concept

http://www.roadfly.com/new-cars/wp-c...im-caliper.jpg

Yes! I saw this about 30 min ago during my research on the topic. That looks real good!

SAM135iAM · 03-26-2013, 01:29 PM

Random idea just popped into my head! What about digital camo painted brake calipers!?!?

Sylon · 03-26-2013, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAM135iAM

Random idea just popped into my head! What about digital camo painted brake calipers!?!?

They would just look dirty unless you were looking really close at them. I would stick with a solid color.

I really want to do red to match my interior, but I heard it voids the warranty on them.

SAM135iAM · 03-26-2013, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylon

They would just look dirty unless you were looking really close at them. I would stick with a solid color.

I really want to do red to match my interior, but I heard it voids the warranty on them.

Yeah, good point on the dirty look. That's crazy about it voiding warranty! I'm going to look into that!

andrey_gta · 03-26-2013, 07:34 PM

Camo is kinda cool idea

The Perfomance yellow, OEM grey, and the tii blue all look good beause of some pearl in the paint. I dont know if solid colors would look as good. Some people have painted these yellow and black.

twin fed · 03-27-2013, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylon

I really want to do red to match my interior, but I heard it voids the warranty on them.

Are you serious about that or not? I thought that you were joking at first but then thinking about it, I could see them saying something like that!

Ammonia · 03-27-2013, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twin fed

Are you serious about that or not? I thought that you were joking at first but then thinking about it, I could see them saying something like that!

Lol that'd be ridiculous to void over that... But I've heard some silly reasons for voiding warranties, so it may not be so farfetched.

OFF-TOPIC: I see you recently added an 09' A4 to your stable, I did too. (Wife's car).

Weird that we both have 08' 135i's and 09 B8 A4s. Hers is Aruba blue, whats yours?

twin fed · 03-28-2013, 12:49 PM

Sorry....... but yeah that is pretty funny. Mine is black

Sylon · 03-28-2013, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twin fed

Are you serious about that or not? I thought that you were joking at first but then thinking about it, I could see them saying something like that!

I think the reason why is because you would have to take the caliper apart to powdercoat it. So, in doing so, BMW wouldn't be able to prove that if a problem came about afterwards that it wasn't manufacture defect. They would just blame it on you for taking it apart.

I dunno, it's all hearsay at this point.

andrey_gta · 04-03-2013, 04:21 PM

See a recent 1m converstion thread for blue calipers

NickyC · 04-04-2013, 01:17 PM

Caliper painting is a must! I had mine sent off to be powdercoated in rally yellow, with the Brembo logo imprinted. I've had mine for over a year now, and the coating and everything has held up perfectly. I also removed the two balancers from the calipers, as those look awful imho, and I couldn't tell any difference at once removed.

MLSavage · 04-04-2013, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickyC

Caliper painting is a must! I had mine sent off to be powdercoated in rally yellow, with the Brembo logo imprinted. I've had mine for over a year now, and the coating and everything has held up perfectly. I also removed the two balancers from the calipers, as those look awful imho, and I couldn't tell any difference at once removed.

I know it varies, but how much did you pay for the powdercoating? I assume you did all 4? Did the place you got them done at already have the brembo stencil?

NickyC · 04-04-2013, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MLSavage

I know it varies, but how much did you pay for the powdercoating? I assume you did all 4? Did the place you got them done at already have the brembo stencil?

Gah, I can't remember exactly how much I paid!! I don't want to give a quote over above what I paid, as to hurt his business. I just know at the time I was very happy with the price. Here is where I went to:

http://www.thepowdercoater.com/

I had all four done at the same time. I actually sourced four calipers (two used front, two new rear), and shipped them off to be coated while still driving my car. Then when I swapped them, I sold the stock calipers and got all my money back for buying the extra four. You can check out his work, he already has the Brembo stencil and does it quite frequently. Thanks!

jkoral · 04-04-2013, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylon

I think the reason why is because you would have to take the caliper apart to powdercoat it. So, in doing so, BMW wouldn't be able to prove that if a problem came about afterwards that it wasn't manufacture defect. They would just blame it on you for taking it apart.

I dunno, it's all hearsay at this point.

It's happened before: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721021

EDIT: Here's a better thread from the same guy: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721018

