I'm looking at making my calipers stick out a little more, I don't know why Chevy put Brembo calipers on the Cobalt and then hid them by painting them black lol, but I have a few questions before I jump in.

Do the brake caliper paints get the job done or is it worth powdercoating? I live in the midwest and drive my car year round, so they will be put through the test, I don't really mind redoing them every summer, just can't look shitty. Since it's nice out and I have nothing better to do, I was planning on taking off the wheels and thoroughly cleaning them anyways

Another problem I have is I want to keep the Brembo print on the front calipers, would you guys suggest painting the whole caliper white, applying a Brembo sticker, painting the caliper red, and then removing the sticker?

Edit: Found a stencil kit for the Brembos going to get some caliper paint, maybe I'll be able to find one of these stencil kits around town, I really want to do this project today lol

Brake Caliper Paint Kits

 

if you powder coat it will cost alot more due to an entire rebuild of the caliper system.

painting will work out cheaper and you can get vinyl brembo stickers

 

Caliper paint will work perfect

 

G2 caliper paint ftw

 

ok let me chime in here because i have done this many times. no matter what anyone says painting calipers is a gross waste of time and energy.. once you put the calipers back on and get ready to bleed the brakes the paint is going to flake off because the brake fluid is going to eat it. PC might hold up alot better i think because its not really paint its plastic but painting is a wasted effort unless you do it with the brakes on the car.

 

When I painted my calipers on my LT I didnt even take them off the car I just used a new paper and painters tape and covered everything that I didnt want to get over spray on and I didnt have any problems with the paint for the six months I had the car that

 

Yea I picked up a can of dupli color, not spray. Just because I didn't want to remove the calipers and I knew taping off a whole wheel well would be a bitch, I would probably fail lol.

 

I painted mine late last summer, drove it all winter with salt and all that crap. They have held up great. Most of the brake caliper paints are cross-linking polymers. They should hold up if you prep the surface good. A good cleaning of all the dirt, brake dust, and oil. Give it a light rough up with a scotch pad and then paint away. Just mask off what ever you don't want that color.

I then applied Brembo stickers to mine to keep that look.

 

i would say PC them since its somewhat cheap and easier on u and done for good. and from experiance wit paint after it chipps off u will have to strip everything off or u would c the chip from the first time u painted it

u know what ur talkin about

 

This, g2 is the only way to go if you want the color to pop. Dont use that cheap dupli kit.

 

Should of watched this thread instead of just going by the first few people's feedbacks lol

Well I can't get the rear calipers clean AT ALL, the spray degreaser is pretty much a joke,I've been going apeshit with some more heavy duty stuff and a toothbrush for awhile, that coat of grease/dust just won't change at all

I was told that the dirt is actually oxidization and that it shouldn't affect the paint? I have been degreasing allot, I don't really see how it's dirt, no more dirts coming off and the toothbrush is staying clean

 

I used the dupli kit at first and they would always get dirty, then I tried g2 and ive had it fir months now and I never have to ckean my calipers.

 

ohh it will u want pics?

 

Well time to get naughty with a wire brush and drill, not taking any chances lol. I really hope the brembo clean easier, should since there already painted

 

Not true, I just got my Brembos powdercoated and didnt have to rebuild the calipers

 

6 years of painted brakes with g2. No flaking here.....

 

how much did that cost? I had a friend powdercoat the three disk brakes on my atv, he only charged me $50 since were bros but I'm guessing that would have been allot more if a professional did it, which is what I'll want. cars worth a little bit more to me lol

Got two coats on, it looks good from a distance, can tell I'm not a painter once you look closer. Probably just going to throw another coat on the large parts,these '09 brakes are so much more complicated then the '07's . I'm thinking sometime down the road when I'm not throwing all my money into college I'll get them PC'd. Pics to come!

Oh and I just realized my wheels are missing most of the weight's, tons of little black spots on them where they used to be, one only has 2 left and the other's got a row of seven. Not too worried about it really, should I be?

Meh I'm kind of happy with the result, I could of done a better job.


Some pics I took while I was reparking the other balt, the one on the left was COMPLETELY totalled at one point. For those who remember

 

Doesn't look to bad, but can we see closer? How about the fronts?

I did mine in red also, but my car is silver. A good wire brush does help, along with some brake cleaner to get the caked on material off.

As for the weights, it all depends. I would get them checked if it was me. It can cause some major wabbles and weird feelings with an out of balance wheel. And what tires are those?

 

Also g2 does paint code color matching

 

where do u get the g2 paint?

 

yes, im really tempted to get mine srtc matched

 

Didn't have time for the fronts today and I'm waiting on the brembo stickers, had a bqq to go to and I wanted them to have at least an hour of drying before i drove Yea I went to town with a wire brush drill bit and lots of heavy duty degreaser, got almost all of it off some of the bottom lips and stuff were still a little dirty. But I'll take better pictures tomorrow

When I need new tires at the end of summer or so I'll have the weights checked out, I figured that those weights cant have that much affect lol. Tirewise, I really can't recall the name(It's some weird name I've never heard of) I'll check in the morning, I REALLY like them though. They grip better then the Pirellis on the '07....and the '07 has less power. Oh and they look badass We bought the car from Pennsylvania so they are probably winter tires lol

I kind of like having them bright, I think color matched paint would make the calipers really subtle. Might look pretty amazing though

Edit: There Runway Enduro tires. All season budget tire lol

 

Federal makes a 220 treadwear that a local guy here got for $80 a tire... I paid 125 for 460...

 

G2 paints can ge bought from Tire Rack, Amazon, R1 Concepts, and others.

The fronts take some time to get done, they just have so much area. You might want to let them dry a little longer than an hour, just so the paint sets up a bit more.

The tires do look good, just have never heard of them. And most tires do grip better than Pirelli's, as I have never had good luck with them.

 

I took A whole day and used a wire brush and scuff pads to prep them, then used 3 coats of high temp ceramic caliper paint.I know I'll have to repeat this in a year or two cause I live in Indiana were they salt the roads in winter.As for the weights, If a tire shop did it's job last time you took your car in they re-balance the tires and add or remove weights.