Painted Calipers? Color? Leave as is?

[sarends]

I have a 2011 Alpine White on Oyster XDRIVE 5.0 Sports Package Adaptive Drive X5. LOVE the car!

The car came with Style 335 19" x 9" wheels - good wheel, and Ialso like the look - I ran Vredestein Wintrac snows this winter - super setup! I will simply swap back to these wheels next Winter.

In the meantime . . .

I just received and installed Avante Garde M510 20" wheels with Vredestein Ultrac SUV Sessantas in staggered setup - 315/35/20 (rears) and 275/40/20 (fronts).

I promise to post pics of the new wheels tomorrow afternoon after I wash her up (and it gets into the 50s)


My calipers are kinda rusty and generally unappealing. Now that the (very open pattern) wheels have been installed the (unattractive rusty-ish) calipers are even more visible.

I have decided to paint the calipers one of these glossy colors:

Black
Traditional Red
BMW Roundel Blue
Bright Blue (Porsche Riviera Blue)
Bright Yellow

Perhaps something as seemingly trivial as caliper color may not be worth commenting on by many of you, but if you have an opinion, I would love to hear it!

I happen to feel that (surprisingly) the smallest things make a (surprisingly) big difference. And, when I see (certain, not all) vehicles with painted calipers I tend to like the clean and sporty appearance it gives.

Thx

[1naztyx5]

it would be between yellow or blue for me if you most do colors...if not, black or just plain silver as our calipers are really nothing special to look at so why bring more attention just my 0.2

[Couper93]

It maybe the pad spring that's rusty. I polished my caliper with a wire brush attachment for my drill and painted the spring caliper high temp black...

[sarends]

Yes, it is (primarily) the spring pad - it looks the worse. I think that is a pretty good idea - clean it up! I think if I paint the calipers something cool, the rest of the brake assembly is not going to look good.

Originally Posted by Couper93

It maybe the pad spring that's rusty. I polished my caliper with a wire brush attachment for my drill and painted the spring caliper high temp black...

[blue dragon]

I used silver caliper paint on mine, almost identical to what was there when the car was new

[sarends]

That sounds like a simple idea - I like it.

Originally Posted by blue dragon

I used silver caliper paint on mine, almost identical to what was there when the car was new

[ard]

Painting calipers with 'upsized' wheels tends to exaggerate the fact that the calipers and rotors are still puny. People have lost sight of the fact that the REASON for going to larger wheels was to gain more rotor and more stopping power and heat dissipation...instead, bigger wheels have become their own design element.

Nothing like fat, big reds nussled up against the rim. But when you can put your hand past the rotor with the wheel on..... eh.

A

[sarends]

When two different wheels are available from the factory - are larger brakes sometimes fitted to accommodate?

Originally Posted by ard

Painting calipers with 'upsized' wheels tends to exaggerate the fact that the calipers and rotors are still puny. People have lost sight of the fact that the REASON for going to larger wheels was to gain more rotor and more stopping power and heat dissipation...instead, bigger wheels have become their own design element.

Nothing like fat, big reds nussled up against the rim. But when you can put your hand past the rotor with the wheel on..... eh.

A

[jeremym]

Originally Posted by sarends

When two different wheels are available from the factory - are larger brakes sometimes fitted to accommodate?

That was entirely ard's point. They've become their own design element; form over function. To answer your question, I'm pretty sure the answer is "no."

[95wildtt]

Blue.
Rust-Oleum Ford Blue, perfect match for the BMW Blue on the Roundell.
Also good to 500 degrees.

RustOleum.com