[tickerguy]

Hey Guys,

I am about to change my brakes and I painted last year my calipers but the paint faded and I want to repaint them. This time I want make it a bit better so I don't have to redo it again next year.

Looking at the caliper I want to take out the entire thing - clean it and paint it. For that I need to remove the brake line.

Studying the brake hose removal sheet it seems I have two attack points - either on the brake pipe or the bleeding valve but whats the preferred / easier way?


BRAKE HOSE (FRONT) REMOVAL/INSTALLATION

Be aware that most caliper to brake-hose connections have a one-time-use copper crush washer for a seal; I've not checked my "6" in this regard but I bet it has them. Do not attempt to re-use these washers; it will leak! The good news is that they're cheap, the bad news is that finding out that you don't have them and need them when you have the car in the air and the wheels off is not exactly a good thing.... in an emergency you *might* be able to clean and anneal the old washer with a torch, but that's a last-ditch field-repair thing that I strongly recommend against since buying replacements costs only a few bucks.

You need to be extremely careful when pulling calipers and similar on newer vehicles with ABS; if you get air into the ABS pump it's hell to get it out without a dealer-specific scan tool that can cycle it. I have the ability to do that with VW vehicles as I have a HEX-CAN interface but with my "6" I do not, so take care not to allow the reservoir to drain all the way or air to get back up the line toward the ABS pump.