Preventing Rust on Brake Rotors When Stored

[Bruce Amacker]

I did search without any luck. I keep several vehicles stored in the winter and I'm getting tired of pulling all of the rotors off and bead blasting them every spring. No, the rust doesn't go away by driving, I drove one almost 200 miles this week with wicked thumping and noisy brakes before pulling and blasting the rotors. I thought it was cheap aftermarket iron so I put OEM pads and rotors on two cars last year to find the exact same thing this spring, and one still has the OE brakes on it. Cars are parked in unheated garages in Ohio with normal weather patterns. Dehumidifiers are out of the question due to size of the buildings and other reasons. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Kev442]

I have that problem with the vehicles stored on the north side of my garage all winter. I now fire them up monthly and take them for a short drive, they get surface rust that cleans up with the pads instead of massive rust that doesn't now.

I have always wondered if ceramic pads would scrape the metal rotors clean, I've never bought them.

If you don't mind pulling the wheels twice to apply and remove, I would think vaseline would do what that stuff used in WWII did to preserve metal stuff, Cosmoline?

 

[Stuart in MN]

That's interesting that the rust doesn't wear off - I store a car with disk brakes during the winter, and any rust that does form on the rotors wears off in the first few miles.


There are any number of things you could put on them to prevent rust, Fluid Film is the first thing that comes to mind. However, you would have to make sure you got it all cleaned off in the spring, plus you'd probably want to remove the pads or at least cover them up with plastic bags or something so they don't get contaminated.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Workshop Hero Dry-Coat. I put it on brand new rotors on the project car about 8 years ago. They still look brand new. Workshop Hero tells me there is no need to do anything before putting pads on and driving the car.

https://www.workshophero.com/products/dry-coat/

Tommy

 

[6PTsocket]

I have that problem with the vehicles stored on the north side of my garage all winter. I now fire them up monthly and take them for a short drive, they get surface rust that cleans up with the pads instead of massive rust that doesn't now.

I have always wondered if ceramic pads would scrape the metal rotors clean, I've never bought them.

If you don't mind pulling the wheels twice to apply and remove, I would think vaseline would do what that stuff used in WWII did to preserve metal stuff, Cosmoline?

Yes, cosmoline. There are any number if products, like Fluid Film or Boeshield but you are going to have to clean them with solvent in the spring or risk contaminating the pads and having no brakes.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[6PTsocket]

Yes, cosmoline. There are any number if products, like Fluid Film or Boeshield but you are going to have to clean them with solvent in the spring or risk contaminating the pads and having no brakes.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

It just occurred to me. How about putting the car up on stands, remove the wheels and tightly wrap the whole rotor and caliper with heavy plastic with a big bag of dissicant in there to absorb any moisture. You could include the wheels but it would be a lot more to wrap. Just a rhought.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[mikec35]

Maybe try Evaporust Rust-Block. Just mist it on. It works, atleast it works on all the rusted parts I've cleaned. I haven't tried it on rotors but I bet it would work. Says to rinse off with warm water when ready to paint so I would think the same would apply when ready to drive....

 

[James E]

Here's a thread on brake rotor rust with some products that the more **** members over on Rennlist use for this purpose.

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-forum/969036-brake-rotor-rust.html

 

[astroracer]

I don't understand why your stuff would be any different then mine... A little bit of surface rust shouldn't hurt anything. I have four summer cars I store every winter and have never had an issue with the little bit of surface rust that forms on the rotors. I take them out and drive them and what little bit of rust is there is gone the first couple of times you use the brakes...
I drove one of them to work yesterday, stopped just fine... No bead blasting or anything, I just drove it.
I am in Michigan and it gets pretty damp here and my cars are also in an unheated shop... Don't know what to tell you.

Mark

 

[PassnThru]

I don't understand the problem. A little bit of surface rust will hurt nothing. I have four summer cars I store every winter and have never had an issue with the little bit of surface rust that forms on the rotors. Take it out and drive it and what little bit of rust is there is gone the first couple of times you use the brakes...
I drove one of them to work yesterday, stopped just fine... No bead blasting or anything, I just drove it.
Mark

No, the rust doesn't go away by driving, I drove one almost 200 miles this week with wicked thumping and noisy brakes before pulling and blasting the rotors.

It was in the OP.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I live on the Wet West Coast of Canada. The rotors on my Ram 2500 will get some rust over the night. A few brake applications make the rust go away. Most of the land, here on the coast stands on end, so the brakes get a good work-out on the hills.
A little surface rust is not a big deal. If the brake pads are in contact with the rotors and braking pressure is applied. the friction will rub the surface rust off. If this is not happening, maybe this car has a stuck caliper.
The picture is of a disc brake job that came into the shop. The owner thought the front brakes were pulling

 

[jhelrey]

Brake harder.

