[shibujp]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

[list][*]The car completed 7 years of ownership on 7th October 2020. Since I have been deputed at our shipyard here at Kattupalli, I did the customary puja at the Vinayagar temple located inside the company’s housing complex, along with a colleague-friend Sidharth. Woke up early, gave her a nice wash-and-wax and did the puja.

Bummer with the Covid! If not for it we would have been celebrating 2 lakhs kms for the Polo. Congrats and here's wishing many more fun filled miles! The car looks just out of the showroom (touch wood).

[*]Turtle wax’s products are officially sold in India now and DIY and enthusiast detailers are all praise for their VFM products. I wanted to get a spray-on wax, something other than Meguiars and decided to get a bottle from Amazon (link); got it for Rs. 792.

My Sonax Easy Shine has ran out and I was on the lookout for something quick as well. Thanks for the tip. I should look at this.

I decided to try my luck using a cheap clay bar and some lube. Amazon delivers to even the remotest of places and I ordered the HSR clay bar from Amazon (link, Rs 249 for a 100 g bar) and some dishwashing soap diluted in a bottle, since I had no access to car shampoos or wash-and-wax solutions. I tried the front windshield first and shockingly, the piece of moulded clay bar took away ALL the paint particles. COMPLETELY!

I have the exact same problem due to a DIY home project executed to close to the car and was thinking about a solution. Clay bar never crossed my mind..I was looking at some solvent but wary of how it would screw up the paint. Let me try this out.

W.r.t to the brake upgrade do you have any plans for a rear disc conversion by any chance or ruled it out due to lack of feasibility?

Drive on,
Shibu

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

I checked Boodmo for the price of 1 cap and was shocked to see this:

Rs. 750 for a single cap! Aliexpress retails a set of 4 non-OEM caps for less than this price inclusive of shipping. I’ll place an order later once I am back to the city. I wish Amazon India had these.

I totally agree. 750 for plastic cap is just atrocious!! I have had to change 3 of these over 9 years. I feel the pain!!

Rachit

[Atharva4545]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Aliexpress retails a set of 4 non-OEM caps for less than this price inclusive of shipping. I’ll place an order later once I am back to the city. I wish Amazon India had these.

Is aliexpress still delivering to India? with the recent ban on their apps/website one has to use vpn to access it. There it shows that the item can be delivered to India, but a youtuber recently said that his 2-3 packages are missing since one month and there are no updates for the same.

Congrats on completing 7 years. My 9 year old vento tdi completed 130k last week. And I have recently bought another VW and I am 101% sure everyone would be excited to read my review(in Feb) once I tell which VW it is.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Happy Seventh Carday

Bit more expensive (well, ok, a lot, at around Rs.1600, but, having ahd my car polished with the service this year, I decided to make an effort to keep up the appearance appearance and got the Optimum spray wax. It's a real treat. For a few days, I could say that mine looked almost as good as yours, for the first time since it became mine. Then I got my first post-polish scratch.

Well, that's life. And at least is reasonably small.

[DheerajNK]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

[*]The front struts’ caps had a broken thread which meant they wouldn’t secure tightly to the struts.

I noticed that after the servicing, one of the strut caps is missing in my Vento. I noticed that some water get collected there in the absence of this cap but somehow I have not been able to get a new one due to WFH, lockdown etc. Will it cause any rusting/damage?

Thanks,
Dheeraj

[AMT]

I came across this thread remembering my Polo. In March of 2010, I booked the 1.2 TDI Highline (Red). Back then, the 7.3 odd Lakhs was considered to be blasphemy by friends and relatives alike.

Had first seen the Polo at the Auto Expo and had in fact, booked a petrol before test driving the diesel. The latter was incredible and didn't take me time to change my booking Was told that there would be a waiting period of 8 months (that's how much time it takes to build a house).

VW kept sending gifts or toys or movie vouchers for the wait and one fine day, out of frustration, I messaged everyone on my contact list if they had connects at VW India to hurry up the delivery. I don't know who actually did something but 3 days later I receive a call saying that my delivery time has been pumped up and in August, I could collect the car.

The excitement of having that red shiny machine (who I later named Lalli Singh) was overwhelming. It was the first car that I bought.

Before I could complete 3k km, a Pajero reversed into the driver door and Lalli was at the workshop for ... more than 20 days because they didn't have a power window motor in stock. VW was actually trying to get solid presence in the country. They did give me a replacement car for the interim period. That was my overall experience with the service having owned it for more than 10 years. It was either fantastic or $***.

