MattW

Anyone had problems with corroded rear disks on WRX MY01. Mine are covered in Brown rust, which does wet n dry off, but looks absolutely sh1te.

Tried asking local dealer for replacements but apparantly IM refuse as purely cosmetic.

Any thoughts?

DrEvil

Yup, me too... but it is only cosmetic mate, as soon as you drive the car it all comes off after a couple of uses of the brakes.

Unless you are talking about the bells?
Alex

Bexlee

I've been meaning to post on this for a while...

I do have rust on (what I think are called) all 4 'bells'. This does not wear off with use. I have held off cleaning this area until I posted for advice...which is now, please!

Bex (MY01)

MattW

The rust is on the hub area not on the area which is in contact with the pads. The calipers also have some on them, but not nearly to the same extent as the disks.

LeonWells

I have a MY99 turbo and my have started to feel crap. I took to dealer and they say nothings wrong. On mine the actual Disk surface is covered in rust and this does not clear after breaking, the test they did was to spin the wheel by hand and press the bake pedal, they said.. "its locking so they are gripping fine" !!!! surely something is wrong here? they may have enough force to stop a human hand but not a couple of tons doing 70mph!

cam belt service wednesday so see if they change there mind then. I was talking to Technician and he said "no they should clear after braking" then service manager said that all imprezas have rusty brake disks and they are ok...

AudiMan

I don't actually own a Subaru (yet), but I've looked at lots on forecourts and many seem to suffer badly from corroded hubs and surrounding areas, this was also the case on my Audi when I received it from new !, I spent about an hour per corner wire brushing off and treating to a coat of Hammerite, this has stayed on for nearly 3 years now and washes up lovely with the jet wash. This car also suffers from rusty disk surfaces (after rain or washing) but it does come off after applying the brakes, the rears are worse than the front by far (proabaly due to the braking bias) but eventually the rears come up clean. You could try driving slowly and carefully with the hand brake applied slightly for about 5 miles this should clear any rust from the rear disks, if it doesn't there is something wrong I would guess, and would seek advice from a dealer. If it's any comfort I was told once by a bloke at Lotus, that the quicker the disks rust up after getting wet the better quality grade the metal is.
Hope this info is of some use.

RichS

Sorry AudiMan, but applying the handbrake will not clean up the rear disc braking surface (at least with the later Imprezas.)

The handbrake operates the handbrake shoes which are fitted inside the rear disc bells.
The handbrake does not activate the rear calipers causing the rear pads to contact the discs.
(I'm pretty certain about this - please correct me if I'm wrong!)

As far as rusty disc surfaces are concerned, might I suggest that if they don't clean up after using the brakes, you may have a sticking caliper.

Rich

hrawal

Read the exchange of mails with interest.
I too have rust on the rear bells (?) - not discs. I too have been informed by the dealer that this is normal. Braking performance does not seem to be affected.

Out of curiosity, do your rear brakes make what I can only describe as a 'grinding' noise when cold ? I also get a lot of squeaking/groaning when reversing. A while ago, I was getting a loud 'clunk' when reversing.

All have been explained as 'normal' (??). The clunk was put down to the "pads moving forward under braking, then 'clunking' back when car is reversed, which is normal" - Is it really ??

Any advice would be appreciated. If there is a problem, especially a potentially dangerous one, I need to get it resolved whilst the car is still under warranty.

Hits.

MattW

hrawal - I'm not going to worry about the rust on the 'bells' (did n't know they were called that), and yes my brakes make a cccccchhhhhhhhhh noise when cold.

AudiMan

RichS,
Thanks, I didn't know how the Subaru's rear brakes are configured, but that's useful info for me when I get one later this year.
Regarding grinding noises and clunks from the rears my A3 does this and I'm pretty certain it's the way the pads "float" and move in their housing when the car is travelling in reverse, they clonk as they move initially and grind when they come into contact with the very outer edge of the disk whch has a bit of a ledge due to wear.

RichS

AudiMan,

Your welcome


All,

This "feature" might be different to problems described so far:

When my Scoob was a couple of months old, it developed an awful sounding, loud squeal coming from one of the rear wheels.
Most noticeable at low speeds, particularly when I had the window open.

On further investigation, it turned out to be a tiny sliver of the friction material had come away from one of my handbrake shoes.
As it had nowhere to go, it sat in place and ground continually against the inside of the disc bell.

Annoying but easily fixed.


Rich

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

This problem of the unused part of the discs rusting is the reason we have our discs zinc plated , where the pads sit it will wear the covering off straight away , but the rest of the disc is covered and doesn't go rusty , pictures of the discs on the web site , www.godspeedbrakes.co.uk , cheers Ian

MattW

Ian

Just out of interest How much to replace MY01 disks.

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

The front ones are £165 a pair , the rear ones are £125 for solid discs and £145 for vented ones , these are grooved , drilled or both , Cheers Ian

LeonWells

Had my Cam Belt Service today, £390 all in, not THAT bad.. but i was pleased to Recieve 2X BRAND NEW front brake discs under warrenty my faith has been restored! you could see daylight through the crack in them! Not good. The Dealer checked the rears again and still say that the rust on surface is fine so we will see how it goes.

Leon

Bexlee

It isn't the actual discs that I was enquiring about which do go brown a little, even after just washing the car or a bit of rain and then are quickly cleaned with using the brakes. Rather, I was refering to the (bells?) bit inside the discs that appear to be permanantly brown.

Is it OK to clean this area, if so what is most effective?

Bex

[Edited by Bexlee - 3/11/2002 5:57:20 PM]