Calipers AND rotors finally DONE!!
FINALLY, I'm finished with my calipers and rotors. This last weekend I put the 3 up on jackstands, took the wheels off, and SIX hours later was finished!
The calipers still looked good from their original painting. I only had one chip on the edge of the left rear and I think I caused it when I put the wheel back on after the original painting. I touched that up and cleaned up the rest (just a little dirty from the rain, etc.).
The main problem was the rotors. Once it rained on them, anything that wasn't a braking surface turned a light orange--including every single beveled hole in the cross-drilled rotors. UGH!!
I bought a fine wire wheel brush for my cordless drill and used that on the rotor hats and outer edges. I was suprised how well it worked! Then again, there was only a light coat of rust on them. I had another wire brush attachment that I was able to use to get the rust off the beveled, drilled holes.
After cleaning away the rust/dust, I got out the left over black caliper paint from my mounting brackets, and painted all the entire rotor hats up to the edge of where the pads rub on the braking surface. I then painted the outside edges of all the rotors and got down in the front vents. If anyone wants to do this, I'd save the vents to last--It screws up your brush a bit!
After I finished with the hats and the edges, I painted every single beveled hole by using a plastic detail/touch-up "q-tip" brush that can be bought in packs from any automotive paint shop. I think the brand name was Pro-Touch or something like that. It worked great! Just really, really time consuming!
I let everything dry overnight and added the decals the next day. Thanks for the advice bbrich57, I just don't have your willpower! I think the calipers will hold up nicely. We'll see... The decals were REALLY easy to apply and I think, look great! That's
http://www.xenonmods.com/newallcaliperdecals.htm
if anybody's interested.
To answer bbrich57's questions:
"No squeaks/squeals? I've always heard that is a problem w/ceramics... and one young autoXer guy in our chapter has them and they are noisy as hell. I was looking @ the EBC Red Stuff's until I heard his sedan. Every time he hits the brake pedal @ all... SQEEEAAAKKK!!! I couldn't deal w/that day-to-day. It would be embarrassing for me. Like, "Hey! What's wrong w/your car, Man?"
What brand did you use?"
I have never even had the slightest squeak/squeal since I've installed my pads. I drive over 100 miles everyday to work and back, but the majority of it is highway miles. So take that into consideration. I bought my pads from NAPA. They were the best they offered for the front and back. The front are CERAMIX brake pads. Part number CMX-7947. The rear are are their semi-metallic premium brand (because they didn't have ceramic for the rear. I just checked their website--now they do). My part number is AE-7874M. The brakes are noticably grippier (is that even a word?) than they were with the stock pads. I get absolutely no dust on the front wheels and very, very little on the back. Before, with the stock pads, I was dusting the rims every other day.
"I've thought about doing exactly the same rotors you did (I've seen them on eBay too) and painting them before the install, inside for a better job.
Let us know how the edge painting works out, will you?"
So far, after over 300 miles of driving, the edges look perfect. No chips, cracks--nothing! Maybe too early to tell... If anyone does get those rotors, make sure you paint them or get them zinc-coated before you put them on! It should be much easier to do when they're off the car.
My wife was out of town when I did this project and had the digital camera with her so I don't have any pics without the wheels on like I had before. Wish I did, because they looked sweet! I did take some when she got back and they're posted below. Thanks for everyone's opinions and advice while I was undertaking this project. It was much appreciated!!
