MAH

All,

I took on the task of a few cosmetic upgrades this weekend. First was to paint the calipers. I thought this would be real easy. WRONG Now mind you, I started in the morning while I am mowing the yard. The reason for this is because you need to wait 15 minutes between each coat of paint that you apply. Only had one wheel off at a time(I know, I should have been doing two at a time). Three coats were optimal.

So, between washing the inside of the AC Schnitzes wheels, mowing the yard and cleaning my hands, I'm appliying another coat of paint. The first caliper looks great. The second is good. I switch sides and take both of those wheels off. Just as I'm about to start painting ( no the car did not fall off the jacks, I know that is what you were thinking) I notice that the rest of the special caliper paint has jelled . Great! Now I have two red calipers and two nonpainted ones. At least they are both on the same sides of the car.

The lesson learned here is, if you are going to paint the calipers, don't let time pass you by.

My second cosmetic application involved adding two additional brake LED's to the areas that were designed to be rear foglights. After purchasing the additional sockets and buying more LED bulbs, I had to drill out the plastic where the foglights would have gone. Drilling was easy, making the sockets stay in was not. Wiring was very easy since the power was already there for the LED's. I just had to complete the circuit.

They look very nice. It really fills up the rear lenses. With the running lights on it is a very nice effect. This is an easy upgrade, but you need to have a drill and a file to get the sockets in. I had to use a cloth wedged in on both sides to get the sockets to stay in place. Sounds kind of hooky, but it does work just fine.

I will post pics. Yea, yea, yea I know! What fun, an inexpensive upgrade. Mostly time and effort.

Mark

__________________
MY2001 Imola Red
Lux. Black Interior
Painted Calipers,
AC Schzitner Type III Two Piece 18 chrome wheels, Stage II HID's Low Beams and Foglights, Supersprint X-pipe (removed).
Autowerke CAI
Powerchip Software Upgrade
Stage I upgrade MB Quarts Speakers from Bavarian Soundwerks (our sponsor here)
Tubi Catback Exhaust
361RWHP
425HP and growing!

SouthshoreM6

Hi Mark -

Can you please tell me what paint you used? I was going to do mine with a VHT spray that I got from Rocky Mountain Motorsports - sounds like you were using a brush?

Thanks..

Bill

BostonRocket

Mark,

How much did all of the LED bulbs end up costing you?? I am very interested in adding those bulbs to the rear lighting assembly. Please, any info would be great!

'Rocket

atomic80

Mah,

Did adding those second set of LED's to the brake light solve the computer glitch problems that you had? I bet they look GREAT! Pictures would definitely be good!

I had been considering painting my calipers blue!

Jason

EBMCS03

Mark... maybe you can show us all in person next weekend when Jason comes down from Washington...

MAH

Bill,

I purchased the caliper paint from www.carstyling.com. It is a brush on application. I have seen the same three part application advertised in several magazines. European Car always has three of four advertised in it.

The cost was $43( twice for me ). You get a brake cleaner that you do not want to over spray on any one brake. I almost ran out at the end. There is a two part paint. One part reactor and four parts paint that you mix together.

Do not take all day, even if you cover the can back up to apply the paint later.

The red looks good through my AC Schnitzer wheels. These wheels are very open, so they show the calipers very easily. They are also much easier to clean than stock. This is a good thing because I now will be cleaning the calipers as well. I will just have to purchase the dust free EBC brake pads called Redstuff. You can look them up on www.ebc-brakes.com.

Hope this helps,

Mark

MAH

Rocket,

The LED bulbs were $48. You can get the cost from www.LEDtronics.com. They are direct replacements for the stock. The distributor is Netdisty in Torrance, CA. 310-326-5806. The part numbers are 1156 replacements and you want the super red color for the brake area.

The distributor has been very easy to work with. I realize that this is expensive for bulb changes, but very cool. The additional LED's in the foglight area are even better.

Mark

MAH

Jason,

Adding the second set of LED's did solve the computer problem, if you want to call it that. I no longer get the message on the dash to check the brake lights. 5 LED's must have enough load to satisfy the computer regarding the load.

If you decide to paint your calipers blue. I would check for the paint match first. Red was probably easier to match than the variations of blue that exsist. I do like the painted look. Right now I really get to compare with only two calipers painted.

The pics are a coming.


Mark

MAH

I have a conflict that weekend.

Sorry,

Mark

SouthshoreM6

Mark -

Great information and better advice! I'm ordering today.

Thanks again,
Bill