Powder Coated Brake Calipers
 

Has anyone here powder coated their brake calipers? I do not think it would be to tough of a job to strip the calipers and have them powder coated. I love the look of the Brembo brakes but at $4,000 it is a bit :rolleyes: pricey. (Why are their systems so damn expensive??) I figure for minimal cost I could have the calipers powder coated and get some nice drilled and slotted rotors.

I would also consider buying a second set of 4.6 calipers to do the powder coating on so the X would not be off the road for more than the day it takes to do the brakes.

I have seen the jobs the guys have done painting their calipers and they do look nice but I figure if I am going to do it why not take it up a notch. powder coating is relatively cheap top get done.

Anyone know have the names of good cross drilled & slotted rotors? Can you buy just the Brembo rotors? (Love the look of the black center on that rotor!!)What do they go for??

Have you had any luck finding drilled and or slotted rotors for the 4.6is?? (that does not require a second mortgage) I am in the need of new pads and rotors and would like to do something a little different than OEM.

Thanks in advance:)

Bavarian Auto has some overpriced powder coated stock calipers.

http://www.bavauto.com/shop.asp

Stoptech is an option. You could get 4 calipers for $2,000

http://www.stoptech.com/user/SearchResults.asp

or Stoptech's rotor and pad upgrade:

http://www.stoptech.com/products/sta...upgrades.shtml

Not sure of the price of the rotor upgrade. The website does not show it and I have not gotten around to giving them a call.

Does anyone on here have any experience with Stoptech?

Well after a vast amount of research into brake options for the X5 I decided to obtain powder coated calipers for my X. Brembo and Stoptech are too expensive and painting the calipers is not permanent enough for me.

I looked into purchasing powder coated calipers online and I thought I had found a few retailers who could do it. After completing my purchase I was subsequently informed that the 4.6is calipers were not available. With a bit of research I figured out what company does the rebuilding and powder coating.

I contacted them to inquire when the 4.6is calipers would be available. They informed me that they had a problem with a supplier and would not have 4.6is calipers for a while. (This still does not make 100% sense to me due to the fact that these calipers are sold on a core exchange.) They did tell me that if I sent them a set of calipers they would rebuild and powder coat them. That was great but my X is my daily driver so I could not remove my calipers and send them off to be rebuilt. Things did not look so good for my brake project.

I happened to be surfing on Ebay when I found a full set of 4.6is brakes for sale! I was elated. I bought those and sent them off to be rebuilt and powder coated!!

I had also researched brake rotors. I wanted cross drilled merely for the asthetics. I do not like that the Brembo aftermarket or the Powerstops have a gold finish to them. With some more searching I found SP Performance. They make a cross drilled rotor with the holes beveled so as to not have any sharp edges. I thought about their nickel plated rotors for a bit extra but thoguth they might be a bit too shiny. (I still debate if I should have gone with the nickel plated.) Unfortunatley, SP does not sell the cross drilled for the rear. I am still trying to decide what to do for the rear rotors. Might just go stock with some high heat paint to stave of corrosion.

I decided to go with the Axxis Deluxe ceramic brake pads. After reading all of the posts from the guys who have them I was sold. No more brake dust for me!!!!!

Oh, I will have a set of 4.6is brakes for sale. Give me a little while to figure out what exactly i am selling and what I want for them. No PM's yet please!

02Sil: You should have jumped on the nick-plated rotors; I did, and they are stunning. I got them from the same outfit, SP Performance. I also got a set of rear rotors from Bavauto; they are crossed drilled, but not as beautiful as the front crossed drilled nick plated. Powder-coated the calipers the same color as the X (the haters can bite me) with a machine finish clip. It all looks dreamy thru the 22inch Forgiato Vizzos.......... When the package is parked, people are constantly gazing.......

Ok, let's see some pics of the nikel plated and the Bavauto rotors!!

i like the high contrast :thumbup:

lets see them with the wheels on!

Ask an ye shall receive!

nice, very nice....

So how do you like the axxis brake pads compared to oem?

I opted for the Brembo cross drilled rotors (cadmium coated top hats) and painted the standard calipers with 2 coats of good quality brake paint, taking care to properly clean the rotors. Added some low dust pads.

Not the best picture in the world, but after at least 12 months/15,000 miles, I remain delighted with the performance, through the wheel look, durability of the paint an dlack of rotor corrosion.

Took me a morning to do the whole thing and not a lot of money

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...r/DSCN0525.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...9_IMG_0435.jpg

I debated alot about rotors as the one thing I hated since month 4 of ownership was the rusty rotor hats....

After reading the reviews on the Brembos, etc - as I was inclined towards a set of solids anyhow, I went with OEM.

Got a set of OEM front and rears for $240 shipped, which seemed like a good deal IMO. Rotors combined were about 85lbs

Discount OEM parts were quoting $110ish alone per rotor...and this is without shipping.

Doc, I have been runnin em for a day now and in the short amount of time I have had them they seem to be identical to stock. I think the only time that ceramic would not be comparable to stock would be in a track application where the difference would be more discernable.

Good news! Talked to SP Performance today and they informed me that the vented rear 4.6 cross drilled rotors will be available in a month or so!! Guess I have to wait a bit to do the rear brake job.

Oh, the difference in brake dust is amazing!!! It has been over a week since I installed my ceramic front rotors and my wheels still look great!!! I highly recommend the Axxis Deluxe brake pads. No noise and the perfornamce feels the same.

2002 i have a 4.6 aswell , can i just change the pads and leave the stock rotors ??

essentially just to get away from all the brake dust !!

thanks neil...

The ceramic pads will work with the stock rotors. It depends on how many miles you have on the rotors. If they have relatively low mileage I would think you could reuse them. I would talk to Dave at Zeckhausen to see what he thinks of your particular details:

http://www.zeckhausen.com/

I am lost on this post. How much are the stoptech kits? Is this BBK or OEM calipers for $2000?

thanks !!

Hey Doc, When I last looked at the Stoptech website the calipers were $500 each. You will have to give Stoptech a call to find out their current availability and pricing.

That is for OEM 4.6is? Do you want to sell your spare set to me now?