Color for my calipers?

[NorthernRyan]

My front passenger side caliper is leaking, so re-man calipers will be here tomorrow for $180 a piece (in fort mcmurray everything is marked up and I mean everything). Since they are new I thought I would paint them to prevent rust, the only question being what color?

The typical seem to be red, black or silver that I have seen on here.
I have a galaxy grey mica 2003 sport (profile pic) so not sure what would look good. I have the stock wheels and couldn't find a pic of painted calipers with my color of car. Do plan on putting a black bull bar with silver skid plate on her at some point.

So what do you guys think? Any suggestions are welcome, Thanks!

P.S. Though this is my first car, 4 months in, I have no worries about doing the calipers and already did the rear rotors and pads because you guys have awesome write ups on here. Thanks!

 

[<<<<]

Simple: SILVER for two reasons. 1-it does not look like a cheap paint as it does with red or god forbid yellow, and 2-if it chips or fades then underlying surface is silver where with black you'd have to touch it up. My 0.02$

 

[galactic_04]

FYI: if you intend on painting them a light/bright color such as yellow/red you better plan on touching them up every year.

 

[MikesToy]

Don't paint 'em. Less hassle.

 

[Merle]

I went with red and touch them up every 6 months or so. The paint is nice as dirt/brake dust just wipes right off (with a little simple green).

Its true about going with silver and not being able to see the discrepency if/when the paint chips - but I actually do like to know if there's a spot or two I need to touch up, as it's fairly easy and does make it look nice and spiffy.

And yeah, dark 4runner w/ silver rims and red brake calipers... after a while you just barely notice it. PLUS you can always repaint them later

 

[NorthernRyan]

Thanks for the points guys. It really is a personal opinion one and wanted to see if anyone had any interesting ideas, but I felt like I want something between as as bright as red and as blending in as silver.

I decided a dark blue might go well with the grey so I bought a dark blue engine enamel and a can of black caliper paint (i hope the mix or at least stick to each other). The idea is if the blue is to blue then I'll do a light layer or two of black over it to darken it up. Thinking what the hell go for it and if it goes poorly I'll just paint it all black as would be my second choice.

I'll post pictures of the masterpiece/disaster after I do it, probably this weekend.

 

[NorthernRyan]

Ahhh decisions....

So the blue wasn't nearly as dark as I had hoped and putting a light layer of black looks to be difficult, here's what a little sample shows.

What color (blue, black or mix) on my car?
Ya I know, shut up and paint them already.

 

[THEROK]

with all due respect, why bring attention to ugly, small calipers? it's one thing if you're rollin a porsche with its enviable braking systems on all its rides, but anything else is really... pointless.

 

[Teqeeler]

with all due respect, why bring attention to ugly, small calipers? it's one thing if you're rollin a porsche with its enviable braking systems on all its rides, but anything else is really... pointless.

Our brakes are pretty big and beefy, definitely not small calipers. My vw came from the factory with red calipers just cause it doesn't come stock doesn't mean he shouldn't do it. Im sure if porsche brakes came unpainted people would give that porsche guy crap for painting his calipers.

 

[TeamAllen]

I purchased some NHT Calipers. They are more expensive, but have durable powder coating. You won't need to retouch these up in 6 months. There is no blue though? Might also be a good time to do the Tundra upgrade if you're thinking about it?

NuGeon Auto Components, Inc. - Products

 

[Maz]

Hard to see the purpose in painting them silver, since that will look stock to 99% of the people who see them. For all the trouble you're going through, you'll want to to something unique and different so it isn't mistaken as just another car with stock calipers.

Personally I'd go with red, which will look great contrasted with your exterior color. There's someone on this forum with a white rig that used red, and it looked great. Sure you'll have to touch them up too keep them looking, just like you have to wash and wax your rig because you're proud of it.

In short...since you're committed, do it right or you'll end up wishing you had later.

 

[swise]

caliper paint = gay

 

[NorthernRyan]

Thanks TeamAllen, some good advice. I never really considered a brake upgrade as I don't tow anything, however if these remans go on me quickly I may consider an upgrade. I am actually moving next week so I needed to get this done pronto.

After all of this I ended up painting them silver, so they will always look like shiny new oem parts at least.

 

[drbiii]

$250 each for powdercoated calipers!!!!

I suggest you go with silver or black paint.

Then you can pull apart your old calipers, get them powerdercoated, and just buy a rebuild kit to rebuild them yourself.

 

[Maz]

caliper paint = gay

Tell that to Porsche, Ferrari, and for that matter TRD and the monstor red calipers they make for Tundra upgrades. Sexual preference has nothing to do with this subject, nor anything else that would be connected to this forum.

 

[norcal2]

Tell that to Porsche, Ferrari, and for that matter TRD and the monstor red calipers they make for Tundra upgrades. Sexual preference has nothing to do with this subject, nor anything else that would be connected to this forum.

They make an epoxy paint for calipers Ive used duplicolor on my old nsx, ferrari's, and lamborghini, takes the heat of track days as well and a lot cheaper then powder coating...and when my car burned the calipers were still good....so all this garbage about painted calipers not being "vogue" is BS..

 

[Maz]

Wow that looks nasty....did you have a gasoline fire?

 

[Ridger]

One of the first things I'm going to do is paint my calipers black. They are rust color right now and they are so big and stand out so much (well the front ones at least) that it looks far to bad.

 

[THEROK]

They make an epoxy paint for calipers Ive used duplicolor on my old nsx, ferrari's, and lamborghini, takes the heat of track days as well and a lot cheaper then powder coating...and when my car burned the calipers were still good....so all this garbage about painted calipers not being "vogue" is BS..

it is whack to paint calipers an inconspicuous color on a utility vehicle driven primarily by soccer moms across the continent. it's no different that those buzzing econobox dodge neons with their bright yellow drum brakes.

it's nothing different than someone lowering their 4R on chrome dubs. it's the wrong car to do that to.

4runners turn like crap, brake like sh!t, and look like big porky transporters compared to cars like the lambos, 911s of the world.

so why highlight a brake caliper that's ugly as all heck to begin with? why bring attention to a feature of the car that's not a strength of the genre?

it's like putting lipstick on roseanne barr. she is still annoying and ugly as pig.

 

[norcal2]

it is whack to paint calipers an inconspicuous color on a utility vehicle driven primarily by soccer moms across the continent. it's no different that those buzzing econobox dodge neons with their bright yellow drum brakes.

it's nothing different than someone lowering their 4R on chrome dubs. it's the wrong car to do that to.

4runners turn like crap, brake like sh!t, and look like big porky transporters compared to cars like the lambos, 911s of the world.

so why highlight a brake caliper that's ugly as all heck to begin with? why bring attention to a feature of the car that's not a strength of the genre?

it's like putting lipstick on roseanne barr. she is still annoying and ugly as pig.

Each to their own....everyone has different thoughts..I pass no judgement...
and Maz...It was an e gear oil line failure...