These look awesome! Haven't put in my new brake pads yet...haven't gotten them in the mail yet. My friends and I decided to wait on the SS lines, since we have no experience installing brake lines.
got them from a ProtegeClub.com group buy, which has ended. You can still buy them from the guy however, the price won't be as low as the group buy but will be lower than most places.
The are plated, but after about 5-6 months the brake dust collects on the areas that the pads don't touch and have that "rusted look". Mine looked identical to the pics when i first got them on too. Some people (along with me) who have these also experience a "vibrating" or "f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-" sound when braking, possibly due to the slots passing through the brake pads, kinda annoying because you and people on the street can hear it, but it does not affect the performance of the braking. It's not super loud, but you can hear it all the time when driving local. Overall i'm pretty satisfied with them, wouldn't mind getting rid of the sound, making the "rusted" appearance disappear, and installing some ss brake lines to finish it off. good luck guys and feel free to pm for for anything!