2002 Monte Carlo with 4 wheel disc brakes.... I keep the car outside covered by a car cover. It gets used every 3 or 4 months for special trips, but stays idle most of the time...sorta like a spare backup vehicle when the daily driver is in for maintenance or repair.
Is there any way to minimize rust from forming on the rotors?? I know a little rust is normal but these are rusting pretty badly and screwing up the pads..... Seems that I have to disassemble and clean the brake parts before using the car.
Is there a way to prevent this from happening ??? It's not worthwhile taking the car out every week and then have to clean the road garbage off the paint coat and windows..... depending upon time of year, the roads are wet...snowy, dirty or full of tar, bugs and insects.
What other options are available ? Shoot brake parts cleaner on the rotors and pads and wipe them off before using car ??
Just remember.... other people are reading this thread also....so if a whole bunch of cars go sliding past stop signs in your neighborhood... you have no one to blame but yourself !!!
Peter (Well at least the rotor's don't rust anymore).
Sounds like a royal pita, but I can get them back on and adjusted in less than an hour......so yeah..... this might be workable if other options are not available.
I know dealers have the same problem with cars sitting on their lots for a few months... how do they manage the problem ??
Just in case - it was clearly a joke - the winking smiley face at the end of the line indicated it.
(and for what little it's worth, it wouldn't stop either)
I'm not a mechanic, just an old retired electrical guy who does about 1000 km's a year, and I have the same problem.... can't think of any way to prevent flash rusting.
When I worked at the Chevy and Ford dealerships, we did not worry about it. Some times the pads would rust to the rotors and there would be a noticeble jerk when starting out. But the rust never seemed to hurt anything.
It's quite normal for today's rotors to rust quickly if not used regularly Pete. This is not unique to GM. It poses no problem and won't hurt the pads - not sure why you're saying that the rust is screwing up the pads. Your best bet is going to be running the car every week or two.
Bought the car new in 2002 drove it home from the dealership. Used it for the summer and put it away (under car cover) for several months during the winter. At this point it became a spare car and when I drove it again there was noticeable pulsation....grabbing and high spot when braking. This diminished over time but never went away. I was seldom using the car so it didn't matter much. I pulled the rotors this week and they are in pretty sad shape .... the original pad rust outline was still visible (along with a current rust outline). As a backup car to the daily beater it has less than 40K miles I'm retired so ...no commute, no stop and go, no taxiing kids around to school events. The daily beater doesn't get all that much use either.
Braking didn't clean the rotors...they were too badly rusted.
Time to look at options before throwing a new set of rotors and pads at the car.... (history repeating itself). Option #1
Paul suggested keeping the rotors off the car. This will work during periods of extended storage...(like over the wintertime)...it doesn't take much to throw them back on as long as the caliper is supported properly.
Option #2
Run the car more frequently... This is actually more of a problem because it's parked off to the side in a space that's difficult to manuveur out of. There are birds and trees all over the place. Remove the car cover and it will soon get filthy with bird droppings, sap, branches and leaves.
Where I have seen this to be a significant problem is in areas that salt or salt/sand the roads a lot in winter weather. Otherwise the fresh water surface rusting doesnt seem to be too bad.
Hosing down the rotors with fresh water prior to storage to remove the salt might help.
When I store a care outside for an extended time, I park it on a tarp then pull that tarp up the sides and hold in place with bungee cords. This will minimalism the ground moisture that the care is exposed to. Then I'll drape another tarp down and hold in place with bungees. Do this when the car is dry. Any moisture trapped inside can damage the paint. You may want to put a "Dri-Z-Air" canister in or even an electric heater to help control the moisture.
You may want to get one of those cheap canvas car sheds (not cover) that you see all over the place. This will eliminate the problems of trapped moisture damaging the paint. But still park it on a tarp. My '93 Grand Prix is stored this way and hasn't been driven in at least four weeks and the rotors are still nice and shinny. We have a lot of rain and morning fog and condensation.
Since it is not driven much, I'd get one of those battery chargers that maintain the charge so that the battery remains healthy.
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