You wash your vehicle and really shine it up good. So good, in fact, that you decide to take some pictures of it. But wait — what’s that orangey-brownish stuff on the brake rotors? Is that rust?
If it helps, rusted brakes after a car wash aren’t uncommon — you’re not alone, and you’re not doing anything wrong. But let’s look at what’s happening and what to do about it.
Rust Never Sleeps![Brake rotor]( "brake rotor")
When you put iron and water together, you’re going to get rust, and in a lot of cases, surprisingly fast. Brake rotors are made of iron. The oxidization process begins as soon as the water hits them, and by the time you’ve got the car dry, you’re likely to see it. The good news is it isn’t deep-seated rust. Here are some tips to get your rusted brakes looking as good as the rest of the car.
Go for a Drive
Sometimes, just a few minutes of driving and using the brakes will cause that newly formed rust to simply flake off and blow away. Of course, you may be undoing some of the cleaning you just did, and there could be puddles. So let’s look at some other fixes, too.
Break Out the Leaf Blower
Get out a leaf blower, a hair dryer or your shop vac set to blow instead of suction. If you hit those brake rotors after a wash and air-dry, the rust won’t have a chance to appear.
Spray and Wipe the Rotors
There are rust inhibitors meant for brake rotors that come in a spray bottle. Just spray some on a cloth and wipe down the rotors with it while detailing your car.
Upgrade Your Rotors
A lot of drivers are upgrading to coated brake rotors, where a specially formulated polymer coating is applied to protect against corrosion — under a lot more severe conditions than your car encounters just getting washed. We’re talking about holding up to the equivalent of eighteen months of a midwestern winter, road salt and all.
What you choose will probably be decided by how often you wash your car, how particular you are about everything looking its best and how much time you have. Just know that it’s a problem everyone has who owns a vehicle with open wheels (where you can see the brakes), and there are options for making it better.
Check out all the brake products available on NAPA Online or trust one of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locations for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on rusted brakes, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS store.
Photos courtesy of Mike Hagerty and Wikimedia Commons.
The post Why Does My Car Have Rusted Brakes After I Wash It? appeared first on NAPA Know How Blog.
Source: NAPA Know How