Brembo GT Refurb – Pic HEAVY

[S3 TAM]

I was having a little look around on ebay and found a second hand Brembo GT Junior kit for the S3. Not a bad price too but they looked abit tired so I thought i’d get them and refurb them myself. This should save me abit of cash. Ha

After cleaning all the Cr*p off they looked like this.

As you can see not the best of condition as there were chips in the paint.
So bought so Nitromors “decent paint striper” and caked it on.
Note to all DONT scratch your nut's while handling Nitromors VERY painful.

Got all the paint off with a toothbrush and soft wire brush tool on the end of a dermal.

This took me about a week to get to this stage as I ran out of light every day after work and i didn’t want to rush the job and do it wrong. Anyway next step was to get a bit of filler/primer on them as there were a couple chunks taken out of the metal.

A quick coat of Zinc Primer.

And left to dry for 2/3 days.
In the mean time a bit more ebaying and I found these.

For some reason I didn’t take any pics after spraying the red paint on, but I did once I have the brembo logos back on.

Then it was time for lacquering this is after 2 coats of lacquer

3 Coats of Lacquer and left to dry for 2 days.

I thought I would clean the wheels up while waiting for the lacquer to dry. I used so stuff called Car Pro Iron X. Never used it before what difference wheels have never been so clean, did the insides as well.

Put another coat of lacquer on this time left to dry for about a week as I didn’t have time to change them over. Found the time last night so here’s a few pic changing them over.

Had to remove metal plate as discs were bigger.

Time to change brake fluid went for the Mutol RBF600 “Sound advice Westle/Tuffy cheers”

I’ve only done about 50 miles on them so far “been taking it easy” there brilliant you can really notice the potential stopping power they have they bite straight away and the pedal has become alittle stiffer.
Rough Break down of the cost’s
Calipers £425 + 40 delivery from Poland.
Bit needed to restore £60-70
Fluid £40
Discs and pads £380
Total: TOO MUCH. Lol

Hope you enjoyed the little read.

 

[Jordan1.8t]

Looks great mate, and that wheel stuff has bought them wheels up something different.

Just a quick question, how much further do te brembos tend to stick out towards the wheels compared to the standard calipers?

Thing is ive got a set of lm reps with 5mm spacers et 30inc spacers, and awesome gti's website says it need 10mm spacers.

 

[Dane]

Nice one, good work dude! I probably should of done this with mine but I can't be trusted lol

 

[S3 TAM]

Just a quick question, how much further do te brembos tend to stick out towards the wheels compared to the standard calipers?

Thing is ive got a set of lm reps with 5mm spacers et 30inc spacers, and awesome gti's website says it need 10mm spacers.

Cheers Fellows,

I don't know to be honest, i've got 10mm spacers on the front and 15mm on the back and theres quiet a bit of room still. i can mesure up later for you if you want.

 

[Dane]

Looks great mate, and that wheel stuff has bought them wheels up something different.

Just a quick question, how much further do te brembos tend to stick out towards the wheels compared to the standard calipers?

Thing is ive got a set of lm reps with 5mm spacers et 30inc spacers, and awesome gti's website says it need 10mm spacers.

Its slightly subjective dude. 17 inch avus are et32 and fit fine, but 18 rstt's are et34 or et33 (I can't remember exactly) and interfere because of the spokes bending in.

Like this.

As long as the rear of the spokes are flat you should be ok IMO.

 

[Jordan1.8t]

Looks great mate, and that wheel stuff has bought them wheels up something different.

Just a quick question, how much further do te brembos tend to stick out towards the wheels compared to the standard calipers?

Thing is ive got a set of lm reps with 5mm spacers et 30inc spacers, and awesome gti's website says it need 10mm spacers.

 

[Jordan1.8t]

Sorry about double post, iphones got a mind of its own.

 

[Jordan1.8t]

Be great if u could measure it up mate. Would help alot

 

[Dane]

Where abouts are you Jordan?

 

[finesse]

Very nice!

 

[Westy]

Good work mate now I want to get some you total *******!

 

[bigcheese]

they look good in the natural light, you could of atleast cleaned the wheel before that last pic!!
glad i helped you put these on even if i am tired now, anything to keep me bestest bud safe.
my hand looks great in the shot holding the pad, i should of been a hand model!!!

