Nope.

Forever recycle bin blue.

 

 

Good shit...

 

Sorry for the long winded post, TLDR: Car is working.



Annnnnd, car is driving again .

This project took forever - currently on paternity leave but between juggling house duties and a newborn, it proved to be quite challenging to find the time. Additionally, I had some unexpected obstacles issues along the way which extended the project by a week or two.

New brake specs:

330mm/32mm rotors from ProjectB5 (5x112, 57.1 hub centric), drilled & slotted (9mm more diameter, 2mm wider).
V8 Toureg BM5 4 Piston calipers
Stainless StopTech lines up front
EBC reds all the way around
New rear rotors & calipers

Prep work:

Simple green'd the F out of them - used a wire brush / rotary wire rush bit from my drill
More Simple green
Brake cleaner
2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint, 3 coats of clear

Thoughts? Just get them powder coated .. I had a few drops of brake fluid sit on these for about 5 minutes and it already took a piece of paint off despite being chemical / fluid resistant. Also, barely nicked the top of the caliper with the wheel and you guessed it ... took paint off.

Obstacles:

1: Cheap rotors I picked up initially fit, but .. they were not hub centric. The rotor clearance is so tight in the caliper that if they are not dead centered (even with the wheel attached / 5 lugs in), it would rub. Annoying as hell to mount them consistently. I ditched them and with with 57.1 hubcentric rotors .. no more fitment issues.

2: I needed to grind down my steel upright (the unit where all the control arms / shock / wheel bearing is) because these are 2mm thicker than OEM rotors - this was expected, but .. I was a little too happy with the grinder and actually went through the steel on the driverside upright ... big oh shit moment.




I either buy a whole new upright with a new wheel bearing, or I attempted to fix what I had already on the car.

Ultimately, I decided I was going to pickup a cheap 110v MIG welder and attempt to fix it.

After practicing for a whole 30-45 minutes by laying down a few beads and adjusting my wire speed, I managed to fix my mistake by filling it & added JB weld on the outside to make it a bit more rigid. Surprisingly, there's more material on the driverside than the passenger side ... I think I did pretty damn good for a first timer. Grinded down / painted ... looks identical to the passenger side.

So happy I picked up a welder .. can't wait for the next fuck up

3: I needed to grind down my caliper ears in order for the rotor to sit dead center in the caliper. Without modification, the outside of the rotor had 1-2mm of clearance, the inside of the rotor was actually making contact with the caliper tunnel.

My father in law gave me a drill press 3 years ago and it was finally time to put it to good use. After some trial and error, calipers fit perfect and most importantly, the grinded area is perfectly flat.








Current issues:

1: The brake pad wear indicator harness that I purchased separately is a female end connector, as is my B5's harness side. Doh. I will need to splice it in order to make it work .. or I could simply code it out via VCDS.

Not 100% decided on what I'm going to do .. but, one thing is for sure - I like a warning free dash.

2: Each front caliper has 2 bleeders each - 1 of the 4 are leaking slowly ... I'm thinking teflon tape and send it.

3: My passenger side Brembo sticker is backwards - I'm leaving it as is ... I've gone through so much with this project I honestly don't even want to re-paint / re-prep the caliper.

4: Very small dead zone on the top of the pedal .. possibly due to the leaking bleeder, or perhaps I need to do an ABS system cycle / re-bleed.

Brake pedal feels better every time I drive.

Driving impressions:

Holy shit .. the car can finally stop properly. After doing a simple 3 x 60-0mph bed in process, the car trips ABS so easily .. it also makes my front suspension feel totally factory since there's so more inertia / weight transfer now .

Anyways, here are a few pictures of the prep work / completed product:











Thanks for reading!

 

glad I stopped by to read the thread...
I actually get a better understanding of what you did when I read your posts and full big pictures.
You do good work. Never stop.
If you brake it, you fix it and never let it halt your process.
I love that about you.

 

brembo

oqɯǝɹq

love silver calipers. They always look nice.

 

Looks good dude! Sounds like a big upgrade as well.

To rockstar's point, I like that you share the fuckup and the fix as well. Refreshing to see, and I think it's a better learning experience.

Can you get a wear indicator with a male harness end and swap it in?

 

Looks awesome!

Are those brembo labels color matched to recycle bin blue?!?!

 

Thanks man! I think I’m getting better .. usually projects tend to be way over budget and/or something substantial breaks and I’m kicking myself.



It’s a learning experience and I enjoy a good / very fruitful car project.




Thanks man! Much appreciate that!

I may have purchased the wrong harness for it - I’ll research and report back.

You bet your ass it is!

