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Author Topic: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - Pilgrimage to Caffeine & Machine  (Read 43910 times)

Offline LC5F

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - Fun with Handbrake
« Reply #180 on: October 20, 2022, 02:31:47 pm »
Been a bit pee-peed off with the Mk5...

So I finally managed to rebuild my powder coated rear calipers.
I moaned before about the what the company did - I wont be using again did by not blocking up openings/threads - the bores had been blasted and rough, so these needed honing. The threads for the brake line and bleed were also messed up - they were very close to being scrap.

I for-shadowed myself - I now have 2x Gloss black paperweights!

Looming MOT, Known issues:
Slice in NSF tyre - replaced front tyres for PS4 - now have them all round, very impressed, a lot stiffer than the rainsports.
Sticking Rear offside caliper - luckily I have replacements to hand.... or so I thought.

Swapped out carriers and calipers and got this great result:


But when it came to bleeding the fluid just pissed out of the piston....better still, due to breeze and the angle of drive & jacked-up rear...I left the brake fluid can on top of the engine, the bonnet closed and I now have a dent pushing out that is very noticeable - Feck!

So the plan was re-install the good nearside caliper and find a reconditioned genuine caliper for the off side.
The received item had new piston and dust seal, but the hand brake arm seal is old and painted over:


All installed hopefully won't need to revisit brakes till warmer weather returns, I can replace the split seal with one from the paperweights.

On a positive - Work sent me to Berlin last week, suspect Hertz were low on cars - after cryptic questions such as "can you drive an automatic?" and "ever driven an electric car?" the ladies at Hertz were very generous and gave me this to drive for 2.5 days:


It took me 3 minutes to work out how to unlock the door with the credit card, and maybe another 8 minutes to get the thing to drive!
Thankfully, despite being in German the sat nav was good and got me to site.
Some you-tubing and I changed the language to English and learnt how to switch on the cruise - but couldn't get auto-pilot to work

Driving in Germany was ace! - Roads all billiard table smooth tarmac...on the autobahn, everyone in general was well behaved, very little lane hogging, and so many trucks all in the slow lane all doing the same speed, leaving 2 lanes clear
I just makes coming back to UK a real shock


« Last Edit: October 20, 2022, 02:44:44 pm by LC5F »

Offline Clarkj93

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - F'ing Rear Caliper!
« Reply #181 on: October 20, 2022, 02:52:19 pm »
I bought these after mine were siezed earlier this year. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164425013666

Not perfect, a bit too generous on the powder coating and the outer edge of some threads got coated but after a little sanding and threading the bolts in and out a few times it was fine with no leaks. If I could get better next time I would but for just over 100 quid it was a decent purchase and solved the issue I had.

Nice rental! Berlin is probably one of my favourite cities, and yeah driving around Germany is a pleasure, its more of a case of watching the road and using common sense  than worrying about getting a ticket and over aggressive drivers making your life unnecessarily difficult. The every 15 minute toilet rest stops are a great addition as well.

Offline LC5F

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - F'ing Rear Caliper!
« Reply #182 on: October 23, 2022, 09:59:45 pm »
I bought these after mine were siezed earlier this year. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164425013666

Not perfect, a bit too generous on the powder coating and the outer edge of some threads got coated but after a little sanding and threading the bolts in and out a few times it was fine with no leaks. If I could get better next time I would but for just over 100 quid it was a decent purchase and solved the issue I had.

Nice rental! Berlin is probably one of my favourite cities, and yeah driving around Germany is a pleasure, its more of a case of watching the road and using common sense  than worrying about getting a ticket and over aggressive drivers making your life unnecessarily difficult. The every 15 minute toilet rest stops are a great addition as well.

Cheers Fella - I was looking to match up my Mk7 R calipers in black - MOT tomorrow
Cant believe how poor UK roads are - spoilt myself in Berlin

Offline LC5F

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - F'ing Rear Caliper!
« Reply #183 on: October 24, 2022, 11:46:45 am »
MOT result - Pass, no observations  :jumpmove:

Offline RBS

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - F'ing Rear Caliper!
« Reply #184 on: October 26, 2022, 05:43:42 pm »
Well done!! :happy2: enjoyed to read all this :wink:
Keep up the good work :wink:

Offline LC5F

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - Pilgrimage to Caffeine & Machine
« Reply #185 on: December 06, 2022, 08:36:30 am »
Cheers @RBS

Well, its the time of year when I make my trip to Wales - thankfully nobody tried to kill me on the M6 this year!
970 miles, not a single issue and very little oil used.

As I had all of last week off, and decided to visit more family in England - and also was near to Caffeine & Machine - so decided to make a pilgrimage



Christmas tree:

Door handle:


Moto's to live your life by:





Sadly there wasn't really a good selection of machinery present on a grey Friday at 2pm, but the art on sale was good - staff were lovely and (as expected) the coffee was great too - a good way to burn an hour


Only random thing I found on my trip was a burnt out disco I spotted while waiting at traffic lights in Hereford:




Offline GilesWoodward59

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Re: LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - F'ing Rear Caliper!
« Reply #186 on: December 07, 2022, 08:16:53 pm »
Always worth popping into C&M for a pit stop. Particularly if it’s part of a Fossway blast 👍
Edition 30 - No. 1233