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Is it cheesy to paint calipers red (or any color)?

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Insomniator

Diamond Member
I really like the look of red calipers but would never ever have a real reason to spend a grand+ on a big brake kit for commuting to work every day.

I wonder if it just looks dumb having shiny red, stock sized calipers. The car is a Mini S so everything is already small but you know what I mean. I just put thin spoke wheels on it so you can really see the brakes, the slotted rotors look pretty good, but the matte gray/old ass calipers do not.

What do you say, ATG? 'Who give a ****' is also a valid answer.

Car in question:

L1000021_zps9385d1db.jpg
 
I think it looks good on certain cars, but in this case I think it looks bad. However It's not my car and opinions are like..... Well, you know the rest. If you are happy then that is all that matters!
 
I have a sterling gray (darker gray than yours) 2013 Focus and painted mine red a couple weeks ago. I like it, but of course everyone has their own opinion on this. I think it really is a personal preference thing.

Most people probably won't even look close enough to notice it anyway.
 
I don't have a strong preference about whether or not calipers are painted but somehow the idea of painting calipers that came from the factory unpainted seems cheesy. Still, nowhere near as cheesy as some of the other things you occasionally see, like those fake Brembo caliper covers or painted drum brakes. I will say that on a flat-sided silver car with silver wheels, it would give it a little visual "pop" that might be nice.
 
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IMO it looks alright, if I were to ever paint mine, I would at least take the brake pads out before doing them. Some guy I work with just painted them pads and all and it looks like crap to me.
 
JulesMaximus said:
I'm going to paint the calipers on my Camry Hybrid yellow. I figure it will give me street cred and help sweat the bitches.
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You know how Chinese knock-offs slightly differ in what they are ripping off to avoid seizures...you should do the same.

Hand paint Brendo on there. Or Wildwood. Maybe ESB or Stoptek.
 
I did it to my stockers. I thought the unpainted gray ones were just too dull and it gives the wheels a bit better contrast to the rest of the car. I'd say it's far from being tasteless so go for it!

IMG_0255.JPG
 
I would suggest you get some aluminium foil and without removing the wheels, just cover and rap both callipers on one side,

Take a picture,

Carefully remove the foil cover, and paint them ,?? black, ??.

Slip them back on and take a picture,

And keeping trying different colours until you are happy,,
It looks a clean Mini, perhaps a clean colour like silver, ??>
 
I had to paint mine, they are cast iron. So either paint or get rusty calipers. That and I spent a lot of time sand blasting and rebuilding them.
Of course with my cars body style and open wheels painted looks much better as well.
 
no its not cheesy. Express yourself any way you want. Want to put hello kitty stickers all over your car? Go for it
 
Everyone does red, including certain OE options as others have pointed out.

I think you should do a different color, one that will compliment the silver better than red. Yellow, gold, or maybe bronze would look better than red given the colors on your car already. I would lean towards a dark gold.
 
JCH13 said:
Everyone does red, including certain OE options as others have pointed out.

I think you should do a different color, one that will compliment the silver better than red. Yellow, gold, or maybe bronze would look better than red given the colors on your car already. I would lean towards a dark gold.
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Gold hmmmmmm not a bad idea. I was thinking a different color would be cool but then chickened out. I'm not very creative!

I do want something to add some kind of color to the car... its all super subtle right now.

Black sounds good, bronze maybe. Yellow is too much.
 
Insomniator said:
Gold hmmmmmm not a bad idea. I was thinking a different color would be cool but then chickened out. I'm not very creative!

I do want something to add some kind of color to the car... its all super subtle right now.

Black sounds good, bronze maybe. Yellow is too much.
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Black will make the calipers disappear and will most definitely not add any color. This is why I painted my Miata's calipers black.

This is the sort of yellow/gold I was imagining. Not OMGWTF canary yellow, but something a little toned down.

2005porschegt2007635269.jpg
 
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