has anyone painted their brake calipers yet?.

[lotusport]

Originally Posted by SweetDaddyD

But the increased breaking load of 18" wheels on a car designed for 15" does put increased load on the brakes.

Not unless they are 1) heavier than the originals, and/or 2) the overall tire diameter is greater. Most folks put super-low profile tires on larger diameter wheels and the net overall tire diameter remains the same or close. If the larger diameter wheels are a modern alloy, especially if they're forged, they probably won't be any heavier.

You could make the argument that, even if the weight is the same, the mass concentration is out farther from the center, thus the polar moment and the rotational energy are greater unless the rotors are enlarged similarly. Practically, that doesn't make enough of a difference to worry about brake life or stopping power. Remember, it's the mass and speed of the car that is the energy input to the braking system.

[Au111]

Has anyone used the G2 stuff in BLUE? Any photos? Especially a photo that might show blue calipers on a Magnetic Blue Elise.

[SweetDaddyD]

Well, mine are heavier.(stock 15" BMW wheel, VS stock 18" M3 wheel, and now a stock 18" 7 series wheel) Tire diameter on the outside is the same though. I was having problems warping the light weight rotors with the increased weight of the wheels, until I put a bigger factory breaking sysem off a heavier Bimmer. Oh well. Regardless the engine paint holds up just fine on the calipers. Under a non racing condition do they really get much hotter than an engine? I've run mine pretty hard, pretty regular, but it certainly isn't placed under the loads of an Auto-X. I havn't had to re-do mine in 3 years (but I do take exceptional care of my car and clean it regularly) but if I did I could give them another shot out of the same can of $7 paint. I highly doubt that the specialized "caliper paints" by companies such as folia-tec are any different except for thier $50 price and that they come packaged with a little brush.

[APOGEE]

Originally Posted by Balance

Er, let me rephrase that, Don. Do you think there's any chance I can get Newport European's service department to powder coat my calipers while they're putting in my ss brake lines?

I will ask in the A.M. Don.

[Surferjer]

Okay! 1/2 done painting my brake calipers. What do you think?

[Surferjer]

I might add another coat of green in a few days. But it's a start. Plain yellow was too bright.

[Vantage]

I'd probably go back and paint it another color and scrap that look. Looks like too much of a hack. A darker yellow with a bit of mustard in it would look better (like Porsche PCCB calipers).

Just my opinion though. If I make aesthetic mods, I want them to look clean, well done, and of high quality.

[HOCKYDOC]

Was planning on black but went with CO with black highlighting
at the last minute. I like it, but hard to clean.

[Bane]

I used G2 caliper paint with good results on my S2000.

I also used a dremel to grind the surface smooth before starting.





The "engine paint" stuff from Autozone or whatever will NOT hold up to track days in my experience. Even the 1200 degree stuff will start flaking off. Maybe I didn't have a good seal on it last time, but so far the G2 epoxy stuff has held up suprisingly well. It's incredibly thick and plasticy stuff.

I'd go with black calipers with silver lettering on most color Elises. It would look more civilized and less ricey

[JimK]

Bane, do the new S2000's have raised letters on the calipers or did you add the lettering? Looks great! I used the brush-on caliper paint from Duplicolor
on all of my cars. The finish is smooth, glossy and very durable, much better than spray-on engine paint. BTW, I used the blue on my Suzuka blue S2000
and yellow on the Elise.