MTEC Discs + Mintex Pads + Painting Calipers [PICS]

[A4_MaJiK]

As some of you may know, I ordered a set of MTEC drilled and grooved discs with Mintex pads as my brake pad warning light was getting annoying. Strangely enough, the pads seemed to have plenty of life in but turns out the circuit breaker is quite conservative on my original pads (not had a look at the Mintex ones yet).

With regards to painting the calipers, I ordered two of these kits in gloss black off ebay which are all high temperature grade for £24.99 delivered.

Original VHT Brake Caliper Paint Kit “Recommended Process By VHT” | eBay

So far I have only primered them and sprayed the base coat as I am allowing sufficient time for the coats to cure. I was going to brush paint them after the base paint coat but not sure yet as I have the feeling it may leave brush marks and I am quite happy with the finish. The main part was separating the calipers and cleaning them up properly with a wire brush and a wire wheel on a cordless drill and plenty of brake cleaner!

No pictures of the base coat yet but will update this thread as I go along.

Not sure if I should spray the disc guards or not, as they appear to be powdercoated in black at the moment. I have cleaned them up and there are a few chips here and there but alot of the dirt is refusing to come off.

 

[V6 Quatt]

Nice Work

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Nice Work

Thanks, lots of people told me to do it as it was on the car and I was wasting my time taking them apart. But I wouldn't have the peace of mind if I didn't do it properly I think.

 

[V6 Quatt]

Same discs as mine. They look good but not extremely great stopping power.

Be careful when braking as the coating takes time to fade off the discs

 

[A4_MaJiK]

UPDATE

Two coats of gloss black VHT.

 

[jdp1962]

Looking forward to seeing it all back in place.

 

[JimmyH]

Good work dude

 

[A4_MaJiK]

UPDATE

 

[JimmyH]

Looking good, What's the part number for the S4 caliper springs dude?

 

[Giosabcsl]

Looking good, What's the part number for the S4 caliper springs dude?

8E0 615 269

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Audi S4 B7 Front Brake Caliper Pad Spring - 8E0615269 - Stoke Audi Parts

 

[adcooper]

Looking forwards to the finished results, fancy doing mine when they arrive lol

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Looking forwards to the finished results, fancy doing mine when they arrive lol

Me too, I've been letting each coat set for a good amount of time (hence why it's taking so long) with heaters so hopefully this stuff lasts quite well.

Driving around in a 2.0TFSI Mk5 Golf GTI DSG in the meantime, ****** hell petrol cars are thirsty!

 

[A4_MaJiK]

UPDATE

Unfortunately the my OCD has once again gotten the better of me and as I'm not happy with the finish (not glossy enough) I decided to paint over them with high gloss caliper paint I bought from these guys in Nottingham. I must admit this stuff is great! Mixed it 2:1 (Paint:Hardener) and it went on a treat. Does go hard quite quickly but it is pretty much self levelling so no need to worry about brush marks etc. Looks like I've achieved the finish I'm after but will have to see what they look like when I get home from work tonight. No pictures of them yet unfortunately but will post some up of the rears once they're fitted tonight, fronts should be going on tomorrow.

 

[Khanage]

Good job so far, keep us posted

 

[rhinoman]

Interested to see how they come out, paint looks top notch from that mob.

 

[adcooper]

Looking good mate

 

[A4_MaJiK]

UPDATE

As some you may be aware already, I ended up brushing over the spray finish as the paint just wasn't glossy enough for my liking. The spray finish was better close up (even surface coat) but the brush finish was definitely more pleasant in appearance due to the high gloss finish. If you were going for a matt/flat look or low gloss then I'd probably stick to the spray paints, however if you're after something glossy which stands out a bit more (colour dependant of course) then I'd definitely recommend the brush on method. Although I think a lot of it was down to the overall quality/properties of the paint itself.

The rear calipers+carriers and the front carriers are with two coats hence the better finish (leaving it at that) and the front calipers only have a single coat for now. The second coat evens out the finish and fills in any obvious brush marks etc. I apologise in advance as some of you may be disturbed/concerned by the amount of copper grease I use on brake pads!

 

[A4_MaJiK]

UPDATE

Finished the brakes off on Friday night. Took a while to get all the air out of the system but got there in the end. Went with my knowledge and experience first and pressure bled the system at 10psi to keep it safe and went in order from furthest to closest to the ABS pump (RR-RL-FR-FL). Brakes still felt spongy after that so I then bled them again at the same pressure but this time sticking to the traditional further from the master cylinder method (RL-RR-FL-FR). Brakes still felt spongy after that so I then consulted ELSAWIN. According to the information I got from there the system should be pressure bled at 2bar and the correct bleeding order (strangely enough) is FL-FR-RL-RR. This solved the spongy brake pedal anyway.

Went out for a test drive and the brakes were awful! Had to anticipate every stop for a good 20-30miles worth of driving before I could see any improvement. I let it slide based on my experience hoping it was the coating on the discs and the brakes just need bedding in. The rear brake pads were also sticking for a while but after about 150 miles (had a road trip to Newcastle) all was well and the stopping power is back to normal now. No noises discovered as of yet (fingers crossed).

Also forgot to mention the S4 clips I bought for £45 each got shot blasted and powdercoated in a high gloss black for £10 by a place local to me and I then went at them with some vinyl. Take a look at the pictures anyway and let me know what you all think, all opinions positive or negative are welcome.

Now for the pictures...

Azeem

 

[JimmyH]

Very nice dude, good attention to detail through out as well.

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Very nice dude, good attention to detail through out as well.

Thanks, I wouldn't have been happy if they weren't done properly.

 

[jdp1962]

Wow!

(That is all.)

 

[adcooper]

They look awesome mate really liking the s4 caliper springs!

 

[V6 Quatt]

superb work looks the business. Good work

 

[A4_MaJiK]

Thanks guys, I'm really happy with them. One more thing ticked off this never-ending list...

 

[jdp1962]

Thanks guys, I'm really happy with them. One more thing ticked off this never-ending list...

You know what your trouble is, don't you?

You need a purpose in life, maybe a hobby of some sort.....

 

[A4_MaJiK]

You know what your trouble is, don't you?

You need a purpose in life, maybe a hobby of some sort.....

haha yea I did think that but can't really think of something to do. Especially with the dreary weather at this time of the year. I'm currently doing a bi-xenon retrofit on my bike while it's off road...?

 

[ben.w93]

Love the attention to detail that went into this. I'm thinking of getting some S4 clips when I carry out my S4 conversions, slowly gathering bits, grill is next and mirror caps I think. Not sure on badeging though.