Fixing previous owners stuff-what fun

[Swisstony]

We all get this , buy a car and start making it like you would like it, putting your own mark on the car etc. However every now and then you have to fix stuff that the previous owner did. Some is because its not to your liking , some of it is just plain crap and this is a perfect example. I remember the guy saying he had spent a lot of money getting the calipers refurbished and I even have a receipt from the garage. Well they have fleeced him something rotten as it was such a bad job. Spray painted whilst on the car and their masking was poor. And the cherry on the top ? They even painted the !Removed! brake pads !!! 

Anyway decided the only way to fix this was to remove the front calipers ( only hanging as I didnt want to bleed the brake lines) and clean and repaint but by hand with a brush. I have done this on my wife's Porsche cayenne so it wasnt new to me. 

First up the before shots with overspray, bad masking etc

 

Fronts cleaned, degreased and hand painted, fresh pads. 

Then decals applied ( not so easy on these style calipers ) and back on

Backs were a bit harder as I didnt have the tools to remove the handbrake lines so they were painted on the car and later I will replace the pads when they are worn

All cleaned and painted and back on

 

That is another job ticked off, onto the next which are the dodgy RS4 badges everywhere !!

 

[Stevey Y]

10 hours ago, Swisstony said:

We all get this , buy a car and start making it like you would like it, putting your own mark on the car etc. However every now and then you have to fix stuff that the previous owner did. Some is because its not to your liking , some of it is just plain crap and this is a perfect example. I remember the guy saying he had spent a lot of money getting the calipers refurbished and I even have a receipt from the garage. Well they have fleeced him something rotten as it was such a bad job. Spray painted whilst on the car and their masking was poor. And the cherry on the top ? They even painted the !Removed! brake pads !!! 

Anyway decided the only way to fix this was to remove the front calipers ( only hanging as I didnt want to bleed the brake lines) and clean and repaint but by hand with a brush. I have done this on my wife's Porsche cayenne so it wasnt new to me. 

First up the before shots with overspray, bad masking etc

 

Fronts cleaned, degreased and hand painted, fresh pads. 

Then decals applied ( not so easy on these style calipers ) and back on

Backs were a bit harder as I didnt have the tools to remove the handbrake lines so they were painted on the car and later I will replace the pads when they are worn

All cleaned and painted and back on

 

That is another job ticked off, onto the next which are the dodgy RS4 badges everywhere !!

 

Hi my impression of refurbished would be new seals and pistons and then a repaint, hey-ho thats just me.

Steve.

[Swisstony]

9 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi my impression of refurbished would be new seals and pistons and then a repaint, hey-ho thats just me.

Steve.

I agree but I guess the previous owner was quite happy to let some garage take his money and do a poor job. The refurbished wheels were another story...look great from the outside but boy the insides were just blown over  and you could see the paint over all the weights, glue residue etc. They didnt even bother trying to prep the wheel. 

 

[Steve Q]

Now that's a good job done! 

[Swisstony]

16 hours ago, Steve Q said:

Now that's a good job done! 

Thanks Steve, slowly working my way through the list of jobs 🙂

 

[RoyC]

On 9/28/2022 at 11:28 AM, Swisstony said:

We all get this , buy a car and start making it like you would like it, putting your own mark on the car etc. However every now and then you have to fix stuff that the previous owner did. Some is because its not to your liking , some of it is just plain crap and this is a perfect example. I remember the guy saying he had spent a lot of money getting the calipers refurbished and I even have a receipt from the garage. Well they have fleeced him something rotten as it was such a bad job. Spray painted whilst on the car and their masking was poor. And the cherry on the top ? They even painted the !Removed! brake pads !!! 

Anyway decided the only way to fix this was to remove the front calipers ( only hanging as I didnt want to bleed the brake lines) and clean and repaint but by hand with a brush. I have done this on my wife's Porsche cayenne so it wasnt new to me. 

First up the before shots with overspray, bad masking etc

 

Fronts cleaned, degreased and hand painted, fresh pads. 