 

[Kev442]

I read the OPs post, but was still mentally picturing my outside cars. For inside, I would do what I have done on car bodies forever when they are going to sit bare for a long time: coat it with phosphoric acid.
I buy it by the gallon (in a water base) at my local farm store and apply with a chip brush. Phosphoric acid is the base of many rust inhibiting products, including etching primer. So instead of something slimy, this dries to a coating more akin to a powder and the pads would clean it right off.

 

[RWorth]

It doesn't take that long either, I parked my Grand Marquis I believe the first of February when my wife bought her new Jeep. I started driving her 2007 Sport trac because I was doing a project at work that required tools and the little pickup is easier to work out of than the car. I jumped in it last weekend and it's thumping pretty bad, and I've been trying to work it off with no luck. So it is gonna have to go up on the lift before I start driving it again.

 

[finn]

I had that problem with the rotors surface rusting when I was using the bottom feeder cheap rotors.

By chance, Rock Auto had some coated rotors on clearance at give away prices. I found they don’t rust up like the cheap rotors, so that’s all I use now, even if I have to pay a premium price.

I think the coating is some sort of ceramic, but i’m not sure. It may be a hard anodizing process.

 

[Streetbu]

Its because they are made of junk material. I have my project car, that has been torn apart for a very two years. The mostly stripped frame has been sitting outside, next to the garage, uncovered for the whole time. The rotors are original to the car! There is almost zero rust on the surface of them. Quality iron not recycled ****. Unfortunately that's all we can get now a days.

I would be extremely hesitant to apply anything to the surface of a brake rotors while it's still on the vehicle. What happens if somehow you forget to clean it off? 9 times out of ten you'll remember, but what about the one time you don't?

 

[southview]

Coat them in WD40. ��
Joke of course.

 

[finn]

Its because they are made of junk material. I have my project car, that has been torn apart for a very two years. The mostly stripped frame has been sitting outside, next to the garage, uncovered for the whole time. The rotors are original to the car! There is almost zero rust on the surface of them. Quality iron not recycled ****. Unfortunately that's all we can get now a days.

I would be extremely hesitant to apply anything to the surface of a brake rotors while it's still on the vehicle. What happens if somehow you forget to clean it off? 9 times out of ten you'll remember, but what about the one time you don't?

I doubt if there is any iron poured in the world today that doesn’t contain at least some recycled material.

 

[Jsf721]

Hyde’s syrum is designed for it.

 

[mikec35]

I had that problem with the rotors surface rusting when I was using the bottom feeder cheap rotors.

By chance, Rock Auto had some coated rotors on clearance at give away prices. I found they don’t rust up like the cheap rotors, so that’s all I use now, even if I have to pay a premium price.

I think the coating is some sort of ceramic, but i’m not sure. It may be a hard anodizing process.

My GT500 rotors rust overnight. I just checked and found out you can get coated for additional rust protection rotors. I did not know this, the PO must have used cheap rotors. Thanks for the tip Finn!

 

[unslow1]

I have 5 cars I store every winter. Maybe more air circulation would help with the heavier rust. My cars were stored in an old barn for years and never had more than would come off just braking.

 

[sias]

If you have power available in your storage garage a Carcapsule might be a good option.

http://carcapsule.com/

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

I have had the brakes rust so bad on a car I stored for 4 months that the thumping wouldn’t go away even with sanding/grinding....had to get new rotors.


That hydes serum looks promising

If you drive the car every so often it’s ok but my Camaro has tires on it that I can’t drive when it’s cold


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bluedodge]

To the OP - what make of vehicle?

Our Mustang gets parked in an unheated garage all winter - no problems.
Our old VW got parked in same unheated garage all winter - repeated problems.

Could different manufacturers spec differing metals in their rotors?

 

[bubinga]

Its because they are made of junk material. I have my project car, that has been torn apart for a very two years. The mostly stripped frame has been sitting outside, next to the garage, uncovered for the whole time. The rotors are original to the car! There is almost zero rust on the surface of them. Quality iron not recycled ****. Unfortunately that's all we can get now a days.

I would be extremely hesitant to apply anything to the surface of a brake rotors while it's still on the vehicle. What happens if somehow you forget to clean it off? 9 times out of ten you'll remember, but what about the one time you don't?

Put a Big Sign on the windshield.

 

[6768rogues]

I had some for a project car. I cleaned them with brake cleaner and sprayed clear paint on them. They looked perfect until the car was done and then I went out and used the brakes a few times to burn off the film of paint. No problems. When driving all kinds of **** gets splashed on them.

 

[nickz]

I heard many yrs ago "Pledge" for furniture works.