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Space Cadet
02-07-2007, 11:05 AM
Have recently bought a 2005 A3 3.2 Quattro S-line, the car has only done 10k miles and is immaculate apart from rusty disc-bells and rusty callipers. The discs and callipers are huge and because of the rust look really tatty behind the alloys.

Since I bought the car have obviously started noticing other A3’s and lots look to have the same problem.

Any ideas why they seem to be so susceptible or for prevention?

When I’ve got a bit of time was considering cleaning up the disc-bells and painting some heat-resistant flat Hammerite and possibly getting some calliper paint (just plain black or grey/silver so as to look standardish).

Anyone else done either of these?

Sam
02-07-2007, 11:09 AM
I posted a similar response in this thread about the Passat;

http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10078

Any and usually all discs show signs of rust after rain - have a look in a car park after a damp spell (any day at the moment really)

Space Cadet
02-07-2007, 11:28 AM
Thanks, have no problem with the concept of the bells rusting – some makes do, some don’t.

Lots of aftermarket discs come anodised/painted so as not to rust.

Will as mentioned give them a clean and paint at some time, was more concerned about the callipers, they’re really rusty and I have never had a car whose callipers rusted. Sure they go a bit discoloured, but not actually rusty??

Any ideas?

Has anyone else painted their callipers?

mluton
02-07-2007, 11:53 AM
Thanks, have no problem with the concept of the bells rusting – some makes do, some don’t.

Lots of aftermarket discs come anodised/painted so as not to rust.

Will as mentioned give them a clean and paint at some time, was more concerned about the callipers, they’re really rusty and I have never had a car whose callipers rusted. Sure they go a bit discoloured, but not actually rusty??

Any ideas?

Has anyone else painted their callipers?

Hammerite should do the trick of covering the rusty look.

I painted my mates callipers on his focus with Hammerite, after a good wire brush session.

Space Cadet
02-07-2007, 11:58 AM
Wicked – so you painted the callipers with Hammerite too, hadn’t thought of using it on the callipers as well, how well did it last?

Still don’t understand why they rust so badly?

mluton
02-07-2007, 12:06 PM
Wicked – so you painted the callipers with Hammerite too, hadn’t thought of using it on the callipers as well, how well did it last?

Still don’t understand why they rust so badly?

Well its lasted really well so far, no sign of it coming off, but preparing the calliper is the most important par.

We really gave them a good wire brushing, washed them really well to. We didnt prime them as the red hammerite we used said it was okay to go direct onto the metal. It does drip, so we did 3 fine coats leaving them to dry in between. We did both front callipers and the rear drums.

We did it by just removing the wheels and painted every part we could. Idealy its best if you remove the callipers and paint all the unreachable bit.

His were really rusty and it looks so much better now and hopefully it will protect them from water and air.

Space Cadet
02-07-2007, 12:16 PM
Thanks mate, much appreciated.

Might give it a go then, only bothered about the bits I/you can see so will just take the wheels off and do the easy to get to areas. Will do the disc bells at the same time, probably black callipers and silver bells, if the black looks dodgy will paint them silver so as to look original.

mluton
02-07-2007, 12:21 PM
This is the stuff we used:
http://www.hammerite.com/uk/products/ps_dtr_metal_paint.html

What do you mean by "Silver Bells" ?

Space Cadet
02-07-2007, 12:32 PM
Thanks for the link.

The bells are the part of the disc that attaches to the hub and which in-turn the wheel attaches to, i.e. the part of the disc that doesn’t have the braking surface and the part that in our case goes rusty.

When/if you upgrade to massive aftermarket brakes the braking part and the bell are usually separate pieces which are then bolted together so that you can just replace the braking surface part to keep costs down.