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GTI Brake Calipers - Do they come pre-painted from VW?


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As it says above really. Had to have a new rear caliper when it was last serviced (the other three are still the originals), but it came unpainted. Is this normal?

It was supplied and fitted by an independant garage I (mostly) trust, what annoyed me was they fitted it and made no mention of it not being red, I'd have happily paid for it to be painted if thats how they come from VW however.

Made me wonder if it had been supplied by a VW garage would they have painted it before fitting? Perhaps.

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Tbf I wouldn't have felt the need to contact a customer to tell them the caliper they ordered wasn't painted either. What would they even be able to do about it? 'Hello Sir, we just wanted to know if you wanted us to paint your caliper red for you.' As the conversation would more than likely proceed......

'You mean it's not already painted??'

'No, our supplier doesn't send out calipers pre-painted.'

'Oh, it's ok, I'll do it myself unless you're willing to do it free?'

'No Sir, we don't offer free brake painting.'

'Ok, leave it then.'

Or........

'Yes, I'd like you to paint it for me please.'

Service advisor thinks 'crap, we need to go get some caliper paint from halfords now and bill the customer for that plus extra time as the car is gonna stay dead on the ramp whilst we paint the caliper and wait for it to dry before fitting it.'

'Ok Sir, I'm afraid I'll have to amend the quote we've given you then for the work carried out today.'

And so forth. Independents are independents at the end of the day, they may not feel the need to fit genuine parts straight from vw, which is why they are cheap and franchised dealers are not so much.

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Yes, I got quotes from LupoBoz and stated they come pre-painted.

Either you have a Sport caliper or an aftermarket.

Bit annoying that they didn't mention it though.

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Yes, I got quotes from LupoBoz and stated they come pre-painted.

Either you have a Sport caliper or an aftermarket.

Bit annoying that they didn't mention it though.

Slightly annoying yes! I'd have been more than happy to pay if it hadn't come painted, as I wouldn't expect them, or even VW to bear the cost of that. I'd have also been happy waiting, as I want the job done right.

Independents are independents at the end of the day, they may not feel the need to fit genuine parts straight from vw, which is why they are cheap and franchised dealers are not so much.

They pride themselves on using only VW parts. In fact, when my cambelt snapped they made a point of showing me the non-VW part that Midland VW (an indie that has, or used to have, a near faultless reputation in these parts in previous years) used a couple of years previously. I use independents not because of the cost saving, its because I had even worse service than this. That said I am thinking about going back!

GTI calipers from VW come painted red by the factory

Thanks. Arse, I just trusted them that it came unpainted and like Peter said, I assumed that they in turn assumed I wouldn't want the extra cost and hassle and didn't bother mentioning it.

So, I guess once again I have to chase (I'm utterley sick of chasing contractors/mechanics, I'm currently chasing a mobile tyre fitter who fitted a tyre and left a tool inside <yes, inside> the tyre he'd changed on my wifes car. He claimed there was no way he'd have left a tool in the tyre, and yet, there it was. Happy days.

So, what is the proper, nicely red painted brake caliper's proper part number? The Sport one might be handy for comparison also.

Edited by AndyW
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Why don't you just whip it off an paint it?

Thats an option, but why settle for that if a part has been paid for and fitted but is incorrect.

I could paint it, I could pay someone to paint it, I could ask you to paint it for me, but why should I? Poor service is poor service, I expect not to pay for poor service, or have to bear the costs of poor service.

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How much did they bill you for the caliper, out of interest?

I can't remember off hand, I need to fish out the invoice before I go to them anyway so I will report back.

Whats the correct part number, and I guess, how much *should* it cost?

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I dunno myself but no doubt lupogtiboy will be able to help, but yeah, that's what I figured, see how much you were charged and how much a gti caliper is from a dealer.

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Thats an option, but why settle for that if a part has been paid for and fitted but is incorrect.

I could paint it, I could pay someone to paint it, I could ask you to paint it for me, but why should I? Poor service is poor service, I expect not to pay for poor service, or have to bear the costs of poor service.

Yeah fair play

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I don't have the part no's, but here's the prices Dale (LupoBoz) quoted me:

Front Caliper, in red £95.00 each
Rear Caliper (not sure on colour) £124.00 each

So actually he wasn't sure about the colour of the rear caliper.

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Front red caliper -

n/s - 6N0 615 123 E - £128.47 inc vat

o/s - 6N0 615 124 E - £128.47 inc vat

The fronts definitely come in red, but the rears have changed part number to the sport calipers, so would need to be painted red. I have added an ETKA screenshot to show the front calipers and the listing showing they come in red.

post-795-0-83501700-1366963829_thumb.jpg

Edited by lupogtiboy
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  • 9 months later...

Andy, I got my rear calipers from VWSpares; http://www.vwspares.co.uk/lupo_brakes.php

Come in red and are genuine Lucas. There is a mark on mine where a logo has been removed and painted over.

The VW Master tech says they are the real thing, but were maybe branded for another manu.

If you haven't had yours painted it may be worth buying these and selling the Sport ones.

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if the calipers are the same and do the same job, which after all is stopping your car, why worry about the colour? paint them yourself. yes its irritating, but I dare say the price difference between genuine gti calipers(painted red) from vw and the price of yours is considerable. unless of course the garage has charged you for the real thing and given you something inferior for the same money, then you've got something to twist about. to put the garages point of view, we get cars in with tit pink paint on them, we don't ring vw and ask them if they do calipers in tit pink! we naturally assume that the owner has seen fit to paint his calipers. when the calipers are rebuilt they are probably blasted, removing the red paint. it's probably not cost effective to paint them red. I don't think you should feel lied to by your garage, they've changed your caliper, job done. a lot of the time when you contact suppliers for calipers they themselves don't know they're supposed to be red so they can't pass the info on, unless you go to vw....and pay. the choice is yours. geoff

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Just pointing out that one can still get OEM red callipers for the GTI without the additional cost of painting\coating. Good prices too!

Some people are just OEM through and through :yes: , I thought you would have been in that category Geoff.

I'm waiting for them to get fronts in stock and I'll buy a set.

Need to get my G60 carriers coated before brake upgrade, so I may get my rear carriers freshened at the same time as they are matte pink!

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Standard fronts, I bought them to use as an interim but never ended getting mine refurbed.

I never fitted them but they came straight off a car that had been rear ended, so should be fine, been wrapped in newspaper since ha!

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Standard fronts, I bought them to use as an interim but never ended getting mine refurbed.

I never fitted them but they came straight off a car that had been rear ended, so should be fine, been wrapped in newspaper since ha!

Pm me a price. Ta.

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