Squidger had a friend come up to visit this weekend so I got to play with my car. Set out to paint the remaining 3 brake calipers. Some before shots of the rear offside:
Went to put the wire brush on my new drill and realised I'd bought a SDS. Went to screwfix to get an adapter chuck. Popped into Kwikfit to get them to rebalance front wheels on Squidger's beamer as they'd put those horrible weights on the face of the alloy instead of the stick on ones. They also left the old weight on! They are cheap for a reason! They were really busy and said to come back first thing tomorrow (Sunday). Went home and cracked on with the wire brushing. During pic:
Got as much rust off as possible and cracked the paint open. Still can't really get used to how it looks:
First coat drying off:
Put a second coat after about an hour, not sure if you can tell but I also cleaned the disk:
Don't mind the safety footwear.
And with the wheel back on:
Didn't take pics of the other side as it's exactly the same. Except the handbrake fell apart. It's a bit of a weakness on these cars. The backplate corrodes and the locator pin comes out:
Took the locator pins and springs out:
And popper them in some delicious white wine vinegar:
She never uses it so she won't notice. You can buy overhaul kits with new springs but want to see if I can rescue these. I don't think the handbrake shoes are rescuable though:
Cracked on with the painting. Got two coats on the rear nearside but the music stopped. Had been using the car radio all day and the battery was flat! Gave it a slow charge the next day:
I took Squidger car to Kwikfit first. There was a long queue and a pimped up 330i, 2001 with 160,000 miles with LED conversion, angel eyes, xenons, M3 mirrors, 19 alloys with red calipers. Chap said his was better than mine as it's been remapped to 280bhp. Not sure where his tuner got 50 bhp from mapping a N/A engine!
When I did the front caliper, I caught the brass wheel on my latex glove, which removed some of the rust and skin from my wrist and forearm!
And finally the front wheel done:
Whilst the paint was drying, I also serviced Squidger's car. Air filter and oil. The heat shield on front offside is broken and rattles so I secured it with some cable ties. I'm not removing the hub for a heat shield! Sprayed some aircon cleaner in the all the vents a it smelt a bit musty.