GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Finally getting around to painting my calipers.Need help deciding what colour to choose. UPDATED - Here's some pictures of my calipers painted. Pardon the dirt, it's been raining Calipers - beforeCalipers - after

Paint the drums black.

The blue most likely wont match your neptune very well so unless you get some special color matched high heat paint, stick with black!

I understand painting brake calipers if you have a good brake system, but I don't understand painting drums. Why highlight that you have drum brakes? As far as performance goes, they are probably always inferior to disc brakes.

Painting them black looks better than rust.

I would do a silver color with a blue Pontiac sticker on it.

Quote, originally posted by 02csnow »I would do a silver color with a blue Pontiac sticker on it.Hmmm.....someone should take their own advice.Paint them Snow.

I plan on it. I am going with a deep black. But cant decide on a silver or red sticker.

im thinking of painting mine sometime...dunno what color yet though....so far ive narrowed it down to ....wave blue, lime/safety green, or bright orange.....lol

Quote, originally posted by 02csnow »I would do a silver color with a blue Pontiac sticker on it.Just received the white Pontiac stickers

Well if you just recieved the white stickers. Go with a blue or black. I would go black, but that is just me. You also got to take in consideration, if you get rims what style and if any color you may get.

Cause thisLooks like **** compared to thisIt doesn't have to be performance to look clean! White decals with a darker color buddy! I got silver decals look great on the black.

Quote, originally posted by NibCrom »I understand painting brake calipers if you have a good brake system, but I don't understand painting drums. Why highlight that you have drum brakes? Because some of us are special

I painted my drums blue.

Make sure you use heat resistant or brake paint. I used regular paint and it did start to chip and peel, so I'll be painting mine again.

Quote, originally posted by NibCrom »Why highlight that you have drum brakes? As far as performance goes, they are probably always inferior to disc brakes.Drum brakes have come a long way compared to in the past. I can't remember where I saw it, but I read something about some companies going back to Drum brakes on the rear instead of discs.

Drum brakes on smaller lighter cars like ours can actually work better.Reason being is a lot of newer brakes and their materials in the discs and pads work better once they warm up a bit and get used. As for drums, it takes less time to generate the heat because the environment is semi-closed so it warms up to optimal quicker. In a smaller lighter car, the day to day driving of a normal driver (not a auto x or what not) it is somewhat beneficial to have drums. Cause your not stopping as much weight in the rear as say a minivan or large sedan at speed. Not to mention most of your braking is done from the front by typically a 60/40 ratio or higher.

Quote, originally posted by Whelan » In a smaller lighter car, the day to day driving of a normal driver (not a auto x or what not) it is somewhat beneficial to have drums.exactly! Thanks for adding to this, I'm at work so I start something and can't really get into it....oh, and not to get off subject, I choose black!

Quote, originally posted by waveresponder »im thinking of painting mine sometime...dunno what color yet though....so far ive narrowed it down to ....wave blue, lime/safety green, or bright orange.....lolDoooooood, go with the BLUE.... and get some rims for that bad boy, will ya... !!

I had to vote black for the OP, there just isn't a decent complement color for the neptune... dark on dark... You could always paint the high temp RED first, then lay down a Vibe sticker and paint them high temp BLACK, and peel the sticker.... High temp RED vibe on a BLACK background...

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »You could always paint the high temp RED first, then lay down a Vibe sticker and paint them high temp BLACK, and peel the sticker.... High temp RED vibe on a BLACK background... That would look tight!

Quote, originally posted by 4X4CHICHI »Make sure you use heat resistant or brake paint. I used regular paint and it did start to chip and peel, so I'll be painting mine again. I'm using this -> http://www.canadiantire.ca/bro...getIDQuote, originally posted by Sublimewind »and get some rims for that bad boy, will ya... !! Planning on getting tires/rims once the stock Goodyear ones go. It's easier to pursuade the wife when I have a reason Plus I kinda like the stock rims - all I see around here is hubs Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »I had to vote black for the OP, there just isn't a decent complement color for the neptune... dark on dark... You could always paint the high temp RED first, then lay down a Vibe sticker and paint them high temp BLACK, and peel the sticker.... High temp RED vibe on a BLACK background... Quote, originally posted by Kamikaze »That would look tight!Good idea, a little to racy for me I think I'm going with Black w/ the white Pontiac sticker

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »I had to vote black for the OP, there just isn't a decent complement color for the neptune...are you crazy?? there's a great complement color. it's maize!!! i voted silver. do that with a blue or black pontiac or vibe logo

Quote, originally posted by kevera »Painting them black looks better than rust.+1 on the black drums.i'd go with a blue caliper. man i need time to do this too!

Added pictures of the calipers - I think they look awesome!!!

