# Preventing brake disk rust



## DocHoliday (Jul 18, 2008)

I will have to leave my motorhome for several months in the open without being able to drive it. Normally I take it for a spin every couple of weeks to clean up the disks, but I won't be able to do that and I don't like letting anyone else drive it.

How can I stop the disks rusting? Do wheel covers help?


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## camallison (Jul 15, 2009)

DocHoliday said:


> I will have to leave my motorhome for several months in the open without being able to drive it. Normally I take it for a spin every couple of weeks to clean up the disks, but I won't be able to do that and I don't like letting anyone else drive it.
> 
> How can I stop the disks rusting? Do wheel covers help?


Ours was laid up for almost 3 years before we came to the sad decision to sell it. It had no wheel covers on and, after a ~100 mile trip, applying the brakes on occasion, the discs cleaned up OK. We are about 8 miles from the coast and it rained heavily in the 3 years, so I had expected worse condition.

Colin


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

I don't think covers will stop the disks rusting and frankly I've never worried about it - they will quickly clean up on 1st use

but do leave the handbrake off if leaving it for a period as that can bind up


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## DocHoliday (Jul 18, 2008)

The reason I'm so cautious is because I've had to replace the front disks before due to juddering and I assumed that was caused by the van having sat unused on the previous owner's drive for months, if not a year or more. I could still see the outline of the brake pad on the disk after many months of regular use.

I always park it in gear with the handbrake off.


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## 91502 (May 1, 2005)

Hi
Brake discs are untreated metal so rust with the moisture in the air so nothing will stop them.
One of the worst things for warping discs is to sit with your foot on the brakes while at a junction, the discs get hot while braking and you never get even pressure from your brake caliper so more pressure on one side causes the discs to bend.
This problem is worse with an automatic gearbox as you ten to sit with your foot on the brake more often.
Rust accumulated over a few months will clean itself off after a couple of miles.
James


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

There is nothing at all you can do to stop the rust forming.

The discs get highly polished by the brakes being used so there is nothing at all on the surface. moisture in the air condenses onto the disc and they rust. As has been said a few applications of the brakes will soon clean it all off.

As far as leaving your vehicle in gear, if it has a Dual Mass Flywheel fitted then that is a HUGE no-no !!! It knackers the springs within the DMF if there is ANY sort of load applied (like the weight of your MH pushing against it slightly) I am not sure what the difference is between that and normal driving is but I recall reading it somewhere (Mr Google?) a while ago.

Leave the handbrake off, out of gea,r and chock the wheels fore and aft !!


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## WildThingsKev (Dec 29, 2009)

I have just had the front discs replaced on our 40,000 mile 2008 van. They were extremely rusty and the mot braking results had been heading towards fail for 3 years. We drive a lot when there is salt on the roads.

The garage owner, who must be approaching 70, said they were the most difficult discs he had ever had to remove. Both alignment pins sheared off in the hub on both sides so I have to decide whether to try an drill them out and renew or make do without them.

I have previously posted about how rusty the front wheel bolts were and how difficult they were to remove. It might be worthwhile getting the wheel alignment pins freed up next time your wheels are off ready for the day that the discs do need replacing.

Kev


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## midgeteler (Jul 19, 2009)

Very timely question for me as I am just in the middle of changing rear discs on my 6 ton Flair.
I would agree with those who have said that operating them after a lay up will clean the FRONT ones but the rears are different matter.
My tame MOT guy who has carried out the test every year for me(6 years) has been warning me for the last 3 years that they would have to be changed soon, and this year has failed it.
The problem is that the fronts do about 80% of the braking and subsequently the rears hardly get used--meaning that using the pads as a cleaner doesn't work. I have tried applying the handbrake on downhill sections to help, until I realised that on this truck, the rear disc has an integral drum alongside the disc which operates the parking brake.
May not be too bad a job to change most M/H ones, but this one is an absolute bitch, requiring half shaft/bearing removal and probably a huge puller to pull it apart.

Think I'm going to have to call in a few favours from old mates to complete!


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## DocHoliday (Jul 18, 2008)

Mrplodd - luckily not DMF 

WildThingsKev - I had my first new set of disks at about the same mileage, due to the aforementioned judder. They came off okay as far as I know (2003 Ducato).

Midgeteler - I never heard of that drum arrangement - what's the chassis?

Based on these comments I might just take the risk of storing outdoors, as indoor storage is horribly expensive here.


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

I'm a great fan of indoor storage especially over the winter - the benefits are obvious. I've been paying 10 pounds a week. Which county are you in? I can recommend in Norfolk and Lancashire. CASSOA is a great website to search for a storage site if you want to think about this further. PM me if you want to know more.


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## DocHoliday (Jul 18, 2008)

HermanHymer said:


> I'm a great fan of indoor storage especially over the winter - the benefits are obvious. I've been paying 10 pounds a week. Which county are you in? I can recommend in Norfolk and Lancashire. CASSOA is a great website to search for a storage site if you want to think about this further. PM me if you want to know more.


I'm in the Channel Islands - we barely have camp sites, let alone CASSOA sites. Being a very small land area, storage is expensive.


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

Hi,

I suspect that your chassis is the same as mine and brake disks etc are not expensive. I have a set of disks, pads and shoes for the back, in the garage ready for when I need them. I bought them separately on ebay and paid less than £50 for the lot.

