Brake Calipers - Powder Coat/Painted. Good Idea or Not?

[Baunton]

Team, thinking about adding a bit of colour and having the brake calipers either painted or powder coated.

Any people experienced in having this done?
Any hints/tips or advice?
Does it look good, bad or plain wrong on a bog standard F15 M Sport Carbon Black?
Which colours work? Which should I avoid?

Thanks in advance.

[LatinBimmer]

I don't think painting is a good idea... it looks cheap... (at least for me) and far far away from performance brakes

[opasha]

Mine are powdercoated from prasmaticpowders. They look great, and they have very high heat resistance around 400-600 degrees F.



Here's info on brake temps:

40mph to stop 43 F (moderate)
80mph to stop 172 F (hard)

120mph to 40mph 344 F (drivers school, e.g. Summit Point Turn 1)

Rob@StrasseWheels coated a client's calipers in blue and nameisjae1 did his as well recently. They both look good.

What may look great to some may not to others. Personally, if done right, they look solid. Just choose the right paint. Blue and red are usually top choices that look good on X models in my opinion. If you want some idea of how they look, here's a post I posted a while back on three different colors:

[paicapo]

Originally Posted by Baunton

Team, thinking about adding a bit of colour and having the brake calipers either painted or powder coated.

Any people experienced in having this done?
Any hints/tips or advice?
Does it look good, bad or plain wrong on a bog standard F15 M Sport Carbon Black?
Which colours work? Which should I avoid?

Thanks in advance.

I think it’s a great idea, I’m currently looking to do my calipers in brembo yellow, just make shure it’s a good shop that does it, whit the M stickers you can buy it looks really OEM, opasha looks great and there was another member that did his recently and posted pics a couple of days ago.

[MattBianco]

I think color looks good, but my taste is always a bit (if not more) off. I would do it the exact same color as the exterior. Well, almost every color; not sure I would carry over brown to the calipers.

Powder coating is more appropriate and more substantial looking.

[Armen383]

I'll be with the minority group: either go real (i.e. M-Performance brake kit which IMO is completely excessive on anything below M50d and 5.0i IF those are driven very hard) or don't bother.

[Barbja]

Originally Posted by Armen383

I'll be with the minority group: either go real (i.e. M-Performance brake kit which IMO is completely excessive on anything below M50d and 5.0i IF those are driven very hard) or don't bother.

This ties in to something I've been thinking about:

Is it just me or has BMW 'skimped' on their standard brakes in the last few years. I started noticing this in the loaner cars that I've had in the last couple of years or so, with the exception if one 3 Series that had performance brakes (they look so little).

My F16 brakes don't feel as good as my E71's did. Do any previous E70/E71 owners feel the same way? I have about 1k miles on it so far, so I would expect that the brakes a broken in already, right?

[r33_RGSport]

Originally Posted by Barbja

This ties in to something I've been thinking about:

Is it just me or has BMW 'skimped' on their standard brakes in the last few years. I started noticing this in the loaner cars that I've had in the last couple of years or so, with the exception if one 3 Series that had performance brakes (they look so little).

My F16 brakes don't feel as good as my E71's did. Do any previous E70/E71 owners feel the same way? I have about 1k miles on it so far, so I would expect that the brakes a broken in already, right?

In actual, the brakes component between E7x and F15 are the same.
Most probably is the brake pad compound different.
If you care about the performance first before the look, you can always go with aftermarket pad, like Hawk.
But, for painting or powder coating them. It is fine, but IMO, it still looks funny to have painted multi piece brake caliper.

[Armen383]

Originally Posted by Barbja

Is it just me or has BMW 'skimped' on their standard brakes in the last few years.

It's not just BMW, and it's not just brakes. Every car manufacturer now is 90% concerned about profits and profits only. They want you to change things inside your car more often and they force you to change your car every 2-3 years max, things are just not made to last anymore. It happens with BMW, Mercedes, VAG - you name it. This is why we have doors opening while driving, annoying random squeaks, faulty engines, etc. And the list just goes on and on.

You are forced to lease or buy a new car every 2 years. I might sound like a grouch, but I really miss those days when you paid >100k USD for a car and you KNEW it would just radiate quality and confidence all around. These days though... eh, let's just try to enjoy what we have

[42pilot]

For your info, powder coating or painting calipers retains heat which means fluid does not cool as fast (notice the M bodywork has brake cooling ducts, so that should tell you something) which can lead to brake fade. Granted, this is for performance driving which I am sure most of this list does not do, especially in an SUV. But, I'm just saying...

