Thank you fellas. I have researched a lot of techniques on blacking the bumpers. One solution is to use a heat gun, it seems to work pretty well from the videos I saw. Just hold it on a spot for a few seconds until it darkens. Then someone suggested doing that first before applying Forever Black, as the heat gun will remove most of the oxidation. I've also heard peanut butter works pretty well too, lol.

I think the results were quite good, the stuff wasn't expensive and total prep and application was easy. Just mask off the areas where it touches the paint. Since it's a dye it didn't seem to stick to the paint very well anyways, what few spots I got it on I was able to just wipe it off. We'll see how this holds up.

Well the old key was worn down so much it made me nervous. I got a new Mk2 blank from ECS and took it to Rick's Lock and Key. He wasn't even sure he could cut it right since the old one was so old. Luckily he did and it works. Didn't even charge me!

Spoiler alert! It has a spoiler now. I acquired a plastic GLI wing and it came to me painted green.



Started by sanding it down a bit.



Then shot it with some satin black.



Then followed up with a couple of coats of bumper coating, to give it more of a textured look.



Made a template...



But it ripped so I made another template...



And after a while, I worked up the nerve to drill a hole in my trunk. Fortunately it turned out ok and the wing fit perfect!









It turned out great, fits perfectly and really makes the car look very good.

Ok now I need your thinking caps on because I am stumped. Saturday over at Money's we replaced the brake booster and master cylinder. Bled the system using a power bleeder, and then took it on a test drive around the block. The car drove great, brakes finally felt normal again especially since my booster hasn't been working.

Later that night we took it to Bojangles and leaving the drive-thru, the car could barely accelerate out of its own way. Pulling over on Ringgold Road, you could smell the brakes burning and the right front wheel was extremely hot. After letting it cool down, we took it back to the house slowly and carefully.

The next day, I replaced the right front caliper under warranty. I had always suspected it was sticking a little cause that wheel was always hotter than the left. After replacement, and bleeding again, I drove it around for several miles in the neighborhood and then up and down Ringgold Road. It did fine. Money followed me home and I didn't take the interstate just in case. Drove it to work the next day, which is a pretty short trip as well.

Finally I left yesterday to go to the meeting and as soon as I got it up to speed on the highway, my brakes locked down again. I could barely do 30 and I got off at the next exit, and limped to a gas station where I called AAA to come take it home. The brakes were so hot this time they were smoking. Both sides.

I'm totally perplexed cause I figure everything has been replaced brake-wise on this car and it still isn't drivable.

I'm with Travis . . . first suspect should be the flexible hoses.  They probably look great . . . but what the outside looks like has NOTHING to do with how they look on the inside.  I know from experiance, on older VWs these hoses have a tendancy to go bad from the inside first, LONG before they "look" bad on the outside.  They swell and close off the passage through the hose and it will then act like a check valve.  When you press the brakes, there is enough pressure generated to force the hose back open and let fluid flow to the caliper, but when you take your foot off the brake and the pressure starts to drop, the hose closes back up and won't let the caliper release.

could be trash in the system doing the same thing. A small piece of rubber or dirt could act as a check valve on one of the connections.

Does it have a proportioning valve or anything extra that would complicate the system?

Finally got back from vacation and back to work on this thing. Before I left, I let the battery charge for two days and then left it unplugged all week when I was gone. When I got back, the battery was dead as a doornail. Read .34V and the trickle charger wouldn't even touch it. The battery is the same size as the one in the bus, so I took it out and set it next to the car and used jumper cables to connect the two batteries and then hook up the charger. The extra voltage from the other battery was enough to get it to register and start charging. It's finally charging up again, so I'll leave it on overnight and give it a full charge. Next I'll swap in the battery from the bus and try it for a few weeks to see how it does. I can also leave my bad battery in the garage and see if it discharges while it's unhooked. Either I have a very fast drain in the car or the battery itself is going bad, I don't know which yet.

Moving on to the brakes, on the passenger side it got so hot that the seal around the piston completely deteriorated.



Also the upper allen head screw was completely rounded out and it took me most of the day to get it loose. I had to hammer in a larger size allen bit and finally got it wedged in enough to turn the screw. Now I have to order new screws cause they both look pretty rounded out.



The pads on the passenger side were worn down about twice as much as the driver's side, and I replaced them both in February so obviously the passenger side has been dragging for a long time.



I swapped in my vented rotors and got new pads, this time that fit the vented rotors. I also warrantied my busted caliper and got a new replacement as well.

The only thing I didn't do on my last caliper replacement was grease the guide pins. I didn't know I was supposed to and Bentley makes no mention of it except for '89 and later calipers. After talking to a few people it seems like that may be why my calipers have been sticking. I greased them up and reinstalled everything on the driver's side, as soon as I get my new bolts I'll get the passenger's side put back together.

After that I'll bleed it again and see how it goes. I'm hoping I can finally get my brakes sorted so I can drive it again. I think my low fuel economy is also related to my brakes sticking, it's probably causing the motor to work much harder just to spin the wheels enough to break free of the pads.