| youbetcha |
| Does anyone else have what appears to be corrosion on the bottom half of the brake calipers (two pix, one front one rear)? This is a 2007 EX, 20K miles, a bit surprising to see it. It is on all 4 corners. Tried several wheel cleaners, simple green, elbow grease, etc., nothing touches it so I'm convinced it isn't "dirt". I intend on showing to the dealer but would appreciate your thoughts if you have seen it before or have experience with it. |
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| youbetcha |
| This is one of the rear calipers: |
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| krygny |
| That's not corrosion. It's oxidation. |
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| youbetcha |
quote:
Originally posted by krygny
That's not corrosion. It's oxidation.
I'm sure there is some esoteric difference in the two terms, but do you have any insights beyond that? If it is either one (and I don't really care which one it is), what would you do about it? |
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| ED27 |
quote:
Originally posted by youbetcha
I'm sure there is some esoteric difference in the two terms, but do you have any insights beyond that? If it is either one (and I don't really care which one it is), what would you do about it?
It looks like surface rust or patina that's common in many metal parts that are exposed to the elements. One of the causes based on your location could be higher amounts of road salt during the winter months vs. someone in the southern part of the country.
Are you experiencing any brake-related issues (i.e. caliper sticking, abnormal brake performance, ABS issues, excessive pad wear, etc.)? If not, you're facing a cosmetic issue that can be addressed. Stores that specialize in vehicle restoration sell good cleaners than can remove surface rust. After the cleaning process I would follow up with some caliper paint. You can also find kits that contain both the cleaner and the paint. |
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| jarizzo |
The surface rust on your calipers isn't going to hurt anything most likely. It's probably from excessive moisture in the form of rain or puddles or high humidity, or road salt in the winter, or oxidizing wheel cleaners such as Bleche-White. It may be worth getting a brake inspection just to make sure the calipers are mechanically intact and structurally sound if you're really worried about it, but in my opinion at least, it's just a cosmetic thing that's nothing to worry about.
They aren't painted, it's just a metal surface exposed to the elements (not Honda ones) and road chemicals and cleaners, and it's going to rust at some point no matter what you do. Cleaning and painting them will last for some time, but not forever.
I don't know offhand if mine are rusted or not. I'll check when I get back to the car tonight. Whether they are or not, though, I don't think it's anything to worry about as far as safety is concerned.
John
:7: |
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| youbetcha |
It isn't sticking or causing a problem yet but because they are the brakes I didn't want to wait until there was a failure.
My calipers haven't corroded in the past, and I"m projecting a problem in a couple of years, if this is what they look like after 2 winters.
I'll probably take them in and have them looked at but I wanted to see if it was prevelant or just us here up North. |
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| jarizzo |
quote:
Originally posted by youbetcha
It isn't sticking or causing a problem yet but because they are the brakes I didn't want to wait until there was a failure.
My calipers haven't corroded in the past, and I"m projecting a problem in a couple of years, if this is what they look like after 2 winters.
I'll probably take them in and have them looked at but I wanted to see if it was prevelant or just us here up North.
I feel very confident you will have no mechanical issues resulting from a little rust on the calipers. Calipers get hot, which accelerates the oxidation process (rusting) and they are going to rust no matter what you do. Being in the North with road salt and humid summers, it's going to be hard to prevent them from rusting once it's started. But I would almost bet you can drive the thing into the ground and the rust on the calipers isn't going to cause you any problems.
If the piston was rusted, or there was so much rust that the mechanical integrity of the caliper was severely degraded, you might have something to worry about. This looks to me like light surface rust.
If you do as ED27 suggested and paint them, they will not only look better, but it will slow down the rust to some extent. I did a Google search and found a thread on a Lexus forum about the same issue and they painted them:
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350065
Let us know what you wind up doing about it, if anything. If it will make you feel better about it, get them inspected. It won't cost much to give you peace of mind about it. Just don't let them talk you into services you know you don't need.
Good luck.
John
:7: |
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| youbetcha |
quote:
Originally posted by jarizzo
Good luck.
John
:7:
Thanks. I'm a lot less concerned about them than I was. But will still get them checked out.
On that link, I was impressed with the job he did on his lexus with the black. I also went out to that Duplicolor website. I think their silver looked good, too, it was a flat silver, not a mirrored silver. I'm not looking to make them stand out, just want to protect them and make them look "normal". If I pull the trigger on this, hopefully they won't then just rust out from behind the paint!!
I saw on another site, stuff that turned rust into a paintable surface. Has anyone used this as a prep for painting -- has it worked? Seems too good to be true ... you know the adage ... |
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| krygny |
quote:
Originally posted by youbetcha
... what would you do about it?
Nothing. |
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| afs12065 |
quote:
Originally posted by youbetcha
Does anyone else have what appears to be corrosion on the bottom half of the brake calipers (two pix, one front one rear)? This is a 2007 EX, 20K miles, a bit surprising to see it. It is on all 4 corners. Tried several wheel cleaners, simple green, elbow grease, etc., nothing touches it so I'm convinced it isn't "dirt". I intend on showing to the dealer but would appreciate your thoughts if you have seen it before or have experience with it.
That looks pretty "normal" to me based on my experiences with several Honda and Acura vehicles built since 2004 or so. I live in the Northeast part of the US where we have high humidity in the summer and tons of road salt in the winter... every single one of them exhibited what you had in your pictures. In some cases it happened as early as 10-15K miles and others didn't show up until 20K+.
I never had a mechanical problem as a result - it is just a little unsightly if things like that bother you. :-) |
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