Although our Hymers don't have them, combined disks and drums on the back are not that uncommon and I have that setup on my Honda CRV and so do Porsche 911s


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## midgeteler (Jul 19, 2009)

DocHoliday said:


> Midgeteler - I never heard of that drum arrangement - what's the chassis?
> 
> Based on these comments I might just take the risk of storing outdoors, as indoor storage is horribly expensive here.


It's an Iveco 6.5 t Daily based Niesmann & Bischoff 8000i Doc.

Not sure about that storing inside is any Guarantee of obviating this problem as mine sits in a block built insulated garage when in UK. However, it is used for winter sun chasing in Spain, driving through France and back, so is used to a fair amount of treated roads.
I was hoping to glean some demon trick to stop this happening again from your post, as have asked many experienced mechanics etc, but nobody has given a satisfactory answer yet. I thought of coating the discs with preventive liquid (wd40 or similar) but they all say it will contaminate the pads.


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## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

> DocHoliday said:
> 
> 
> > Midgeteler - I never heard of that drum arrangement - what's the chassis?
> ...


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

No, oil and grease will kill any pads or shoes. You can revive them however, if you cook them in an oven for a while and burn the contamination out.

You could attach a sacrificial anode, like they do on boats, but it,s a lot of messing about and expense just to preserve some cheap old bits of cast iron.


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## midgeteler (Jul 19, 2009)

BillCreer said:


> No, oil and grease will kill any pads or shoes. You can revive them however, if you cook them in an oven for a while and burn the contamination out.
> 
> You could attach a sacrificial anode, like they do on boats, but it,s a lot of messing about and expense just to preserve some cheap old bits of cast iron.


You may well be right about 3.5t stuff being reasonably priced Bill, but take a look at the Iveco 6.5t stuff--cheap it 'aint.


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

midgeteler said:


> BillCreer said:
> 
> 
> > No, oil and grease will kill any pads or shoes. You can revive them however, if you cook them in an oven for a while and burn the contamination out.
> ...


I can believe that John and you have my sympathies, however, the original poster is lucky/unlucky enough to have a 3.5t chassis like mine.
It's always worth looking on the internet for parts though as it can save you a fortune.


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## WildThingsKev (Dec 29, 2009)

Clearing out old emails and came across this reply about an enquiry into a brake disc protection product; self explanatory.

Re: 6104.1675 P321 BRAKE DISC PROTECT 400ML

Hello Kevin

This product is available as a special order from Förch Germany.

Price = £23.28 / 1 plus shipping at £8.98 plus vat @ 20% = £38.71.

Discounts for the product are available for additional quantities, starting at x3 pieces = £15.60 / 1 plus the shipping and Vat.

Regards
Terry Slade

Ziebe-Förch

 +44 (0)1296 655 282

Mbe:+44 (0)7771 561 354

7: +44 (0)1296 651 947

+: [email protected]

Web: www.ziebe.co.uk / www.foerch.co.uk


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## Carl_n_Flo (May 10, 2005)

Our 3.8T Merc had to have new discs a couple of years ago from being stored too long without use - the rust was so bad that the discs were actually pitted beyond redemption. Driving the wagon to clean off the rust only sorted the surface, not the pits.

As for the rears, our discs incorporate a drum on its inner hub with small shoes - they will never stop a moving van...only used for parking.

And you will never find a fully disc braked vehicle without drums for the handbrake. Discs cannot be used as the pads are hydraulically activated and cannot be cable operated (a necessity for a parking brake) and as the disc cools, the pads would leave the surface of the disc (thats if you could find a way of keeping them there in the first place!).


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

Carl_n_Flo said:


> Our 3.8T Merc had to have new discs a couple of years ago from being stored too long without use - the rust was so bad that the discs were actually pitted beyond redemption. Driving the wagon to clean off the rust only sorted the surface, not the pits.
> 
> As for the rears, our discs incorporate a drum on its inner hub with small shoes - they will never stop a moving van...only used for parking.
> 
> And you will never find a fully disc braked vehicle without drums for the handbrake. Discs cannot be used as the pads are hydraulically activated and cannot be cable operated (a necessity for a parking brake) and as the disc cools, the pads would leave the surface of the disc (thats if you could find a way of keeping them there in the first place!).


There are a lot of vehicles with hand brakes operating on the disks. Citroen even managed to have the handbrake operate on the front disks.
Handbrake turns become very interesting.

Yes you are right they are not very safe as the hand brakes have a habit of releasing themselves as the disk shrinks as it cooled. A lot of people have come back to find their car at the bottom of the hill on which they parked it.


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

I notice that you need to apply disk cleaner to remove the Foerch protection fluid.

http://www.foerch.co.uk/product.asp...1&g=70805026-baba-4cd8-be7a-ab44902ae8fe&js=1


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

BillCreer said:


> A lot of people have come back to find their car at the bottom of the hill on which they parked it.


That's why you should *ALWAYS *PARK IN GEAR. Think of what happens if someone is in the way when your vehicle runs away


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

BillCreer said:


> There are a lot of vehicles with hand brakes operating on the disks. Citroen even managed to have the handbrake operate on the front disks.


My Seat Alhambra had a cable system to operate the disc pads for the handbrake. Very effective it was too. Did seize up once but I managed to free it off OK.


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