Brake Bling - paint/bbk/covers(:|)
 

So I have always loved red brake calipers - I've got a blown brz and I'm now shopping around for new wheels and while I'm doing the new wheels I figured I'd upgrade the brakes - for bling purposes only - I track the car infrequently - mostly it's spirited driving on back roads.

I was looking for some solid feedback on the mechanical portion of pulling the brakes off and painting the calipers vs a bbk vs covers (didn't know covers existed till a coworker mentioned them - I imagine they are tacky af)

I had someone install the blower as I didn't have the time - but the brake job shouldn't take more than half a day?

If there is already a excellent thread on this please link me - I wasn't havInG much luck with my searches.

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Why not try rr-racing sport performance brakes? There's a big thread in brake/suspension thread. Not too expensive compared to other big brake kits. Never do covers, people will laugh at you (at least I do). Also if you know what you're doing, brake job doesn't take half the day. Probably a good 2 hour job, even less for quicker hands.

https://www.calipercovers.com/ for the covers, although they look tacky af imo.

If you really need to paint them, look into kits where you brush the paint on. With those I don't think you need to remove the caliper, just mask off the pad.

Car people are the only ones who really notice/care about painted calipers, and nearly every car person will recognize that your red 'brakes' are just covers. You'll get no love from anyone..lol.

My thoughts:
If purely for show and street driving the BBK route is very expensive with zero gains other than looks. There is no advantage to stopping power with a BBK and all you gain is fade resistance when hot. Not the best way to make calipers look pretty.


Covers on calipers designed to be covered are fine. Covers on calipers designed to be open can create al sorts of issues. They hold heat, gather debris and brake dust can gather and turn into a form of concrete when it gets wet. Probably not the best situation when you are talking about the things that stop your car. They may look pretty but as said the only people that will notice are car guys and they know the reality of the situation. I was going to link my standard Ebay "Fitment for all car makes and models Brambo lettering (yes Bram) clip on covers" ad but it appears to be gone.


If you really want coloured calipers then paint is the best way to go. As said there are kits you can buy to brush paint them but if you really want to spray them then just Google search how to change rotors. There are dozens of videos and DIY write ups on how to take off the calipers.

Agree with previous comments.

Simple Plan: Paint and choose a more aggressive pad. You get better looks and performance. A BBK is pointless unless you track your car a lot.

Paint and Pads. Its all you need.

Half a day ain't a bad estimate, 2 hours first time pad change and fluid bleed, 2 hours to paint and let it dry.

Yeah sure, someone will laugh at you for painting stock steel calipers, but as long as you like how it looks and you don't mess it up who gives a shit. And I agree with Tcoat, covers seem like nothing but trouble to me.

Actually changing to an aftermarket brake kit if you're not hitting the track/autox frequently screams hardparker to me, (or ignorance), and that's way more embarrassing than painted calipers imo. To each their own, the more people that buy nice kits, the cheaper it is for the people who will actually use them, I wouldn't say anything to anyone's face about it, not my car.

Here's the first five results I came up with, there are dozens more.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26884
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28172
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8824
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66377
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116899

Edit: Changing to the right pads and fluid will be the best brake upgrade you can do. Provided OE isn't adequate.

thanks for the links - i was on my mobile wasn't having any luck - i'll give these a read - if i can paint them while they are on the rotors with out having to pull the calipers off that would be ideal... of course that would require some extra care.

I just can't justify a BBK just for the bling - and i've googled the covers - and they do look pretty tacky

If you're after a particular color scheme and you only street drive, painting OEM calipers is likely your best bet. I got a BBK mostly because I track my car and wanted to lower consumable costs but half of the reason was also because they look awesome. Then there is the fact that there are around half a dozen WRB BRZs in my city and I'm the only one with Wilwood calipers which helps my car stand out. Multiple people have recognised me and my car around town because of them which I think is kind of awesome.

If you are purely street driving and you still want to get a BBK, you should keep an eye out for used 17PP brakes as I expect some people will upgrade to a proper track focused kit down the road. Otherwise, the Brembo GT kit is good too, because both kits will have dust boots.

Get some subaru 4-pots. They're red, and fairly cheap, and work with the stock rotors.

http://www.subarugenuineparts.com/sp...et?parent=1595

They're available used all over the place as well.

Covers are really lame. Sliding calipers tend to look funny when painted to stand out.

Imho getting calipers not designed for car just because they can be mounted without care to changing brake bias and for looks only is even more lame.

have any of you folks seen used brakes go up on the forums here? i could do the paint or do the bbk or wait for someone to sell the 2017 PP brakes ... anyone have any idea on the cost of those when they do pop on the for sale list?

If I see a modded car the first thing I check are the front brakes. If they are still the pissant little oem brakes then I know for sure the owner has never driven their car hard.

Especially with wheels larger diameter than OEM. Pure pose material.