Question about brake components

Eldorado2k

Eldorado2k

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I know I recently mentioned that I don’t care about rusty brake rotors after a car wash, so you can make me eat my words if you’d like..

But it got me thinking, brake pads get rid of rust as soon as they make contact with the rotors, but what about the rest of the brake components?

Specifically how the heck did my brake components get like this? And is there something that could’ve been done to prevent this? Can this be cleaned off/restored? Does anyone even bother caring about this?

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Bare with me if this is a stupid question, but I just now started to think about this part of my vehicle.
 
I’m also interested in this. I know Brake Buster has rust inhibiting properties built in to it, sort of like Hyde’s serum rust stopper. I usually only see people spraying and worrying about their rotors with that product, but I assume it would prevent rust on whatever it hits.

Part of the reason I’m trying to move away from harsh and caustic/acidic cleaners if I can is because I can’t imagine they’re helping the situation.

My car is beat though, so it’s really more just me looking for things that I’ll wanna use on a newer car when I get one.


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The easiest way if they are already that bad is to get them painted. Most calipers and rotors aren’t painted when you buy them unless they are after market high performance. You can call Around any paint or body shop and they should be able to remove the rust and then paint them so they never rust again. I wouldn’t pay more than 200-400 $ in a middle class area. If you want to do it your self it’s super easy. On a scale of 1 to mechanic it’s about a 5. Time: 3-6 hours. Great weekend project. If you really want to save a little time but spend more money I would get brand new rotors without rust and refinish/paint your old calipers. This will save you a lot of time because you won’t have to remove the rust from all 4 calipers. There’s a lot of videos on YouTube/ forums on how to do it. Best of luck!


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Breese147 said:
The easiest way if they are already that bad is to get them painted. Most calipers and rotors aren’t painted when you buy them unless they are after market high performance. You can call Around any paint or body shop and they should be able to remove the rust and then paint them so they never rust again. I wouldn’t pay more than 200-400 $ in a middle class area. If you want to do it your self it’s super easy. On a scale of 1 to mechanic it’s about a 5. Time: 3-6 hours. Great weekend project. If you really want to save a little time but spend more money I would get brand new rotors without rust and refinish/paint your old calipers. This will save you a lot of time because you won’t have to remove the rust from all 4 calipers. There’s a lot of videos on YouTube/ forums on how to do it. Best of luck!


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Could the calipers be cleaned back to looking like new with brake cleaner? Is that all it takes? Excuse the stupid question but I’m a 1 on that mechanic scale, as you can probably tell. Lol

This sort of sounds similar to exhaust tips.. And how some exhaust tips are chrome and high performance vs. ones that aren’t and usually stainless steel. But even the stainless ones can look clean if you maintain them.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Could the calipers be cleaned back to looking like new with brake cleaner? Is that all it takes? Excuse the stupid question but I’m a 1 on that mechanic scale, as you can probably tell. Lol

This sort of sounds similar to exhaust tips.. And how some exhaust tips are chrome and high performance vs. ones that aren’t and usually stainless steel. But even the stainless ones can look clean if you maintain them.
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In my experience no. One day I tried spraying like half a bottle of iron x on a single rusted caliper to see if it would remove the iron. The most it does is remove the orange color but you are still left with an extremely uneven and pitted surface that will begin to rust again.

But trust me check out the videos on YouTube and it’s not that bad of a weekend project at all. It’s basically remove wheels,
remove bolts on caliper, remove rotor, grind/sand down rust on rotors and calipers, tape off areas you don’t want painted, primer, paint, clear coat done.
If you are scared to take the plunge I would just call around and find a reputable shop and have them refinished and painted. Like I said though I would recommend getting new rotors prior too this procedure because once you replace the rotors (depending on vehicle and brake pads every 40-80k miles) your old rotors that you paid to get painted would be thrown away. Also quick tip I always research and find out recommended torque values, or liquids I may be replacing for any components before I remove or replace them. I put these on a piece of paper that I reference during the install. I would also include this anytime I drop off my vehicle somewhere to get parts replaced because some of these people like to just crank down on the bolts and next time you go to replace them you either have a damaged bolt housing or another issue.


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Breese147 said:
In my experience no.
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Ok cool.. The main reason I ask is because I’ve got a good friend who has always bugged me about carrying around a can of brake cleaner and that I should look into cleaning the brakes as part of my detail routine... I always roll my eyes and tell him to shut up with that thought because nobody and I mean nobody does that or even cares about that. He always gets back to mentioning it though, like dude how many times do I have to tell you I’ll never care about cleaning someones brakes?! Lol.