Stock Apollo Accelere tyres were a nightmare! Delicate side wall (first tyre damaged at 5k km) and replaced. Another tyre at 18k km. Frequent punctures and general reliability became a matter of concern and I replaced and got a set of B250's at the at 45k km, which lasted me for a whopping 80k kms. Frequent alignment/rotation and balancing helped!

No complaints on the drive. Followed instructions on the manual re changing brake disc, suspension bush etc. and generally, a trouble free experience. The only time I did have a concern was when the car had done close to 85k km and an Innova reversed into my car, while I was driving (bizzare incident). There was mild damage to the radiator which went undetected resulting in leak of coolant into the timing chain/belt, which had to be replaced.

Service - hit or miss. terrible/mixed experience at Frontier Gurgaon (time commitment; missing toolkit items; replacement of warranty parts etc.).

Had also ordered myself an updated music system from AliExpress (cost me INR 5400 AI) which was retailed here for close to INR 22k.

Had to sell it last month thanks to the 10 year Diesel rule in NCR.

Driven to the hills a few times; decent highway driving and only service repairs at authorized service centres ensured a generally trouble free experience.

August 2010 - February 2021
125,000 KMS (for almost two years was driven not more than 3k KM per year)

[Gannu_1]

Hi everyone. Since I have been doing WFH over the last week, I thought of dropping an update in the thread.

Over the last couple of months, life has been very hard - living under some sort of insecurity and uncertainty unaware when the dreaded infection might affect us despite taking the best precautions or it already has affected us and we have been struggling to come to terms with it physically and mentally. We lost a colleague, a few of our close colleagues/friends lost their near-and-dear ones, some of them are recovering at home battling mental well-being, insomnia, tiredness and fatigue and one of them is admitted to the hospital with high temperatures of 102-103’ but the RTPCR report is negative and the oxygen saturation levels are well over 99! Thankfully it was dengue fever but his platelet counts are down and there are no hospital beds available anywhere! It is so confusing! This is definitely going to take time to recover. And I am not even talking about pre-covid times when we could just decide on a place, take the things and leave. At least not in the near future. Until then, please keep your guard up at all times, please stay at home as much as you can (order groceries to your doorstep), prevent unwanted travel, wear double masks, use sanitisers often and take care. Moving on with the car’s updates…

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

More details on the BBK setup when they are installed including the part numbers, pricing and pics of individual parts and the installation process.

Plans of getting the remaining part for the big-brake kit for the front wheels have been put on the back burner at the moment owing to:

a. The current covid scene and soaring fuel prices which has reduced the long-distance drives considerably.
b. My friend who's in Germany, who was to travel to India during this summer carrying the remaining parts with him, has postponed the travel plans due to the lockdowns.
c. Financial constraints! The calliper and the brackets would set me back by close to 25-30k INR.
d. No urgency for this upgrade at the moment with just the home - workplace - home 12 km daily drives. My role at work has also changed a bit due to a new order that has come so less of shipyard commutes too.

A couple of weeks back, during a casual inspection of the existing front brake pads, I found them worn out by a sizeable margin. Just a few mm of the frictional material was left on the outside.



I was pretty sure these are not going to last until the new callipers and calliper brackets of the big-brake kit arrives so I decided to swap the existing pads with a new set. I am not much of an enthusiastic driver and my brakes are very sensibly used, so an OEM replacement set would do just fine. To keep that in perspective, the current set has last me over 93,000 km. They were replaced during the scheduled fifth/75,000 km service and the car is now at 167,700 km.

I’ve had a good experience with Boodmo thus far so decided to source the pads through them. A set of TVS-Girling pads was priced at a shade less than Rs. 1500 in Boodmo (part number - 29932547, link). The same set with the additional sliding clips and bolts which makes up the OEM brake pad replacement kit retails for Rs 1800 (part number - 6RU698151A, link). I decided to opt for the TVS-Girling set while retaining the sliding clips and bolts. Plus, I wanted to change the pads myself having seen a few DIY videos and links on changing brake pads on the forum. But I did not realise what I would be getting into and some lessons will be learnt that day!

The pads were shipped through Delhivery and they arrived as scheduled. From order placement to delivery it took about a week.



I decided to change the pads on a weekend and assembled all the tools required for the job. I also wanted a pair of helping hands for the job so I roped in my good friend and colleague - Gagan. He isn’t new to this thread though. He was the friend who lugged the Bilstein kit from Germany during his Euro trip and we had been to Yercaud for a leisure trip back in 2016. He's very fond of cars, have been an active member and judge of the Formula Student competition held in India and abroad and currently owns a 2016 Jazz.