That looks REALLY good... you just need to clean the rims b4 you take pics...lolhat's off to you...

well, I know what one of my next mods shall be... maybe during spring time, or if I really do get bored this winter...Looks so much better!

Good Job, I love the decals as well. Really finish it off.

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Good Job, I love the decals as well. Really finish it off. I like the decal to, but, it makes me wonder how long it would last with some spirited driving OR bedding/seating of new pads and rotors... ? Mucho heat = cooked decal...

Very nice the black looks awesome

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »That looks REALLY good... you just need to clean the rims b4 you take pics...lolhat's off to you... Thanks - this was my first time getting my hands dirty with a mod. I would have cleaned my rims before, but it's been raining all week Quote, originally posted by Kamikaze » well, I know what one of my next mods shall be... maybe during spring time, or if I really do get bored this winter...Looks so much better! I'm really happy with the look - glad I went with black. It took around 4 hours to finish it - but it was worth it Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Good Job, I love the decals as well. Really finish it off. Looks even better when the tire is moving Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »I like the decal to, but, it makes me wonder how long it would last with some spirited driving OR bedding/seating of new pads and rotors... ? Mucho heat = cooked decal... Not to mention the freezing cold They're only $13 so if they do fall off, it's an easy fixQuote, originally posted by »Very nice the black looks awesomeThanks for the feedback!!!

This may sound like a silly question, but I know you can paint the drums while they are still on the car but what about the calipers? You got to take those off to paint them? IF so, how many coats for each, drums and calipers? It would probably be better to take BOTH them off and do all of them at the same time, right? Then after they dry, maybe slap a couple coats of clear coat on them to make them look all nice and shiny?Just wonderin...

Quote, originally posted by ~MRVIBE2006~ »This may sound like a silly question, but I know you can paint the drums while they are still on the car but what about the calipers? You got to take those off to paint them? IF so, how many coats for each, drums and calipers? It would probably be better to take BOTH them off and do all of them at the same time, right? Then after they dry, maybe slap a couple coats of clear coat on them to make them look all nice and shiny?I suppose you could paint them w/ the tire on - but it would pretty tight depending on your rims. You don't have to take the calipers off to paint them - but I'd definately take the tire off to save time.I put 5 coats on the calipers and 4 on the drums. I did 2 tires at a time, but if you can, jack the whole car up to speed things up. The paint spread really well and once the calipers/drums were cleaned - it was a breeze. I was wondering about clear coat - but didn't put any on. I think they look pretty shiny as is - for now

They look really good, Man. I did mine with color changing paint (green to copper) looked good for a season. Then they started to peel and crack. The decal really sets them off.

They look great!

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Drum brakes on smaller lighter cars like ours can actually work better.Reason being is a lot of newer brakes and their materials in the discs and pads work better once they warm up a bit and get used. As for drums, it takes less time to generate the heat because the environment is semi-closed so it warms up to optimal quicker. In a smaller lighter car, the day to day driving of a normal driver (not a auto x or what not) it is somewhat beneficial to have drums. Cause your not stopping as much weight in the rear as say a minivan or large sedan at speed. Not to mention most of your braking is done from the front by typically a 60/40 ratio or higher.Agree to a certain extent. Vast majority of the time, car manufacturers only switch from disc to drum to save on cost. Whether it is more effective on a smaller car? Maybe...But you can't deny that it is important for brakes to disapate heat. And that is where the drums have a major disadvantage in comparison to disc. I suppose you can kind of say that drum brakes is like FWD, its adequate for daily driving for moms and grandmas, but for anything else I'd stay with discs, or in my analogy, rwd/awd cars.Back on topic though, the paint on the calipers and drums look sweet. Definetly a cool mod!

Quote, originally posted by ~MRVIBE2006~ »This may sound like a silly question, but I know you can paint the drums while they are still on the car but what about the calipers? You got to take those off to paint them? IF so, how many coats for each, drums and calipers? It would probably be better to take BOTH them off and do all of them at the same time, right? Then after they dry, maybe slap a couple coats of clear coat on them to make them look all nice and shiny?Just wonderin... you don't need to take the calipers off to paint them. just be sure not to paint over the bleeder screw or you will regret it. If you wish to paint the inside of the caliper, obviously you want to remove the caliper.G2 caliper paint is an enamel paint and dries with a shine to it. No clear coat needed. You want to do two thin even coats with a 15 min break between applications. If you feel it needs a third coat, go for it.You want to allow two hrs for the car to sit sans wheels to allow hardening of the paint. It takes 24 hours to fully harden and cure, so you can't drive the car during that time. If you can leave the tires off, it's better to let the drums sit longer than 2 hrs to dry. Depending on your environment, the paint may still be soft and your tires will stick to your drums.