[opasha]

Here is what my friend told me about what he did not paint on my brakes and why:

"When you paint the bleeder valves, the paint creates a seal when dry, and the valves won't unscrew to bleed the brakes. Painting the brake pads will put you at risk for less stopping power and a decrese in brake life. Painting the set pins won't allow them to come out because you painted them into the caliper. Painting the rotor vents is bad because when you stop, it will smell like burning paint.

When doing brake calipers, you have to be extra cautious because any little mistake can screw them up. Yours are powdercoated with the superchrome and then metal casted, which is acid based protectant in a can. It actually protects both the super chrome and the lollipop blue because it has ceramic in it so it can handle up to 1200 degrees of heat."

[Barbja]

Originally Posted by r33

In actual, the brakes component between E7x and F15 are the same.
Most probably is the brake pad compound different.
If you care about the performance first before the look, you can always go with aftermarket pad, like Hawk.

That sounds like a good idea. I still have the giant channel set that my dad and I used on my E53, so no tool purchase required.

Why oh why does changing out my brake pads sound preferable to making another attempt at my stupid grills!

[opasha]

Originally Posted by Barbja

That sounds like a good idea. I still have the giant channel set that my dad and I used on my E53, so no tool purchase required.

Why oh why does changing out my brake pads sound preferable to making another attempt at my stupid grills!

You could try again with BXdriver's tips: http://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=61.

[Barbja]

Originally Posted by opasha

You could try again with BXdriver's tips: http://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=61.

"You will need a thin tool, like long screwdriver, lets say no more than ca 1,5mm in diameter."

Oh, you mean the long thin screwdriver that I dropped behind the grill and can't get out; the one that I can't even see? That screwdriver?? Good thing I have another one so I can go see if I can make some magic happen...

[Baunton]

opasha LatinBimmer paicapo MattBianco Armen383 Barbja 42pilot

Apologies R33, cannot for some reason '@' you

Gents. MANY thanks for all your comments and advice. I contacted my local shop and he suggests paint rather than powder coating.
As some have said its easier and quicker doing it this way so that would be my preferred option.
FYI he said it would take around 2 days and cost £250 which I think is good value.

Will give it some thought and let you know.

Thanks again!

[nameisjae1]

Here is what I did. Local shop here did it for about $180. I am very pleased with the calipers. I did not want to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade my brakes for performance b/c I am happy with my OEM brakes, thus, me choosing to powdercoat.

[Nkbm82]

^^ your M logo looks a bit crooked to me but maybe it's just my eyes...

[MattBianco]

Originally Posted by Baunton

....
FYI he said it would take around 2 days ....

If you take the plunge, photos please. The photo from nameisjae1 looks quite good. First close up photo I have seen. Much better than I anticipated from paint vs powder.

[Doanster]

Jae, did your shop coat the calipers in-place/on the car (pic suggests that)? Would be interested to see how they hold up/wear over time, especially the moveable mechanical parts like the bleeder screws, etc. as Opasha mentioned.
Also, as our stock calipers are multi-piece, there's a section of the pad that's exposed IIRC. You'll have repaint/coat those little sections when changing pads or live with black sections right?
Overall, finished product looks good. I'll leave mine stock unless I upgrade to a BBK with monoblock calipers, especially as I'm only running the stock 19" 467Ms.

[opasha]

Originally Posted by Doanster

Jae, did your shop coat the calipers in-place/on the car (pic suggests that)? Would be interested to see how they hold up/wear over time, especially the moveable mechanical parts like the bleeder screws, etc. as Opasha mentioned.
Also, as our stock calipers are multi-piece, there's a section of the pad that's exposed IIRC. You'll have repaint/coat those little sections when changing pads or live with black sections right?
Overall, finished product looks good. I'll leave mine stock unless I upgrade to a BBK with monoblock calipers, especially as I'm only running the stock 19" 467Ms.

I'll be upgrading to a bigger brake kit in the future when my stock brakes wear out, but I just wanted to try and see how this method looked/held up . Sure, it's not for some, and I myself didn't even ever think I would try it, but hey I like it so far.

[Doanster]

Originally Posted by opasha

I'll be upgrading to a bigger brake kit in the future when my stock brakes wear out, but I just wanted to try and see how this method looked/held up . Sure, it's not for some, and I myself didn't even ever think I would try it, but hey I like it so far.

No worries. Not making any judgment calls. It's the overall pkg/look for me and since I'm stock...

[r33_RGSport]

In general, it is much safer to paint than powder coat.
The reason being, powder coat add about a mm of thickness. Also, it require to be baked.
So, in order to powder coat a brake caliper, you will need to remove it off the car and remove all of the internal components (the piston and the rubber boot). And when you have that removed, it is best to replace the boot with the new one.
Even Brembo, AP, StopTech, they all paint their brake caliper.