 

[jojo]

Rough Break down of the cost’s
Calipers £425 + 40 delivery from Poland.
Bit needed to restore £60-70
Fluid £40
Discs and pads £380
Total: TOO MUCH. Lol

Hope you enjoyed the little read.

Whilst I appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into them, It looks like you could have got a brand new set for the amount you have spent on them!

Good on you for doing it all yourself though, but I wouldn't call £425+40 as cheap for the calipers and carriers only.

 

[Jordan1.8t]

Dane:
Where abouts are you Jordan?

Im in ipswich mate

 

[Dane]

Lame, I was gonna say you can trial fit them on mine to be sure, but it's a bit of a long drive

 

[s3dave]

Nice work s3baby, clean job....

 

[Westy]

they look good in the natural light, you could of atleast cleaned the wheel before that last pic!!
glad i helped you put these on even if i am tired now, anything to keep me bestest bud safe.
my hand looks great in the shot holding the pad, i should of been a hand model!!!

Do you know what, I was just thinking to myself "that is a nice hand"

 

[S3 TAM]

my hand looks great in the shot holding the pad, i should of been a hand model!!!

Your hand looks abit white tho mate you need to get a spray tan. lol

 

[S3 TAM]

Thanks for all the replys peeps.

I'm well chuffed with them.

 

[bigcheese]

Do you know what, I was just thinking to myself "that is a nice hand"

cheers westle, you can borrow it some time if you want!!!

 

[Alex C]

thanks for the write up, really useful, cheers

 

[Breezey]

Im surprised you got the factory powder coat off with nitrmors when i id my R32s i had to get them shot blasted nitrmors wouldnt touch it, nice job anyway hope the finnish lasts

 

[S3 Sly]

Did you use heat proof paint?

 

[MUSH]

Top work, just done this myself..!

 

[Alex C]

what red paint did you use?

 

[Westy]

what red paint did you use?

Personally mate I'd forget paint as the finish doesn't last very long. I'm sure s3baby will be first to admit that he wished he's got them powder coated.

 

[Alex C]

ah, fec. That means stripping them down, new seals and everything.

Whats happened to them, has it all bubbled up?

 

[Westy]

ah, fec. That means stripping them down, new seals and everything.

Whats happened to them, has it all bubbled up?

Nah you wont mate. If the pistons and seals are ok and you give them to a decent powder coater they can mask it all off and sand blast them down. I'm not sure if the heat from the oven will melt the rubber though so you'll have to ask them.

The paint on Tam's calipers has started to flake off and it doesn't clean up as easy as my powder coated ones as the brake dust seems to bond to the paint easier.

 

[Alex C]

i think the baking process buggers the seals. I rang the local powder coaters on Firday and they said that they need to be stripped else the seals will be ********.

To be honest im rushing this a bit as by CV boot has given up so iwas trying to get the brembos ready for when the CV boot gets done. My pads are on the limit too.

I may just get standard pads back on and wait till i get my brakes done properly.

What sort of cost is stripping the calipers and getting them powder coated?

 

[Westy]

i think the baking process buggers the seals. I rang the local powder coaters on Firday and they said that they need to be stripped else the seals will be ********.

To be honest im rushing this a bit as by CV boot has given up so iwas trying to get the brembos ready for when the CV boot gets done. My pads are on the limit too.

I may just get standard pads back on and wait till i get my brakes done properly.

What sort of cost is stripping the calipers and getting them powder coated?

You can strip the calipers yourself if you are handy with the spanners, there's loads of guides on the net. You can also reuse the seals/dust boots as long as you dont damage them when removing the pistons. I paid £150 just for brand new seals and dust boots

Powder coating cost me £80 but it should have been more like £100 but they cocked up the quote. It is quite pricey and a bit of hassle so maybe painting will be your best bet.

Tam used some spray paint to do his calipers off the car. Painting with a brush on the car will not be the best finish. He did about 3 coats of Zinc primer , then 4 coats of red paint and 3 coats of lacquer! He got all the paint for Halfords I believe.

 

[gsmboy]

Man they look good. I really want to do this mod, now just need to source for some used Brembo's!