The apartment complex where I stay doesn’t have many open parking spots with a shade so we had to pick an open space and do the job. Times I wish I had a closed garage with a nice epoxy flooring, a hydraulic lift to raise the car, an air compressor, tool cupboards and such like BHPian Jeroen’s garage. One day perhaps!

List of tools/consumables:

1. Jack (I used a Maruti’s screw jack as it was easier and much safer to operate this rather than the VW supplied jack).

2. A pair of jack stands

3. ¼” ratchet set or a 12-13 ring spanner (to undo the calliper bolts from the guide pins)

4. Wire brush (to clean the callipers from the brake dust and rust)

5. C-clamp 120 mm or 6 inch OR a flat-head screwdriver (to compress the calliper piston back)

6. S-type hooks (to hang the calliper from the spring after it is removed from the assembly)

7. Sand papers 220 grit (wasn’t used as the wire brush helped remove all the brake dust and rust)

8. Brake grease (to be applied in the sliding clips, guide pins and the rear side of the pads)

9. Brake cleaner spray (alcohol-based spray to clean the assembly from the brake dust and rust)

10. WD40 (for general cleaning and stripping the older grease)

11. Paint brush, discarded toothbrush (for hard to reach areas)



Took all the tools to the car parked in the basement and drove her out to an empty spot.

Steps:

1. Slacken the lugs of the front wheels.

2. Jack up the front wheels and place the jack stands at the strong points.

3. Remove one of the front wheels - we started with the driver-side wheel first.



Place the wheel removed behind the jack stand for added security.

4. Rotate the steering wheel towards the extreme right to permit access to the calliper bolts from the wheel hub.



5. Clean the calliper assembly with the wire brush and the brake cleaner spray thoroughly. There’s bound to be plenty of brake dust and perhaps a bit of rust too.



6. Unscrew the cap of the brake fluid reservoir and keep the cap atop the outlet.



This is to permit the brake fluid to rise when the pistons from the callipers are pushed. Don’t keep the outlet for a longer time as brake fluid is hygroscopic and absorbs moisture from the air.

7. Use the flat-head screwdriver on the inside brake pad to push the piston back to the outermost position. Insert the screw driver here and push the piston back:



Or you can use the 6”/120 mm C-clamp and the old brake pad to compress the piston. /Lesson learnt #1.

When the piston is compressed, the brake fluid in the reservoir rises. When you do it for the other wheel too, it may spill out a bit so keep some rag clothes around the reservoir cap as brake fluid is highly corrosive.

Here’s how it is done with the C-clamp and the old brake pad:




(Images from Google Images; copyright respective owners)

8. Undo the 2 hex. head bolts on the top and bottom of the calliper assembly:



9. Remove the calliper and hang it to the spring using the S-hooks:





10. Slide the old brake pads out of the clips. They’ll slide out without any effort.

Check out the difference between the old and the new pads:



11. Clean the sliding clips using wire brush and the brake cleaner spray. Remove the bushes and the guide pins from the calliper bracket and clean them thoroughly.





One of the sliding pins had some pitting in them and was stuck inside the calliper bracket for a good time! We had to use some force to get it off. Look at the condition of the pin:



Can clearly see the pitting.

12. Apply the brake grease in the slide paths of the clips and the guide pins. If the rubber bushes of the guide pins are worn off or torn, you’ll have to replace them to prevent dust ingress on the pin. Bushes are dirt cheap. Inspect and replace as necessary. Replace the guide pins and the bushes into the bracket.





Be careful while applying the brake grease on the parts - the frictional surface and the discs should not have a speck of this grease! The mating surfaces have to be absolutely clear from the grease. Use the tissue paper and the brake cleaner to wipe off any grease on the surface of the rotors.

13. Insert the brake pads into the sliding clips on both sides of the disc. IMPORTANT - While inserting the brake pads, observe the INSIDE and OUTSIDE markings on the pads! Some set of brake pads have rivets on the inside while some have it on the outer ends. Where the rivets are located close to each other, these are the pads meant for the outside and where the rivets are located far away, these are the pads meant for the inside i.e. the piston side. The piston head has to mate flush with the metal surface of the pads. /Lesson learnt #2.


(Image courtesy - Boodmo)

Whereas some pads have no such distinction and they can be interchanged. Take a look at this set from Motherson:


(Image courtesy - Boodmo)

You can see that the rivets are located at the extreme ends and does not come in way of the piston head.

