I painted the hubs, caliper hanger and retainer black...added a nice seperation.

Great point guys - I think I'll add painting the hubs to my list, should have done it while the wheels were off. It would look MUCH better that way and would protect against rust as well.

I put brembos drilled rotors on mine and they have been excellent. I put them on about 112,000 miles ago and never had any issues with crack, or vibration. I too put them on for looks. And I still like looking at them. I'm not sure if they are still selling them , but another option is EBC. Search Brembo Rotors and you will see some pics I posted.

Great - thanks for the suggestion. I'll go search.

Irotors.com for drilled and slotted rotors. Don't waste your money on Brembo rotors. I get more compliments on my rotors than my angel eyes or lowering kit

I'll check them out as well when the time comes. Thanks.

I also just ordered the G2 caliper in red to paint the calipers on my X5M. I've heard of "clear coating" the calipers after painting them. Does anyone know where to buy the clear coat and what kind to get?

Why are people ordering paint to do this? Caliper paint is readily available at Schuck's/O'Reilly's, Autozone, etc right there on the shelves for about $9 a can. I did red and black, spent maybe $30 for all 4 corners it still looks great without any chipping. The biggest gains you'll get from this whole job is doing a thorough prep and taking your time masking areas where the pads make any contact with the caliper, rubber boots and bleed screw nipple, hosing to the caliper and then masking off the vehicle for overspray. I've seen the brush-on kind before, but a spray will float itself much better and leaves a consistant coat thickness, and without the potential for brush lines. The hardest part of the whole job was the dirty cleaning work and having the patience to let it cure since I wanted to hurry up, throw the wheels back on and check out how much better it looked. They clean 10x easier now since the finish is so smooth, so even with stock calipers, it was still worth it.

In my limited experience with painting calipers, I have found that G2 or,
the stuff at the AutoZone, tend to have a considerable gloss effect all
by itself...I see no need for any clear coat.
GL, mD

:iagree: I considered clearcoating myself as well, but I was too impatient as is waiting for it all to dry. It's still quite glossy after almost a year, and if it ever does start getting to the point of appearing dull, I could also go back and clear then. It's held up quite well being sprayed down with degreaser and washmitted clean about every week or more since I'm constantly washing the X before the bugs bake onto the front end.