Calipers & hubs - was it a mistake?

[Zeddicus]

Evening all and welcome to a new "calipers & hubs dilemma"
Yesterday, I started to refurbish those rusty calipers and hubs. No doubt, they required it:


I went for a "carbon" silver for the caliper, great product from Foliatec. Note that I was careful not trusting myself with excentric colour choice :roll:
Since the hubs were also severly corroded, I decided to follow the same advice found several time here and there: paint it with Hammerite anti-rust paint! I actually went for a similar paint from Baufix ("Silber Grau").

Being an absolute newbie, I started with the rear RH wheel as the brake is smaller than front, here are the results:




Although I don't consider it as a major fail, I think this darker silver on the hub really "hides" the caliper now! And somehow I feel I have definitively modified the look of the car.
I didn't have enough time to continue with the three remaining wheels, and today I can't decide myself if I should continue with painting the hubs or try to remove if possible the hub's paint and leave the hubs as original w/out as much rust as possible...
Thoughts and advices would be much appreciated...!

 

[mr wilks]

Looks a quality make-over & certainly enhances but if being picky maybe black hubs with the silver calipers ?

 

[FR08MEE]

Black calipers will look better as per the Z4M in my opinion the calipers on both cars are too small to be coloured

Good job though.

 

[fixit man]

Looks like a very professional job.

I did my discs silver like yours but black callipers( as FRO8mee said) they're not impressive enough calipers to show off !

 

[Spikey]

Black hubs maybe?

 

[Lynchy]

Nice tidy job,well done

 

[paulgs1000]

If I was you I'd paint over the hubs with the silver paint you used on the caliper. I used silver on my calipers and hubs and it really cleans up the whole look. In my view the grey silver you used on the hub is what makes it not work.

:driving:

 

[richardjgreen]

get the jack out and do the other 3 they look great

 

[David-H]

Looks good - do the other three that way!

 

[GP06Roadster]

Looks a tidy job

Personally I prefer the hubs to be black as they seem to stand out a little less.

 

[GuidoK]

Looks very good.
Remember that in a few months it will look a bit less 'fresh' due to all the brakedust that eats in the paint.

Painting it with a rust preventive paint is only good.

 

[Chezsherman]

I think it looks smart, my calipers are red and hate them but they were like that when I bought the car

 

[hopz121]

I like it, I would suggest do the other 3 the same colour.

As others have suggested it will soon fade anyway.

Ash

 

[horseofwar]

You've done a really good job there, clean and tidy. Love the calipers but I personally don't like the colour of the hubs. I think because it's not metallic it seems out of place against the metallic calipers and wheels. I think either black hubs or metallic silver to match the calipers might be better IMO

Either way they look better than the piles of rust that are sitting on most of our cars (including mine!!). I want to give this hub and caliper painting a go!

 

[Zeddicus]

Thanks for the replies guys :wink:
You are right, most likely the hub and caliper will get soon a layer of dust, and the bright (too much bright) color of the hub will become noticeable!
I also think that the issue comes from the non-metallic rendering of the hub, it looks, well... like a freshly painted fence now :lol:

I think that what I'm going to do tonight is another try on the other side's by painting only the caliper, and leave the hub with as much as possible corrosion removed to see if I prefer it like this.

 

[GuidoK]

you have to paint the other hubs the same way, otherwise the symmetric police will get you..

 

[Beedub]

you've done a very neat job their tbh... one of the best I've seen on the forum.

 

[Bing]

For what it's worth I think the hubs should always be silver, irrespective of the caliper colour. Just because that's the colour they are when they're new. I did both my calipers and hubs with the same paint hammerite silver in my case. However, as Beedub says, very tidy job

 

[Zeddicus]

you have to paint the other hubs the same way, otherwise the symmetric police will get you..

Indeed, it was already quite disturbing to see the car parked like that during this week...

you've done a very neat job their tbh... one of the best I've seen on the forum.

Thanks for the compliments, I must admit that my wife helped me with the first layer!

So I gave another try today, armed with a Dremmel and a bunch of other brushes this time to give the other rear wheel a special treat.

Here is the result:



I think it makes the wheel look more conventional this way and is easier for me to live with. However... kinda boring, no?
Also I could not reach the area between hub and disc, therefore rust is still visible and bare metal will also be happy to welcome the corrosion soon again.

Next week-end:
last episode as I will do both front wheels!

 

[TiffAnsell]

looks smart, my to do list is adding up!