14. After the pads are inserted, apply some brake grease on the metal plate of the pads. Too much of grease is bad and too little would be insufficient. Just a small layer is sufficient.



15. Replace the calliper back in place and secure the calliper to the bracket using the bolts. Tighten the bolts. I simply hand tightened it using the 1/4” ratchet. If you have a torque wrench, tighten the bolts to 35 Nm.

16. Rotate the steering wheel back to the centre so the wheel hub is centred and replace the wheel.



17. Redo the above steps for the other wheel.

18. Replace the brake fluid reservoir cap and close it firmly. If some fluid was spilled outside (likely when the piston on the second wheel is compressed), check the fluid level in the reservoir and top up if required. The level should not go below the minimum mark. Clean the surrounding areas of the reservoir.

19. Lower the car after removing the jack stands.

20. Before driving off, start the car and press the brake pedal to reduce the pedal play and let the respective pistons push the pads firmly towards the rotors. Do a short test drive to confirm the braking action multiple times.

Lessons Learnt:

As I mentioned before, we ended up doing some mistakes during this DIY being the first time we were attempting this. Its all about the experience and we always learn something every time.

#1. Use a 6”/120 mm C-clamp or a larger size for compressing the calliper piston back. We messed up here because my puny 50 mm C-clamp was not sufficient for the job as the clearance was less. So, we had to resort to the flat-head screwdriver method. Needless to say, I ordered two additional C-clamps to my kit. Will come in handy next time.

#2. Pay attention to the INSIDE/OUTSIDE markings on the pads when you replace it on the calliper. We ended up installing the two OUTSIDE brake pads on the driver-side wheel and the two INSIDE brake pads on the co-driver side wheel! Just as we were about to wind up and replace the co-driver side wheel back into the hub, I saw the INSIDE marking on the brake pad!





Sigh! We had to trace back a few steps and redo it correctly.

#3. Carry some bottles of drinking water to keep yourself hydrated when you’re on the job. We didn’t and dearly paid the price for it! I am glad and very thankful to my partner Gagan who went to the nearby supermarket to fetch some cold drinks. The shade went away after some time and it was sunny where we were working. We were so damn exhausted at the end of it!

#4. Use a pair of latex gloves while doing this job. Our hands were really dirty at the end of the job and required extensive cleaning especially the nooks and crannies of the finger nails. A face mask will prevent brake dust/rust while cleaning with the wire brush from entering into the respiratory system.

I cleaned the discarded pads and painted it with two coats of spray paint. Using them as paper weights at work:



That’s all for now. The car’s odo stands at 167,800 km. I am figuring out some high beam issue on my headlamps as we speak. Shall post about that separately. Take care and stay safe!

[sagarpadaki]

It is not advisable to re-use the brake pad clips,aka, brake hardware even if they are cleaned. They wear out over time and can jam the brake pads from moving freely.

Also, I hope you cleaned the guide pin holes with brake cleaner/petrol before you regreased and put the pins back

[GT Racer]

A great DIY but I would suggest to use Nitrile gloves which are stronger last longer for such machine applications feels the same in hand actually better as these latex ones are made for surgical use only fir light industrial applications Nitrile ones are the best.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Use the flat-head screwdriver on the inside brake pad to push the piston back to the outermost position. Insert the screw driver here and push the piston back. Or you can use the 6”/120 mm C-clamp and the old brake pad to compress the piston. /Lesson learnt #1.

Pay attention to the INSIDE/OUTSIDE markings on the pads when you replace it on the calliper

Great job there @Gannu_1. There is another risk associated with using a screwdriver to push the piston back - if it slips for some reason, the rubber bellow over the piston gets cut, and that leaves an opening for water to get in and cause pitting on the piston over time. The piston would get jammed and cause steering wobble. I've experienced this issue twice in my Grand Vitara, and eventually got a new piston. Please get the discs skimmed at a machinist at the earliest.

Learning of the day was the Inside and Outside markings with the rivet points on the pads.

[DevilzzzzOwn]

As always, very informative.

If I may make a suggestion, to everyone, please make sure you wash your car/bike/test subject before starting these kind of DIYs. Saved a lot of dust going into eyes if you are below the subject.

[fluidicjoy]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Plans of getting the remaining part for the big-brake kit for the front wheels have been put on the back burner at the moment owing to:

Great DIY and had a great time reading it as always. I have collected parts for the Big Brake Kit, and would love to share, but I was eagerly waiting for your post!

