rear brakes

[midlandsowner]

hi folks.

sorry for dragging up a well discussed topic,and looking at previous posts im suffering from a common problem of rusty rear brakes.

im booked for an early MOT this week and slighty concerned as to whether a visual inspection will result in a failure?

The rear' are rather rusty to look at but overall braking performance is fine and i dont feel a problem.

i am planning on changing the rear brakes soon anyway but,and i know some would say well if it fails just get them changed at the dealers who are doing my MOT.If i have OEM fitted arent they just as likely to rust as my current ones have after just 18-24months?

or is it worth an upgrade to after market disks?

the pads them selves some hardly worn and id imagine its good practice to change pads aswell as disks?

thanks in advance.

 

[hoolio]

Rusty where exactly? On the face of the disc or the caliper? If it's the face of the disc then just go out and do a few hard brake tests and that should clean them up if it doesn't then you have a problem as although a visual check shouldn't really fail it would mean that they are not performing to a certain level and will fail.

 

[midlandsowner]

Thanks for the reply hoolio much appreciated.The rust was all over the disk at one point which i will put down to a journey i had to make in the snow last winter,water,salt,grit etc i imagine will have played a part in this.

you can clearly see where the pad has made contact with the disk and there is a reasonable amount of shinny contact area,so hopefully it will pass.the rest of the disk(think some on the caliper aswell)is pretty much covered in rust,esp on the edges.just have to wait and see tomorrow if they pass it, new rear set coming soon just a disappiontment in my experience that the OEM disks dont seem to last much beyond 18 months.

 

[hoolio]

You will be fine. I was worried the first time I took the 5GTT in as it had not been stored very well (previous owner) and the discs were rusted though not badly pitted. The mot guy said that as long as they provided braking above a certain level then they would pass.
What I would be worried about is they are going rusty and your comment about them not lasting long. Do you not use your car much? Where do you store it? How many miles have the discs done? My rears are the same as from new and still have much life. Letting them go rusty will shorten their life maybe if you are not using it often you should think about a bag/carcoon of some sort.

 

[Luke335]

As Hoolio said, if you leave it outside and don't use it for long periods the rust penetrates the discs. Mine rust quickly if it rains but clean up as soon as I use it, which is most days. My brothers boxster is the same. A couple of weeks and the brakes can seize up.

 

[midlandsowner]

Thanks for all the replies, i guess the answer to my problem is lack of use.I only do around 4k a year,bring the T out in the summer when the weather is nice.lol.The car is garaged when not in use so not open the the elements and i think your right hoolio,when not in use i should at least take for a quick spin,some hard breaking to clean up the disks and maybe look at a cover of some sort,and judging by your experiencies im probably going to ok for the MOT.I hope.

oh and the disks are two years old(changed at rentech)and done 6k on them.

 

[stormduck]

The discs are steel mate, they are gona rust, it's normal, not an mot fail. Providing the system provides enough braking force then it will pass.