Rusted Front rotors

[madar]

I changed my front rotors and brake pads yesterday, and they were a real PITA!! Both were rusted onto the hubs. Took about a half hour on the passenger side to get it off and a good 45 minutes on the other side, probably because they were on for 61k miles and were exposed the winter salt and brime. I never had front brakes last that long. If you're planning to do this yourself, you might want to get a screw that fits the screw hole in the face of the rotor because in the end that's what got it off and a lot of penetrating oil. Replaced them with Centric rotors and went with OEM pads because they worked great, were very low dust, and lasted so long, still had about 3/32 left on the lowest pad. The pictures are of the inside of the drivers side rotor, the one that took the longest. Never had a rotor rusted away like that on the inside.
One other problem is the bleeder screws. I tend to crack them open before I collapse the piston back into the housing so as not to force old brake fluid back through the ABS unit so as not to set off an error code with the ABS unit as has happened to me in the past. Now they're seeping a little and I have to retorque them once in a while because they seem to work themselves loose. Maximum torque is 86 in/lbs. Time will tell on this.

 

[timberstx]

Thats a good idea on cracking the bleeder screw open. I never thought of that. I will use that next time. I am coming up on 50,000 miles. I already replaced my rear brake pads. My front ones still look new. This is pretty much the opposite of every car I have owned. I do like the idea of the electronic brake distribution being able to use the back brakes more under normal and soft braking.
My old mazda after figuring out aftermarket pads would always leave me with warped rotors in one year, I switched to Mazda pads. Never had an issue with them. I also never had an issue in saving money on the Mazda Value pads, with aftermarket rotors.

 

[madar]

Wow... those are pretty rusted. Reminds me of pulling off the rear discs of my Explorer. I shattered one with a wheel puller it was on there so tight. I use anti-sieze these days on the non-braking areas and they come over pretty easily.

That's a good run on brakes. I didn't measure this time but looks like lots of pad left when I rotate my tires last time. I think 60K is possible with mine as well.

Did you ever grease your slide pins along the way? I did that about 10K miles ago.

I greased the pins about 6 months ago, though there wasn’t any need to. I thought about using anti seize after the fact on the mounting hub but didn’t . I’ll probably take off the rotors in year and put some on. The threaded hole on the hub of the rotor left a nice rust mound on the hub mounting surface which needed to be sanded down, the hub mounting face should be flat and clean when you install a new rotor otherwise you’re going to get warpage, lateral runout, whatever you want to call it. I also put anti seize on the brake pad mounting bracket bolts, they were also very corroded. I’ll probably end up replacing the bleeder screws as they are still seeping a little even after increasing the torque by a few inch pounds, really annoying.

 

[yrwei52]

I changed my front rotors and brake pads yesterday, and they were a real PITA!! Both were rusted onto the hubs. Took about a half hour on the passenger side to get it off and a good 45 minutes on the other side, probably because they were on for 61k miles and were exposed the winter salt and brime. I never had front brakes last that long. If you're planning to do this yourself, you might want to get a screw that fits the screw hole in the face of the rotor because in the end that's what got it off and a lot of penetrating oil. Replaced them with Centric rotors and went with OEM pads because they worked great, were very low dust, and lasted so long, still had about 3/32 left on the lowest pad. The pictures are of the inside of the drivers side rotor, the one that took the longest. Never had a rotor rusted away like that on the inside.
One other problem is the bleeder screws. I tend to crack them open before I collapse the piston back into the housing so as not to force old brake fluid back through the ABS unit so as not to set off an error code with the ABS unit as has happened to me in the past. Now they're seeping a little and I have to retorque them once in a while because they seem to work themselves loose. Maximum torque is 86 in/lbs. Time will tell on this.

Thanks for a couple of good advices for those DIY'ers.

The screw hole on the rotor is designed to help removing the stuck rotor? Or is it the screw many OEM rotors used to position and tight up the rotor and I always replace those with new rotors?

Heard about ABS error code thing before although I've never tried to loose bleeder screw unless I was replacing the brake fluid. If both of your bleeder screws would work themselves loose, do you think may be the torque applied to is not high enough? I normally use my hand feeling to tight up those bleeder screws as the torque wrench for those inch-pound light torque normally is not precise enough. Also most European cars specify 2-year brake fluid replacement and what is your plan?

Yeah your OEM rotors look very rusty and I guess we're lucky living in Texas with much less chance encountering road salt. But I do need to check the grease situation on those slide pins!

 

[madar]

Thanks for a couple of good advices for those DIY'ers.

The screw hole on the rotor is designed to help removing the stuck rotor? Or is it the screw many OEM rotors used to position and tight up the rotor and I always replace those with new rotors?

Heard about ABS error code thing before although I've never tried to loose bleeder screw unless I was replacing the brake fluid. If both of your bleeder screws would work themselves loose, do you think may be the torque applied to is not high enough? I normally use my hand feeling to tight up those bleeder screws as the torque wrench for those inch-pound light torque normally is not precise enough. Also most European cars specify 2-year brake fluid replacement and what is your plan?

Yeah your OEM rotors look very rusty and I guess we're lucky living in Texas with much less chance encountering road salt. But I do need to check the grease situation on those slide pins!

My plan for replacing brake fluid is “do-it-as-needed”, lol. I don’t generally replace brake fluid as a normal maintenance item, as I probably should. It usually gets replaced when I’m in the area of the calipers doing brake work replacing stuff. Sometimes you just can’t get bleeder screws to seat properly after you’ve cracked them loose on higher mileage cars. Sometimes you can get away with taking the bleeder out and cleaning it off (sealing surface), other times you just have to replace them. They generally run 2 to 3 bucks apiece. Sometimes you just get lucky and they stop seeping on their own after time, which is what I’m hoping for. I believe the screw hole in the rotor is just for that, jacking the rotor off the hub.