I get it now. I just noticed your Minnesota plate on the one picture. I lived in Burnsville for a year and half before I escaped west. I understand completely. I had 3 airport beater cars that literally rusted through into the pax/trunk compartment.

 

Man, look at that gleaming Rio/Indy ap2. Gorgeous. You guys are putting the rest of us to shame. I've got to retire. That is all there is to it. As it is, I have zero time for anything.

 

I just have done a break job today, new discs and pads.
I have given the Calipers and the Caliper / Pad holders a quick coat of Zinc-Alu spray. You sure could find something similar: https://www.weicon.de/en/products/te...zinc-alu-spray
Cheap, durable, fast drying and it looks like new OEM.

 

Next time I do an oil change I will rotate my tires and when I have the wheels off I'll give them a good thorough cleaning and I'll try to do something about the calipers. I think I might just clean them and wipe on some anti corrosion concoction and see how that look. Maybe some Boeshield T9? I'm not inclined to paint them. But, they do look pretty rough right now.

 

If you paint em do it right. Clean them with brake cleaner thoroughly. I probably spent 30 minutes a corner cleaning.
Then mask off each wheel very well - this was another 30 per corner.
Then I think I did 2-3 coats of G2 paint... probably 20-30 minutes a corner or more per coat - by the time I finished one coat all round the first would be dry enough for the second coat.
Then let them dry before driving. Drying took over 24 hours in my case. It stayed tacky for 2 days I think. Not sure why - perhaps the temps were not warm enough?? Either way I held off driving the car until they were completely dry and hardened.
All in all it was a good 3 day process. Started Friday evening and was done by the end of the weekend...

 

quite honestly any painted caliper looks better than the typical factory corrosion you get on aged calipers, particularly in our region. Oem calipers looks nice for about one year in our region then they all head south. If you don't drive in winter they still corrode from the residual crap on the roads. Red, blue, black, silver, gold, they all look good to me.

 

 

Given all that work, does it make any sense to pull the calipers off the car? Maybe replace the 16 year old brake lines at the same time?

 

Endless blue would match it nicely or if you want something lighter to stand out a bit more then the Spoon blue. For a total contrast, Brembo red.