Then decals applied ( not so easy on these style calipers ) and back on

Backs were a bit harder as I didnt have the tools to remove the handbrake lines so they were painted on the car and later I will replace the pads when they are worn

All cleaned and painted and back on

 

That is another job ticked off, onto the next which are the dodgy RS4 badges everywhere !!

 

I purchased new callipers and sprayed them thunder grey.

 

[Swisstony]

41 minutes ago, RoyC said:

I purchased new callipers and sprayed them thunder grey.

 

Thunder grey is a fab colour, nice job there . I see you didnt go down the route of caliper decals but opted for a stuck on S-line bade ? How is the adhesive holding up on the heat ?

 

 

[RoyC]

2 hours ago, Swisstony said:

How is the adhesive holding up on the heat ?

No problem at all.

It is actually stuck to the square on the spring so almost no heat at all.

[Just Rob]

I do like a nice painted caliper but I feel the colouring  suits the alloy calipers such as brembo etc .

The plain metal ones allways look hand painted for some reason even when done well, alloy ones being smoother and more integral just carry off colour coding so much better.

[Swisstony]

2 hours ago, RoyC said:

No problem at all.

It is actually stuck to the square on the spring so almost no heat at all.

clever idea. Talking about that spring, what an absolute barstweard that was to get back in !!! why oh why did audi decide to use that instead of normal spring like things . 

 

[RoyC]

25 minutes ago, Swisstony said:

what an absolute barstweard that was to get back in !!!

I had no problem at all getting those on.

Just put the two ends under the calliper and lever the square tag into the brake pad, making sure not to scrape the paint in the groove in the carrier

[Just Rob]

Theres a knack to it, do it a few times and You'll wonder why it was so hard to start with👍

[Just Rob]

My first set of 18z's were from a lambo, gave them a full refurb and nice blob of corsa rosso red.

[Just Rob]

recently bought another set from FB market place , refurbed them fully and went from banana yellow to bronze.

[RoyC]

On 9/28/2022 at 11:28 AM, Swisstony said:

dodgy RS4 badges everywhere !!

Got a photo of your car ?

[Swisstony]

13 minutes ago, Just Rob said:

Theres a knack to it, do it a few times and You'll wonder why it was so hard to start with👍

After scraping my nicely painted calipers, using every profanity I know, kicking random stuff around the driveway and nearly turning to alcohol in the afternoon, I wish I knew the knack !!! 🙂

[Just Rob]

It's all about getting the ends in first, or just getting a method that works best for you.

Unless your taking them off every day , just do the best you can .

[Just Rob]

7 hours ago, RoyC said:

I purchased new callipers and sprayed them thunder grey.

 

thats a nice colour , looks very OE.

[Swisstony]

3 minutes ago, RoyC said:

Got a photo of your car ?

No problem. There is one  photo when I got the car. second one is the front a few weeks on but with the RS4 badge.A LOT has been done

[RoyC]

1 minute ago, Just Rob said:

thats a nice colour , looks very OE.

I wanted it to look clean without sticking out like a sore thumb.

[RoyC]

12 hours ago, Swisstony said:

No problem. There is one  photo when I got the car. second one is the front a few weeks on but with the RS4 badge.A LOT has been done

Very nice, see what you mean about the badges.

I fitted an S6 grill on my A6 but fitted the S-line badge to it.

[Steve Q]

9 hours ago, Swisstony said:

Thanks Steve, slowly working my way through the list of jobs 🙂

 

My Audi has been owned by my Dad then me from new. As it's an old Audi there's always a list of jobs lol. 

[RoyC]

11 hours ago, Steve Q said:

My Audi has been owned by my Dad then me from new. As it's an old Audi there's always a list of jobs lol. 

It's almost a classic.

What's your mileage ?

[Steve Q]

9 hours ago, RoyC said:

It's almost a classic.

What's your mileage ?

343,700 miles on the original engine and gearbox which have never been rebuilt 🙂 

[RoyC]

1 minute ago, Steve Q said:

343,700 miles on the original engine and gearbox which have never been rebuilt 🙂 

That's good going, how often do you service it ?