Okay where to start, well a while ago now I fitted a set of S3 fronts to my vRS, I stripped them myself and had them powder coated in RAL 3020 Traffic red which look spanking, trouble was after fitting, the OE rear calipers really let the side down. I originally got a complete S3 set up but sold the rears as I needed to recover some of the cost so close to Christmas.
With the car being a daily runner is wasn't an option to get the rears refurbed so I kept my eye out for a set of vRS/GTi rears. Luckily I was able to source a complete GTi set up from Monte, (the fronts have now been fitted to swmbo's GT
). Here are a couple of shots of the calipers prior to the strip attempt -
Being a bit naive I thought I would be able to strip the rears like I did the fronts......Wrong!! After posting on here for advice, I borrowed a piston rewind tool and started. At this point I had exchanged a dozen of so emails with the brake God that is Dave Brown. Now for those of you who don't know, Dave is considered the forum expert when it comes to all things brake related, and he didn't disappoint. Even though he is an extremely busy man, he took the time to message me with almost a how to guide. Despite his expert advice things didn't go well, I managed to separate the piston but the handbrake lever was going to cause a major ball ache, also to avoid powder coat contaminating the piston cylinder I would require a machined plug and reassembly would require 30+ quids worth of a lithium paste on the seals.........
At this stage I thought I'd fooked it, enter stage left Mr Brown, who agreed to complete the refurb for me. I won't go in to details on cost but basically it was a sympathy job - which involved courier costs and a donation to the forum - as he was chuffed I'd had a go myself. So I sent everything off a few weeks ago - with no time scale discussed - and left him to get on with it at his own pace.
Anyway, today I came home from work to find a large parcel in the kitchen, like a kid at Christmas I opened it up to find this -
If I'm honest the pictures don't do them justice, personally I am gob smacked by the finish, Dave is a true gentlemen and a deity in the brake world, even swmbo was impressed which speaks volumes. So for anyone thinking of getting a brake refurb or investing in one of his NQS -BBK I can only say go for it, you will not be disappointed (just don't ask him to do rear calipers, they are not his favourite things!!
)
Next step, fitting, I will update the post when they are on which should be next week.
