The move from steel wheels with plastic covers to aftermarket alloys for my Ibiza in August last year, made the front disc brake calipers and rear brake drums visible.  The calipers were no longer silver and the drums were matt grey with surface rust - not a good look.

So, last week I bought a yellow Foliatec brake caliper lacquer kit and a spray can of smooth finish gloss black Hammerite.  I brushed on a couple of coats of the caliper lacquer and sprayed the drums with a couple of coats of Hammerite.

The following photos were taken today whilst the sun shone.

For those of you who may be curious to know about the person behind jtonline, here is a little bit of info.  My name is Julian (aka Jules), I am a heterosexual male and I was born in June 1966.  My family consists of mum & dad, two older brothers and an older sister.

A few hours after my birth, I was taken into hospital for an operation, having been diagnosed as having spina bifida.  Spina bifida means ‘split spine’. The backbone usually provides a protective tube of bones with the nerves (spinal cord) running down the middle.  In spina bifida, the bones do not close round the spinal cord and the nerves can bulge out on the unborn baby’s back and become damaged.

I’m fortunate in that I basically have some dexterity problems and no paralysis.  For more info., check out http://www.asbah.org  ASBAH is the leading UK registered charity providing information and advice about spina bifida and hydrocephalus to individuals, families and carers.

My family and I moved from Surrey to North Yorkshire in the 1970’s.  After leaving comprehensive school, I worked for Austin Reed, then Harry Hall, followed by a few years training at York ITeC, which led to a job with the CLA.  In 1988 I moved to a village in rural Herefordshire with my parents, and in May of that year I got a job with an IBM business partner and worked my way up to Administration Manager.  In 2003 I moved a further 20 miles or so and bought myself a two bedroom flat.  A year later I changed career and obtained my current position as a Customer Associate with a leading U.K. electrical retailer.

I’ve been surfing the Web on and off since April 1997.  I became Virgin Net’s first voluntary Discussions Forum Moderator in July ‘98 and continued that until March ‘02 - I then ran my own forums for a while.  I have published various versions of the jtonline.info website over the years, and a couple of sites for local businesses in my spare time.

My interests include tropical freshwater fishkeeping, my Seat Ibiza, computers & the Internet, gadgets,  photography (although I’d like to be better at it), watching TV & listening to a variety of music.

It’s already coming up to a year since I bought my Ibiza.  Last week the car started telling me that it would like a service by displaying a little spanner icon in the mileometer.  A few days later I received a letter from my local SEAT dealer inviting me to book the car in with the service department.  I suppose I’m going to have to sort something out soon.

I’ve received docs from the DVLA about renewing the tax disc too.  I’ve just used their online renewal service, which was quick and relatively painless.  It’s much better than trudging into town and queuing up at the Post Office with my V11 form and insurance certificate.  There is a £2.50 fee for paying by credit card and as I’m already having to pay £120 duty for a 12 month licence I opted to pay by Switch for no extra.  Apparently the disc should arrive by First Class post within the next five days.  Then I’ve just got to make sure I don’t lose it before the beginning of next month.

Went down to Trax Car Show at Silverstone today to exhibit my Ibiza on the Seat Car Club stand.

Jon & Clint at Auto Finish in Eardisley, have painted new side strips for my Ibiza.  So instead of the original black ones the car now sports some Ovni Yellow ones.

I’ve replaced the front grill with a debadged sport grill made by FK Automotive, and I’ve replaced the S badge on the back with some JT initials.