 

People joke about JB Weld until an unexpected fuck up or failure occurs.

Then they use it and in a pinch, damn is it great.

 

Looks great and by the way it sounds, a bigly upgrade to boot too!

 

I feel like it's only a matter of time before he ends up with 350z dual piston bbk for the rear...
if that's a thing...

 

There are brackets / a kit available to fit a bbk in the rear but I’ll most likely do that at a later time.

Got to sort my front brakes soon

I did add Teflon tape to the front threads .. we’ll see if
it holds!

 

It'll hold bro...it was weeping, not leaking and given the pressure it's under that means it's BARELY legalaking.

 

Any need to adjust brake bias/proportioning with the larger front kit?

 

just press the pedal harder

 

Don't you mean softer?

 

 

lock that bitch up, ABS!

 

Shoulda known the answer was stay hard

 

For how shitty the rear brakes are, upgrading them would not be a bad idea ... They are adequate from a performance prospective but, the way the rear pads mount inside of the caliper makes me want to punch people .

Makes for uneven pad wear / dragging pads ... annoying as f$#&.

If I see a rear BBK option on the low, you bet I'll pick it up!

So ... little update:

After applying some teflon tape, I have no leaks from my passenger side bleeder screw - better yet, brake pedal has improved quite a bit .. few cycles of my ABS pump via VCDS and I'm good to go.

I've driven the car about 100 miles since my initial update and man, it feels GOOD to drive it again. It may spend 1-2 months a year on jackstands for upgrades / repairs, but there's nothing more rewarding to pull out of my garage and drive around.

Love this thing.

 

Glad to hear your brake pedal is noticeably improved. Your hard work is paying off in the enjoyment you're getting from drive itself.

 

Stop right there.
That's great news!
Seriously, glad to hear the bullshit stops here.

 

Dude the car looks absolutely perfect from that angle. That recycle bin blue is popping!

 

After years of searching, finally found a dude local parting with some pretty rare interior at a good price.

Best part is, his son wants to buy my black leather seats for $250 ... it'll make for a very worthwhile trip.

Recycle bin Sport Interior!









Only drawbacks is, there is a rip on the driverside bolster and there is some fading. If the fix is not repaired to my liking, I will simply have that piece replaced / reupholstered.

The front seats are dirty but, I hear warm water / Dish soap / soft brush will make it look new again. Rears are mint.

Also, the door pulls don't include the aluminum trim ... I will either wrap my existing wood trim carbon fiber or gloss black.

Haven't totally decided yet.

I'll post more updates when it's in the car & cleaned up!

Thanks for reading.

 

You just want to eventually change your entire car into recycle-bin blue, huh?










Looking forward to the update!

 

That's the plan! Recycle bin blue for life!

 

Recycle bins are good for the environment.

Interior looks promising! Leather repair on car seats is fairly common I think, so hopefully repairing that one spot should be pretty smooth. I'm sure once you've got everything in the car the interior will pop.

 

Future interior goals with the B5:

RNS-E (OEM-ish Headunit) - $350 - $450 for a Gen 2
Flat bottom carbon wheel - $1k
Pedal set - $250

 

Oooo...that is sharp indeed. The newer models have this ambient lighting setting where you can pick recycle-bin blue as the shade. I'd think you'd love that when you eventually continue with more Audi cars.

 

Out of those, do the steering wheel first. You'll get the most value out of something you touch all the time.

 

 

$1k for a steering wheel?

 

Custom carbon work + wheel & airbag .. yup.

Custom non-carbon flat bottom wheels go for like $550.

It ain't cheap!

 

IMO it also ain't worth it.

 

I dig it...
that will clean up perfectly...
as far as fading, that will be SO easy to fix...
after last weekend I'm telling you it's very easy to do...
only thing now that I've let it set for 2 days...
I'm curious how well leather conditioner will now absorb.
I'm gonna shoot you some info on cleaning the leather before dyeing

 

After MONTHS of searching, I was lucky to find mine from a manual car at $550. This was early Q2 of 2020... Prices have since gone up significantly.

Last I checked, there was on over in the AZ BM for $825 to $850 range.

It's out of an auto though, so paddles are included.

 

Luckily, my OEM steering wheel is in pretty good condition with no fading / cracks ..

You guys know me .. if a deal pops up I can't help myself

 

Are the new seats full leather? Or is the blue suede/alcantara?

 

Yup - alcantara inserts surrounded by black leather.

Once the seats / interior goes in, aluminum trim will follow and it'll be a "complete" sports package car.

As far as B5 S4 values go, sports package is the way to go .. plus they pull at least 1-2k higher than a traditional leather interior car.