New brakes wanted...advice and some questions for you vibe pros.

[SBus82]

Hey there...not sure if I have ever posted on here before but if I haven't, I am Shawn. I will soon post some pics of my 03 vibe. I have a manual base (I think) vibe. I do now it is not awd nor is it a gt. Although it is a nice vibe! I have rear drums. Here are my questions.From reading other posts I see I should go with Akebono pads. Check.What rotors do you guys find work best. I drive it a ton...350 miles a week. I drive to and from accounts for work. I don't want some crap rotors that are going to warp or crack.Ques 2. I love the look of nice solid red calipers behind the wheel. Is there a swap that is easy so I have that nice look behind my wheels. Ques 3. As for my rears, I have drums. I want to do 1 of 2 things. The first is A. paint my drums a nice black color to hide behind my anthracite wheels or B. swap my rear drums for rotors and pads. I have a friend who is very knowledgeable in cars but he still told me to check on here to see if anyone had ever done that. I can't find anything.

[ehoff121]

Not sure about the concensus on brake pads. From my research, the Hawk Ceramics look good, too. My understanding is the OEM pads are ceramic. Anyone care to confirm?As for rotors, I wasn't able to get a recommendation past a debate on drilled/slotted versus not.I was considering the PowerSlot Cryo rotors (slotted, not drilled) for their claimed resistance to warping. They are pricey, though; ~$140 each. Part #'s 731CSR & 731CSL.Good luck.

[Vibe_dude]

I have a set of Enroble crossed drilled/slotted rotors on my 03 and they are thest thing I have ever used on any car.....stop on a dime and they have been on the car for over 2 years,through snow and ice and rain.But thats my opinion.

[shemp]

As far as the front calipers, you have the option to paint them with either spray-on caliper paint or a brush-on caliper paint kit. Both are available at most auto-parts stores in a variety of colors. I just picked up a C2 kit for my car... they are more expensive, but I've heard they are really good. A brush-on kit at the auto-parts store is about $30, and the kit I bought (custom color) was $60.As far as swapping out the rears for disks... I think it would be a huge job. You would probably be better off selling your car and picking up one with rear disks if it's that important to you. Drums don't look as cool, but they work just fine under normal passenger-car driving conditions, and are cheap and easy to maintain. IMHO I like your idea of painting them black.

[SBus82]

c2 kit eh? I like the sound of that. Have a link? I suppose I can search for it too. Let me know.

[bodhi_tree777]

i'm in the same boat, starting to hear that tell-tale whine from my front drivers' side. let us know what you end up doing and how you like them. Sublimewind has a great brake tutorial up here somewhere, you may have to search around for it.

[shemp]

I got my C2 paint from the site below. The link is for standard colors, but they have a few custom colors as well. They ship for free, and believe it or not, I ordered on Thursday morning, and it was on my porch Friday afternoon. YMMV.LinkyFor the Drums, they are easy to remove, so a rattle-can of black caliper paint should be cheap, quick and easy.

[~MRVIBE2006~]

Since my '06 Vibe just turned over 50,000 miles, Im going to need to get brakes soon. I know the opinion of people using drilled and slotted rotors but I have used them on different vehicles with great success. I was thinking of going with what SSBC (Stainless Steel Brake Corporation) has to offer with ceramic pads (no brake dust !). Any opinions?SSBC rotor: