[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by chanomatik

I just hate their font and how functional the calipers look. It's almost like the calipers are OEM colored, but then the font and yellow logo try to make them appear to be aftermarket. I'm all about looks, though. I'd sacrifice performance just for something that looks cohesive. I'm still learning a lot from your mods though, and I'll always appreciate that over any personal taste of mine that may differ from your own.

This is kinda long so I apologize in advance but they did a great job of explaining the looks/finish.

Most aftermarket calipers come in a painted finish, whether they are red, black, or gold. The painted finish is for corrosion resistance and appearance.

Unfortunately, for all of the compliments pretty gold calipers generate, there is an associated price if you drive the car in a track environment. That price is the chipping, flaking, fading, color shift, and general decimation of the finish in a fairly short period of time. We’ve seen painted OEM and aftermarket calipers go from the as-delivered color to a nasty shade of brown in as little as one weekend. While this is typically worn as a badge of honor among our more hardcore customers, let’s face it…they still look terrible. More importantly though, all of those bits of paint end up in places they’re not supposed to, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Why does this happen? Heat. Paint and powder coat cannot adequately handle the temperatures that calipers hit when run on a track. Powder coat also has some notorious issues with shrinkage. The powder coat layer expands and grows when the caliper is heated. When it cools however, the powder coat doesn’t necessarily shrink in step with the caliper body itself. What’s left is a loose shell of finish hanging limply on the caliper body. That shell then cracks and falls to pieces.

Paint can also have similar issues depending on how it is applied. If you were to line up a few aftermarket calipers from the same manufacturer, you would likely see that the painted finish on each of those calipers is slightly different. Some have a thicker coat, some thinner, slightly different shades of red, etc. Painting is to some extent an art form, and must be performed in a tightly controlled environment. If it isn’t, you’re always going to see variation. A thick coat makes the part look soft around the edges, and is prone to cracking off in the same manner as the powder coat described above, leaving the underlying finish exposed. A part without enough paint will look uneven, and will not protect the underlying aluminum particularly well either.

In addition to problems with cracking, flaking, and uneven application, paint and powder coat also experience extreme color shift when heated. Red becomes maroon or black, gold becomes brown, and black just gets uglier.

Now let’s take a look at some real racing calipers.

The caliper we're using in our Essex Competition Brake Systems is the AP Racing CP8350. This caliper was designed to be ultra-lightweight, stiff, and durable under all track conditions. The finish we chose is a hard anodizing. Hard anodizing is the business under track conditions.

When raw aluminum reacts with the oxygen in the air, a hard surface film develops on aluminum which prevents further degradation. The process is called oxidation, and you can think of it like rust. The anodizing process leverages this natural phenomenon, and takes it a step further to produce an extremely hard protective layer of aluminum oxide on the aluminum. It does so by running an electrical current through an acid bath, and dying it to the desired color. If you want to know more, Google it.

The result is a finish that is far more appropriate for racetrack use. Anodizing creates a uniform surface that is much more abrasion resistant than paint or powder coat. That means if you ding an anodized caliper with a box wrench when bleeding it, a big chunk of the finish isn’t going to chip off into your hand. While anodized calipers will still exhibit minor color shift, it will take a lot more heat to get them to change, and they won’t change as dramatically. They will go from semi-ugly grey, to a semi-ugly grey-brown (see below). In short, they’ll look like the race calipers they are. More importantly though, you aren’t going to have bits of anodizing sticking to the sides of your pistons.

Please do keep in mind however, that every yellow AP logo is hand painted on the caliper. It will degrade over time, particularly if you slop brake fluid all over it. Our customers asked us for something with at least a little visual punch and some brand recognition, so we had to offer them this token. Also keep in mind that an anodized finish is not designed to be driven through road salt.