I have learnt about quite a few great brake job practices from service manuals and a few good YouTube videos by ChrisFix, SouthMain Auto etc. and their tips have yielded great results for my brake systems. From my experiences working on my cars, not all brake greases are interchangeable. Lubed slider pins like the one on this TVS Girling brake system need a Silicone based Brake Calliper Pin grease. And the same Silicone based Brake Calliper Pin grease is usually not suitable for applying to Metal on Metal Contact surfaces like the Brake Pad Backing plate.

There are only a handful of options in India like TVS Girling Silicone Grease satchel (Red Coloured), Hyundai's Yellowish Brake Grease and the one Volkswagen uses is only available when you purchase a Brand New set of carriers which is really sad I feel. I stumbled upon this beautiful product by Wurth, and I love it.



Wurth themselves make two distinct, separate products. One is a Silicone Calliper Pin grease and the other is an Anti-Seize CU800 paste or an Anti-Squeal High temperature Brake paste. The Anti-Seize component is usually applied to points where the Pad ears make contact on the Anti-Rattle clips and only on the contact points on the Brake Pad Backing plate. I feel any more could be too much and will collect dust and dirt on the remainder of the Brake Pad. I'd also suggest cleaning of the dust boots properly and this is what my brake system looks like after a thorough clean. I would also recommend the use of a face mask since cleaning and brushing of calliper carriers sets a lot of harmful poisonous dust particles in motion.



There are a few advantages to buying Volkswagen's brake pads. Having a new pair of brake shims ensures a happier brake system, and this is more true if your mechanic or technician would not take that extra effort to grease the shims or brake pad ears.

By any chance have you used Permatex Purple Brake Grease? Would be great if you could evaluate the performance of your rubber boots after a few days or months of driving, if you're using this grease for the first time. I personally would love to hear about your experience with Permatex, which is regarded as one of the finest brake greases in the world, but would still advice a word of caution to anyone here who will be trying this at home, without Permatex, to make sure you use the right kind of grease in the right place. Incorrect greases will ruin what is already a decent brake system.

Also, did one of your calliper pins not have a small rubber ring? I have seen it on many other Polos which have this same brake system.

[shibujp]

Great, well detailed DIY. You have covered all the aspects usually faced during a DIY pad replacement.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

9. Remove the calliper and hang it to the spring using the S-hooks:

Rather than remove the entire calliper, it would be sufficient to remove the lower nut and swivel the caliper on the upper nut to gain access to the pads. Especially if you just intend to clean the pads or replace them. You can then hang the calliper as you have shown.

13. Insert the brake pads into the sliding clips on both sides of the disc. IMPORTANT - While inserting the brake pads, observe the INSIDE and OUTSIDE markings on the pads! Some set of brake pads have rivets on the inside while some have it on the outer ends. Where the rivets are located close to each other, these are the pads meant for the outside and where the rivets are located far away, these are the pads meant for the inside i.e. the piston side. The piston head has to mate flush with the metal surface of the pads. /Lesson learnt #2.

Just looking over the pictures of the pads I had replace I noticed two additional approaches that were followed.
1. Rivets that were flush with the metal face of the pad
2. Indentations in the face of the pad were the rivets were.

I also get brake shims when buying pads from Bosch. In this case grease is not needed. The shims are a kind of synthetic material that you can stick on.

That’s all for now. The car’s odo stands at 167,800 km. I am figuring out some high beam issue on my headlamps as we speak.

Quite some mileage you got on your set of pads. Over 70k. That's something. I rarely get over 40K.

Keep em coming. That's a great few miles your are putting on the GT!

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Ravi Parwan]

Gannu, from the pics you shared, your discs are striated and need to be lightly skimmed. Else you will feel judders in the brakes and premature brake discs wear. A stitch in time saves nine in this case.

[nitinsharma1000]

I changed all four brake pads on my Jeep Renegade that I used to have and I also changed the front rotors. Similar steps as above but rear piston on most cars including the Jeep and my old 2012 Golf GTI have to be screwed in instead of just pushed in with a clamp. I used a tool similar to the one shown below. It has different size 'teeth' on each side. you just have to match them to the piston face and use a ratchet with a 3/8 drive extension to turn it in. It helps if you use a clamp as well as you need a significant amount of pressure to push them in while turning. In that case since the clamp will be covering the 3/8" hole on the top, you can just insert the 3/8" extension in one of the side holes to turn.