So I was just checking if hell had actually almost frozen over because I might just break down and have to look into picking up some damn brake cleaner.lol.
 
Eldorado2k said:
Ok cool.. The main reason I ask is because I’ve got a good friend who has always bugged me about carrying around a can of brake cleaner and that I should look into cleaning the brakes as part of my detail routine... I always roll my eyes and tell him to shut up with that thought because nobody and I mean nobody does that or even cares about that. He always gets back to mentioning it though, like dude how many times do I have to tell you I’ll never care about cleaning someones brakes?! Lol.

So I was just checking if hell had actually almost frozen over because I might just break down and have to look into picking up some damn brake cleaner.lol.
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Lol from what I know brake cleaner is only used as a very strong degreaser. You’re supposed to use it to spray down your brand new rotors or calipers because they come with a very thick oil on them so that they don’t rust in storage. That’s the only reason why I’ve heard of using brake cleaner but I’ll double check


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And no, I would never go and remove my brake calipers or risk screwing anything up on my car like that. I’m like a -1 on the mechanic scale. Lol.
 
Eldorado2k said:
And no, I would never go and remove my brake calipers or risk screwing anything up on my car like that. I’m like a -1 on the mechanic scale. Lol.
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Really smart to not touch brakes!

Here is a product, sorry not sold on AG-store. I watch and have tried this and their products work.
Dry Coat - Water-based Rust Preventative | Workshop Hero

Dry Coat is interesting and should help to prevent much of that surface rust.

But to your original post and pictures, those are typical as nothing is stopping the water splashing on those components in your drives during rains or wet streets. Some time stop in a car dealer and look at new cars and used cars that have been sitting after a rain storm or just the guy doing the fast rinse on the lot. They will rust! Quick method to see how the rotors show rust so easily just sitting.

And yes, taking off the wheels and giving the components a good brushing is really way to do top notch detailing BUT most would never pay the price it is worth. And then as soon as they drive it all is lost as to rust! Wheel coatings are a different topic.
 
Ric,
I’ve found everyone situation is unique, different.
We all need help, don’t apologize for asking “stupid” questions.
 
TrustJesus said:
Ric,
I’ve found everyone situation is unique, different.
We all need help, don’t apologize for asking “stupid” questions.
Click to expand...

I love cars.. I may not know how to fix them, but I can clean them like nobody’s business.lol
 
There nothing wrong with that, but I’ve learned that only experience will get you desired results.

Example: I won’t learn anything by watching others.

I have to put my butt to work.


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You're never going to stop rust on brake rotors unless you go with a coated rotor (Geomet coating, etc.) or a ceramic rotor ($$). Note that on a coated rotor, the coating will be abraded off the "working area" of the rotor when the brakes are applied, via friction from the brake pads clamping against the rotor. But regular use should keep this interface area clean and the rest of the rotor will always remain clean/free of rust, etc. Geomet-coated rotors can be had for about $35 (and up) per wheel. Paired with ceramic pads, I've seen a kit for 2 wheels (F or R) going for around $100.

As for calipers, the best bet would be to remove them completely and bead blast them, then primer+paint+clear. Bear in mind that to remove them from the vehicle you will be disconnecting brake lines and thus will need to bleed the system after reinstalling them.
 
57Rambler said:
As for calipers, the best bet would be to remove them completely and bead blast them, then primer+paint+clear. Bear in mind that to remove them from the vehicle you will be disconnecting brake lines and thus will need to bleed the system after reinstalling them.
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You don't have to disconnect the brake "lines".

99% of vehicles have rubberized brake hoses that allow you to just disconnect the calipers and swing them out of the way. ;)
 
PaulMys said:
You don't have to disconnect the brake "lines".

99% of vehicles have rubberized brake hoses that allow you to just disconnect the calipers and swing them out of the way. ;)
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True but I was talking about removing them completely in order to bead blast them before painting ...
 
57Rambler said:
True but I was talking about removing them completely in order to bead blast them before painting ...
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Ah....... Yes. This is true.

But using brake line plugs will mitigate the fluid loss, and if used correctly will negate the bleeding process.
 
Clamping a rubber line won't hurt a thing unless it's dry rotted. Clamping a braided line is a bad idea.
 
Suddenly there’s a video on my youtube recommendations about “brake caliper cleaning brushes”
Kinda funny how things like that just seem to happen eh?
 
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