Busy weekend. I went about powdercoating my drums and calipers and caliper brackets. A friend of mine has a powdercoater so I made a trip to see him this weekend.

My oh my, we underestimated the time required to clean the old brakes. To powdercoat, and expect a good finish that will last, the surfaces must be completely clean. Had I not previously painted the same components with the Duplicolor kit, it would have been a breeze. The real kicker was that the paint was flaking in spots, and was inpenetrable in others. We did have a sandblaster at our disposal and even it was having a tough time. Also, the high temperature powder requires the parts to heatsoak for an hour then cool prior to coating them. So all told, it took two guys about nine hours to powdercoat and bleed the brakes.

The finish came out amazing, and kills the red that I used to have. It goes with the car much better.

Also, today my drilled and slotted rotors came in, so I threw them on after work.

And now, pics! More to come of the car when I clean it up.

 

Looking good and nice wheels. My buddy just put a set of those on his Prius! :D Lightest wheels I have ever picked up.

 

very nice job!

 

Very nice Ben. I see you rockin' some Rota Wheels also. You did a good job powdercoating 'em.

 

Thanks everyone, and yeah, it's amazing how light the wheels are, even with tires.

 

Those look nice!!

 

nice.....now what kind of pads and how does it stop?

 

clean!

 

cool.

 

Toyota pads and it stops quicker and the pedal is firmer, but not by a significant amount.

 

looking good max

 

Dj Approved!

 

Off subject - Max -
What size are those Rota's and are you lowered at all? Do you have a side pic to see how they look in our wheelwells from full car view?

Thanks in advance...
And those brakes look amazing. We need to find someone that will make a cheaper rear disc conversion. Then you would be set!

 

Rotas are 15x6.5 - stock tires. I am sitting on Hotchkis springs which claim about 1.5" but end up a little lower. Better pics of these brakes to come - probably this weekend, but until then, there are a couple pics in my profile with the red painted brakes.

 

nnnnnnice

 

New pics.

 

I like everything about your car Max, minus the pinstripe.

 

Thanks. As far as the pinstripes, I generally prefer a clean look, but the big flat sides of the xB needed something to break it up. Most people like them. I am not going to take the defense that some do by saying they look better in person. The pictures accurately represent them.

 

What's wrong with the pinstripe????? Looks good to me!

 

wow, nine hours??? funny I bought some high temp engine enamel, I think it was called Cast Iron, and I spray painted my brakes and drums... and it looks EXACTLY like yours, I think I spent a whole hour doing it... sorry it took longer than you thought it would

speaking of better braking, the axxis pads I put on my xB are unreal!!! They grab soooo hard my wife gets ____ed at me all the time since she thinks I keep slamming on the brakes, but they just grab really hard... BUT, and I mean a BIG BUT, they get extremly dirty from the brake dust, I mean 3x as dirty as apposed to the stock brakes!! If I didnt have the yearly pass for unlimited car washes (in-which the xb gets washed 2-3x a week) I would try some other pads, they get that dirty that fast!!