Custom brake callipers

[Curare86]

Looking to get my callipers painted, as I want them to be gloss red and I'm too broke to buy a BBK after all the other mods. Anyone know of a good place in WA? Ive only been able to find Beyond Custom in Morley but they charge $450 which seems pricey and can't find any reviews. I know lots of people do it themselves but I have no idea how to bleed the brakes etc. to take the callipers off.

[woosh]

What does the $450 include? Removal, powdercoating, reinstall? If so, that's an ok price.

You can buy some caliper specific paint off ebay for ~$100 delivered. Mask around the calipers and just paint away? lol

[GJA003]

I just restored my e87 brakes (rotors and calipers) from the dirty rusty black look cost me 30 dollars and a bout 2 hours on each one i just did mine something close to oem in silver but i'm not a fan of red brakes on non big brake kits just my opinion but yeah best to save the 450 to wards the BBk's.

[MrBlonde]

Painting your OEM calipers red ... not such a hot idea.

[Curare86]

Originally Posted by Ian///M

Never got painted callipers? ... Leave them stock on a BMW

Originally Posted by MrBlonde

Painting your OEM calipers red ... not such a hot idea.

Can I ask why you guys think it'll look so crap?

[MadMan77]

Originally Posted by MrBlonde

Painting your OEM calipers red ... not such a hot idea.

+1

Would love to know the reasoning behind this statement.

[sparoz]

No difference to changing the grilles black IMO. However, at that price, I would rather wait a little and save up for that bbk.

[Curare86]

Originally Posted by Ian///M

Well if they ain't performance brakes why pretend they are? Same as sticking an ///M badge on a non ///M car IMO. Less is more!

Not trying to pretend; just for aesthetics. Reckon red would look good with BSM and gunmetal rims

Originally Posted by sparoz

No difference to changing the grilles black IMO. However, at that price, I would rather wait a little and save up for that bbk.

If I had another 3k it'd go into an LSD first though. This car's a never-ending drain on my bank balance

[Unkie]

There are heaps of DIY guides on the interwebs on repainting calipers. Just buy VHT hight temp caliper paint and go for your life.

With the BMW "Performance" monoblock calipers that comes with your 135i it will look good painted.

Repainted calipers does not necessarily equate wannabe performance. It's just paint. Like someone said above - it's no different to changing the colour of your grill, or rear diffuser, or halo rings for that matter - pure aesthetics.

In any case, the discussion is how to get your calipers painted, not whether we like them.

So as above - VHT paint is the way to go. Along with masking tape and plenty of newspaper. U can do laparotomies - this'll be a piece of cake! Haha

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by Curare86

If I had another 3k it'd go into an LSD first though. This car's a never-ending drain on my bank balance

Lol, welcome to the club.

[Zuzu]

Originally Posted by Unkie

In any case, the discussion is how to get your calipers painted, not whether we like them.

So as above - VHT paint is the way to go. Along with masking tape and plenty of newspaper. U can do laparotomies - this'll be a piece of cake! Haha

Agree... Would love to paint mine VO... Would look the money with my gunmetal rims..

[thomas135]

I've painted some old calipers (4 pot Subaru) previously with caliper paint to give them a freshen up. They looked ok for a few months, but the red then begins to fade badly and looks terrible.

Also if you have a 135 the quality of the standard finish is excellent, and you won't be able to re-produce that with a aerosol can.

Also don't try and paint them whilst on the car, last thing you want is overspray that close to your car.

[Unkie]

Originally Posted by Ian///M

Why paint them? ... I don't get it?.... Please educate me

I guess it's an individual preference on aesthetics. If it looks nicer in the eyes of the beholder, then the point is fulfilled.

[Zuzu]

Originally Posted by Ian///M

No no no .... Looks cheap IMO

Don't think it will look cheap, if they where professionally painted..

[Curare86]

Originally Posted by Zuzu

Don't think it will look cheap, if they where professionally painted..

+1
I'll post some photos when I get it done so then everyone can flame me :P

[Zuzu]

I remember Stuart@BMR painting his calipers GOLD on his 135i/120D BSM coupe some time ago..It looked decent..

And they where painted by brush..

Maybe Stu can chime in and give us his feedback on the final result after some 10 months of "spirited" driving.

[Alpine*]

My polo GTi stock calipers are factory red BMW did the limited M3 iirc in red too, what's the big issue guys, paint em.

Whilst a Porsche yesterday, I made comment of the ratio of the disks/calipers on the new Box to the now 20's being standard, that they look puny (factory red colour). The sales guy said get them painted yellow and people will think they are ceramic (Porsche cars ceramics all come with yellow calipers) hahaha that'll fix it.

[sbce90]

I had 135i calipers painted in yellow. Due to a dodgy paintbrush job for first attempt I sent it to be done professionally. As you can tell, the stock caliper already has a painted finish, so for best results you need to sand it back a bit. Anyway here are some pics of what mine looked like.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=16

[froop]

Originally Posted by sbce90

I had 135i calipers painted in yellow. Due to a dodgy paintbrush job for first attempt I sent it to be done professionally. As you can tell, the stock caliper already has a painted finish, so for best results you need to sand it back a bit. Anyway here are some pics of what mine looked like.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...3&postcount=16

sbce90, are you in Sydney?

Were did you get them painted and how much did it cost you?

[Stuart@BMRAutowerkes]

Originally Posted by Zuzu

I remember Stuart@BMR painting his calipers GOLD on his 135i/120D BSM coupe some time ago..It looked decent..

And they where painted by brush..

Maybe Stu can chime in and give us his feedback on the final result after some 10 months of "spirited" driving.

Whoops totally missed this thread,

Yeh I painted mine Gold.

Purely aesthetics. The grey is boring and frankly I'm modding my car to make it more individual. Tempted to go (bright) green just to mix it up.

Here's pics of my gold calipers (still look as good as day one as long as they're clean!)

[sbce90]

Originally Posted by froop

sbce90, are you in Sydney?

Were did you get them painted and how much did it cost you?

Yeh I'm in Sydney. It cost me quite a bit (a few hundred) because some people tried to hand paint it using caliper paint and f*cked it up very badly. A lot of time was required to sand off and even out the surface after my friends' DIY attempt. If you send in a stock clean caliper then it will be cheaper than what I paid. Unfortunately I can't recall the actual $$ price as it was a while ago but I had it done by Trivett Tyres in Alexandria. The finish was fantastic and very happy I had it professionally painted rather than DIY job.

[RaihaX]

let me know if you ever get it done - I want to see what it looks like

It seems like you are taking over as the new mod fanatic in Perth btw!