03-25-2013, 10:36 AM	#1
SAM135iAM Lieutenant 51 Rep 403 Posts Drives: 11' 135i DCT Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Dallas Texas iTrader: (0)	BMW Roundel Blue Calipers I've been having the itch to make my car a bit more unique. I'm looking into getting BBS LM style wheels and having the centers painted a golden bronze with a brushed stepped lip and use the BMW roundel center cap. I am a fan of colored calipers, so I thought having the calipers painted the same color as the blue in the BMW roundel would be pretty boss and have the BMW decal on the calipers in white. Red is out of the question as I believe it is a bit to played out. The other option I considered for the calipers is to have them painted black and have the BMW decal in the same color as the BMW roundel blue. Feel free to throw your thoughts out there.
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03-25-2013, 11:46 AM	#2
MLSavage Second Lieutenant 22 Rep 277 Posts Drives: 2010 135i AW 6MT Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL iTrader: (0)	I tried that personally on my E46 and failed miserably. The calipers were too dirty to clean well enough. My blue turned out too light and it was not worth the hassle of doing it myself at all. I would definitely take them to a professional. Note the calipers on my E46 are uncovered steel but on our E82 they are already covered in paint/something. This will either aid the painting process or hinder it even more. The upside is that there is no way the calipers could be as dirty as a 10 year old car. I know I have seen photos of the stock brakes turning colors due to extreme heat. My thoughts were to paint them BMW blue with the M logo stenciled on, basically what the M135i is equipped with as standard. The lucky bastards... __________________ 2010 N54 135i - Alpine White - 6MT - M-Sport - LCI Blacklines - 1M Mirrors - PSS - Powdercoated Black 261M SELLING MY CAR
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03-25-2013, 11:50 AM	#3
Gray_Panther Brigadier General 1555 Rep 3,234 Posts Drives: 128i Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Upstate NY iTrader: (0)	Stencil it! Use an all purpose cleaner to get it clean. __________________ 2012 BMW 128i 6MT Deep Sea Blue Metallic
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03-25-2013, 11:53 AM	#5
631twentyeighteye Colonel 198 Rep 2,239 Posts Drives: 08 335i Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Long island iTrader: (7)	I painted my 128's red with caliper paint.. Just use a power drill with a wire brush and clean them really well with brake cleaner. My paint stuck on fine after prepping the surface, I used brush on paint but spray paint would work fine as well as long as it's caliper paint. The hardest part would be matching the color, but you can test it on something else to compare before you put it on the calipers. __________________ 08 e93 335i MT
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03-25-2013, 12:26 PM	#7
andrey_gta Brigadier General 298 Rep 4,040 Posts Drives: 130i coupé ;) Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Bimmerpost iTrader: (1) Garage List 2008 BMW 128i [10.00]	This reminds me of BMW 135i tii concept http://www.roadfly.com/new-cars/wp-c...im-caliper.jpg __________________ 128i Sport 6MT converted to Euro 130i spec, 3.73 diff, tuned by evolve ~220 whp 207 wtq(ft-lb) SAE In-progress: //M front arm, M3 rack, e36M lip Wishlist: Coils, n55 mnts, headers, LSD, e60 finn diff "The 1-series is the last car that BMW engineered before the Germans, as a car-making culture, fell out of love with driving." - R&T 2013 135is
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03-26-2013, 01:29 PM	#9
SAM135iAM Lieutenant 51 Rep 403 Posts Drives: 11' 135i DCT Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Dallas Texas iTrader: (0)	Random idea just popped into my head! What about digital camo painted brake calipers!?!?
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03-26-2013, 07:34 PM	#12
andrey_gta Brigadier General 298 Rep 4,040 Posts Drives: 130i coupé ;) Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Bimmerpost iTrader: (1) Garage List 2008 BMW 128i [10.00]	Camo is kinda cool idea The Perfomance yellow, OEM grey, and the tii blue all look good beause of some pearl in the paint. I dont know if solid colors would look as good. Some people have painted these yellow and black. __________________ 128i Sport 6MT converted to Euro 130i spec, 3.73 diff, tuned by evolve ~220 whp 207 wtq(ft-lb) SAE In-progress: //M front arm, M3 rack, e36M lip Wishlist: Coils, n55 mnts, headers, LSD, e60 finn diff "The 1-series is the last car that BMW engineered before the Germans, as a car-making culture, fell out of love with driving." - R&T 2013 135is
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03-28-2013, 12:49 PM	#15
twin fed Doc Brown 1176 Rep 2,174 Posts Drives: 2016 MG MT M2 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Isle of Long iTrader: (2)	Sorry....... but yeah that is pretty funny. Mine is black __________________
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04-03-2013, 04:21 PM	#17
andrey_gta Brigadier General 298 Rep 4,040 Posts Drives: 130i coupé ;) Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Bimmerpost iTrader: (1) Garage List 2008 BMW 128i [10.00]	See a recent 1m converstion thread for blue calipers __________________ 128i Sport 6MT converted to Euro 130i spec, 3.73 diff, tuned by evolve ~220 whp 207 wtq(ft-lb) SAE In-progress: //M front arm, M3 rack, e36M lip Wishlist: Coils, n55 mnts, headers, LSD, e60 finn diff "The 1-series is the last car that BMW engineered before the Germans, as a car-making culture, fell out of love with driving." - R&T 2013 135is
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04-04-2013, 01:17 PM	#18
NickyC Lieutenant General 17485 Rep 10,663 Posts Drives: M4 CS. Former G82, x2 F82, F80 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Jacked out of my mind iTrader: (23)	Caliper painting is a must! I had mine sent off to be powdercoated in rally yellow, with the Brembo logo imprinted. I've had mine for over a year now, and the coating and everything has held up perfectly. I also removed the two balancers from the calipers, as those look awful imho, and I couldn't tell any difference at once removed.
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