Hi All...

Ever since I got my MINI (May 03 Build), I used the parking brake well...when parked! But when it rains, the next morning when everything is all dry, as I drive forward, I hear the rear brakes "CRACK!" from the rotors... it's very loud and even raises the car up a bit before they release. I noticed a slight rust "imprint" of the pad on each rotor..so I'm assuming they are "freezing" to the rotor overnight after drying...

Q: is this going to hurt anything... should I worry? For the first mile or so afterward, when I brake, the rear brakes "scrape" a bit (scraping off the residual rust, I presume) then everything sounds normal again.

Thanks,

Boognish

 

It's actually quite common with disk brake cars that use the caliper (as opposed to a drum in the hat section) as the emergency brake. All disk brake cars suffer from temporary rotor rusting. MINI stock wheels (and most aftermarket ones nowadays) are very 'open' around the spokes and allow rain water to splash up onto the rotor and soak up between the brake pad and rotor, rusting the rotor in as little as an hour or less. It's normal, and wears off the first time the brake is applied. Some brake pads are more porous than others, sometimes soaking up water and sticking to the rotors. If my car sits out in the rain for a while and then does not get used for a couple days, I get a crunch from the rear when I first move the car as well.

Nothing to worry about!

 

The manual says somewhere to avoid this problem in the future, you should sometimes come to a stop at a light by lightly using the hand brake to slow to a complete stop (they recommend doing this when no one else is around, of course ).

-mike

 

How is that different from applying the brakes.

 

handbrake ONLY actuates the rear calipers, applying force to the brake pedal operates all the calipers.

 

Ding, ding.

-mike

 

Yup,
My rotors rust like crazy even with a little rain.
So when that happens and I have some time I wipe the rotor hats with some metal polish and the rust stays off for a bit. I also tried wheel wax on the hats but that didn't really last.

I also painted my calipers red and they were nice and shiny until I took my car to autocross and track and due to the heat the paint got all dull and dirty.
No amount of cleaning will restore the shine. Will have to repaint at some point. The paint is moderately durable. Some nicks do occur. I painted the calipers because they were rusting also after I sanded down the outer surface to smooth out the ridges, esp on the front calipers.

 

I use the e-brake only all the time when rolling past speed traps! (Brake lights don't come on! )

 

Yes I know that,but if all you want to do is rub off the the rust,the pedal will be as effective as the e-brake.You don't need to slam on the binders,just a few revolutions with brake applied should clean them off.
I use my e-brake in the snow to corner on the back roads

 

IT NORMAL! the metal on the brake disc arent protected and creates surface rust. comes off after you use the brakes again.


chris

 

They also get rusty every time you wash the car. But light braking makes the rotors shiny again. :smile:

 

The rust, for me, leads to another step in my cleaning process. Any suggestions?

With my FLIKs I have noticed that after the first drive after washing, the rust is off the rotor but on my clean wheel. Anyone experiencing this?

My solution was to just drive down the driveway after washing and then back up to get the rust off the rotor. Then I QD the wheel. That extra step is a pain but it could be worse (living on a gravel road).

Gravel and dust were horrible. It was extremely difficult to keep my car clean even after one drive to civilization. Thank goodness we moved to a paved area but still in the boonies.