Painting my calipers red

[m3f_Zoomzoom951]

I went with black, because it looks clean, not gaudy, and black gives off heat rather nicely...

Really...? Last time i checked black absorbs heat most.

[m3f_andresvillanu20]

Do you mind taking whatever is up your ass out? I asked a legitimate question that has gotten some good responses. I really don’t understand “car culture” as I’m new to this stuff, so asking if something has a certain stigma or not is helpful for me.

+1 on that one bud, if it wouldn't have been for this thread i wouldnt have thought of that idea as posted by inkaholik, which i'm really considering doing but not in gloss black...



there's no stupid questions, just some stupid answers once in a while

[m3f_ArBrnSnpr]

+1 on that one bud, if it wouldn't have been for this thread i wouldnt have thought of that idea as posted by inkaholik, which i'm really considering doing but not in gloss black...



there's no stupid questions, just some stupid answers once in a while

There's no stupid questions, but there's plenty of inquisitive idiots!

[m3f_and1bball4mk]

Apologies if you're being sincere. It's not uncommon for people to come on to forums and ask stupid questions just to get a rise out of people. My assumption was that's what was going on here. If not, then it's not a stupid question.



There are many facets of car culture, as with anything people are passionate about. You'll find that a good percentage of people perform modifications to their car that fall into a form over function category. A sub-category of this would be modifications that are there to make a car *look* fast/elite/rare, when it isn't. An example would be people that put ///M badges on normal 3-series cars, or VTEC stickers on Honda Civics without VTEC motors. But, I digress.



Here, you'll find that most people are on ther other extreme and are very careful with how they choose to modify their car. The M3 has a lot of heritage and history behind it, and many people hold the decisions of the designers and engineers in very high regard. The US M3s are inferior to the Euro models in a lot of ways, and for that reason it's considered pretty acceptable to modify a US car to be closer to its Euro counterpart.



On the other hand, making modifications to the car just for the sake of doing it, or making modifications that are form over function, or trying to make the car something it isn't...these things aren't generally accepted as worthwhile and you'll get a lot of flack for that sort of thing around here.



Some will say it's your car and you're free to do as you please with it. Some will say that any time you modify a well thought out and respected automobile, you'd better have thought it through. Most people lie in the middle, and to be honest a lot of people catch the mod bug and wind up changing the car just because they can.



All I can say is...have some class. The car has a lot of heritage behind it. Don't cheapen it by making low-class form over function modifications, or making modifications in lieu of maintaining the car (you'd be surprised how often this happens).



Good luck and welcome to the forum.



P.S. To answer your question directly...painting the brake calipers on an M3 with red rattle can paint will put forth the stigma that the car has more class than you do, and the designers had better taste in 1995 than you do now. Guys that refer to their girlfriends as "yo, woman" and who drive Civic hatches with HIDs they got off eBay, hack-saw cut springs, and chrome rimz will think your brakes are "mad tyte, yo". Guys who drive the M3s that made you drool over buying one in the first place will roll their eyes at it and chalk it up as being driven by one more of the noobs that doesn't get it.



I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. Come to some meets, see some other peoples' cars. I think you'll find most of these guys are very humble, knowledgable, and down to earth. It's a great way to get a feel for things. It's easy to come off as an ass on the internet.

My question was sincere and your response is very helpful. I have decided to not paint them red. Maybe black, but I'm not sure yet. I just bought my M3 recently and the previous owner has not treated her well. I have replaced a lot of parts that needed replacing, such as the cooling system, clutch, master/slave cylinders and I understand the importance of maintenance. I always thought that red calipers looked great on Lambos, but I guess I forgot that I wasn't driving a Lambo. Sorry I came off as rude with my comment; going through the prior posts in the forum it is evident that you are a very knowledgeable and helpful poster.

[m3f_ArBrnSnpr]

My question was sincere and your response is very helpful. I have decided to not paint them red. Maybe black, but I'm not sure yet. I just bought my M3 recently and the previous owner has not treated her well. I have replaced a lot of parts that needed replacing, such as the cooling system, clutch, master/slave cylinders and I understand the importance of maintenance. I always thought that red calipers looked great on Lambos, but I guess I forgot that I wasn't driving a Lambo. Sorry I came off as rude with my comment; going through the prior posts in the forum it is evident that you are a very knowledgeable and helpful poster.

Sounds like you're going about owning an E36 M3 the right way so far. I'd keep plugging away at the routine maintenance before getting into customizing however. And good call on leaving the red calipers to Brembo!

[m3f_asaid87]

Am I the only one that did mine silver/grey? i did the m emblem too tho...its very subtle and not very noticeable but when you do notice it, it looks nice not IN YOUR FACE like red


Edit: LOL just remembered my posts are red...lulz...

[m3f_Roland H]

Am I the only one that did mine silver/grey? i did the m emblem too tho...its very subtle and not very noticeable but when you do notice it, it looks nice not IN YOUR FACE like red



Edit: LOL just remembered my posts are red...lulz...

Did you fix your car yet?

[m3f_asaid87]

Did you fix your car yet?

should be out of the paintshop in less than a month... looks like clube36 hasnt boomed like i had expected it to...

[m3f_epj3]

OLD pic

[m3f_epj3]

and black gives off heat rather nicely...

[m3f_97_4dr_5spd_m3]

[SIZE="3"]Am I the only one that did mine silver/grey? i did the m emblem too tho...its very subtle and not very noticeable but when you do notice it, it looks nice not IN YOUR FACE like red



Edit: LOL just remembered my posts are red...lulz...

Did my calipers silver as well....silver car, silver rims, silver calipers....looks great.

[m3f_Zoomzoom951]

Did my calipers silver as well....silver car, silver rims, silver calipers....looks great.

Exactly many times color matched to the car it looks very good, regardess of the color. Brembo makes BBK in all dif colors neway the most impressive brembo kit i saw was equivalent to F50 brake kit and the calipers were black so...

[m3f_JokerElite]

Kinda old thread but when the stock calipers are painted well, they can look pretty good.


Here are pictures of GTCSL's E36 M3 with the stock calipers painted yellow:

[m3f_98///M3]

Meh, not my style, but I guess they'd look good at the track.


I think another important thing to note here is that the calipers are much more noticeable when you're moving (depending on the type of wheel). Not so much on the stock wheels, but with an ARC-8, DForce, K1, BBS, etc. there is a lot more space and the calipers are much more visible.


Kind of off topic, but also, it always bugs me when I see 6-spoke wheels and five lugs. Like, the wheels never look just right to me.

[m3f_roadmax05]

I'm in the "calipers should only be red if they came that way" camp.



I recommend black. Myself, I painted mine black and then painted the ///M logo its appropriate colors. Following that was some high temp clear coats. Unfortunately it's a pain in the butt to keep them clean enough to easily see the logo.

What paint brands are used for the logo, it has to be high temp and not easy finding all 4 high temp colors from same brand.

If there would be kinds of high temp marker type paints as there is not much paint required for logos.