Thread: Rotors with surface rust

I am replacing the front diff complete disc to disc. The housing in the car is bent and has been repaired by a previous owner, oh and it leaks oil...

The second hand one which I bought has slightly rusty rotors. Will it damage the rotors at all if I clean them up using an electric wirebrush. It was suggested that I just leave them as is and let the pads clean them, but if I can tidy them a bit first I believe that would be better. I don't think they are bad enough to need replacing, and the budget is a tad tight atm.

Am aiming to get it all sorted prior to fitting to the car, so the swap is trouble free and then I don't have to revisit it later.

Originally Posted by GuyG

I am replacing the front diff complete disc to disc. The housing in the car is bent and has been repaired by a previous owner, oh and it leaks oil...

The second hand one which I bought has slightly rusty rotors. Will it damage the rotors at all if I clean them up using an electric wirebrush. It was suggested that I just leave them as is and let the pads clean them, but if I can tidy them a bit first I believe that would be better. I don't think they are bad enough to need replacing, and the budget is a tad tight atm.

Am aiming to get it all sorted prior to fitting to the car, so the swap is trouble free and then I don't have to revisit it later.

I failed to clean surface rust off my rotors (which had been in the shed for a while) when I installed them, figuring the pads would clean them up. After a few normal brake stops the pedal went hard and it took me three times longer to pull up.
Took the wheels off and the discs were blue, the pads had a metallic coating which had also gone blue, scraped this thin layer off, which was the rust debris from the discs, ran a disc/orbital sander over the discs and got rid of the blue (rust debris), discs were ok after that, lightly sanded the pads on sandpaper on a flat surface and it all works perfect now.
Good Idea to clean surface rust off discs, Regards Frank.