Rusting front discs

[Willieo]

Anyone else experience this? The front discs start rusting from the outer edge yet the rears stay bright and shiny!

This was a new pair fitted last summer but the recent salt on the roads and maybe my light footed braking has them starting to show rusting like the last set. They were changed at about 45k with new pads also even though the original pads still looked like new. Its as if the pads are not abrasive enough to keep the front discs polished like the rears.

[Poledriver]

Is it stopping OK?
How often do you drive the car?
Are they still rusty after a long journey?
Have the pistons seized?

Am I asking too many questions?

[mikpeirce]

When I purchased mine the front discs were appalling, with a good inch of the outer edge corroded. I put it down to continued light use of the brakes and little use. Brakes do need a good hard use occasionally to keep the full contact patch of the pad the bite the surface of the disc.

I obviously replaced the discs and pads as soon as and make sure now that the brakes get a good stamping on every once in a while to keep the full surface of the discs clean.

[reverie158]

Hi,

Yes I've always had problems with rust on the front discs. I only use the car on average once a week, so I expect this is the reason. I'm on my third set in five years of ownership

I think another problem is my style of driving, as there's so much torque and engine braking I don't really need the brakes that much

Cheers,

Justin

[mikpeirce]

I think another problem is my style of driving, as there's so much torque and engine braking I don't really need the brakes that much

I'm much the same, hence the occasional heavy brake to help clean them.

When I stripped down the rear brakes to service the hand brake mech I attempted to get a friend to perform a skim clean on the discs as they were pretty grotty, unfortunately they were too bloody large in diameter to fit on his lathe! Had to use a bit of elbow grease abd emery cloth in the end but at least it means my handbrake functions ok now.

I tend to paint the non-friction surfaces of new discs now with a hard wearing enamel or Hammerite to stop corrosion if the car doesn't get used much and just use a hard brake at high speed to clean the friction surfaces. (Obviously checking the rear view mirror first!)

[grbrown]

Hi,

Yes I've always had problems with rust on the front discs. I only use the car on average once a week, so I expect this is the reason. I'm on my third set in five years of ownership

I think another problem is my style of driving, as there's so much torque and engine braking I don't really need the brakes that much

Cheers,

Justin

I've had my car from new and with around 66k miles up have just had my fronts replaced, also the rears shortly. Having learned to ride motorcycles first I still change down through the gearbox while slowing down, which with the engine braking almost makes the brakes redundant!

[pessling]

having not driven my car for only 6 days whilst i was in france i drove it today and the feel to the brakes was horrible, you could really feel the corrosion on them from where it had been standing, after a few good applications they were fine. but shows how little time it takes.