# Brake calipers rusting



## maccafootball (Feb 18, 2011)

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I have a 10 month old Audi A1 s line and I have noticed over the last few weeks that the brake calipers and hub that connects the car to the wheel are rusting. I only ever use built hamber auto wheel to clean them and am surprised that this has happened. Is this normal or a warranty claim?, if not how can I sort it out? Paint them or just clean them?,and with what? .I look forward to your views.


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## maccafootball (Feb 18, 2011)

have a 10 month old Audi A1 s line and I have noticed over the last few weeks that the brake calipers and hub that connects the car to the wheel are rusting. I only ever use built hamber auto wheel to clean them and am surprised that this has happened. Is this normal or a warranty claim?, if not how can I sort it out? Paint them or just clean them?,and with what? .I look forward to your views


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## Ads_ClioV6 (Apr 27, 2014)

go back to the main dealer matey see what they say if its under warranty,dont go spending your hard earned money


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## giggs (May 20, 2011)

Could fallout remover be the cause?

check this out... (at the end of the post)
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16084110&postcount=24


> I have to confess though that as a product that is designed to dissolve 'iron fallout' this product will when used repeatedly remove zinc metal coatings on brake disc hubs and unpainted brake calipers resulting in unsightly rusty hubs and calipers, so when using it on wheels try and avoid the hubs and calipers!


Ronnie's 10th post...
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=236611


> if used sensibally it is grand. keep away from blended panel, smart repairs, acrylic paint or unpainted calipers and you will be grand.


http://www.autogeek.net/ironx-paint-cleaner.html


> Note: Iron X should not be used on bare metal parts, brake calipers, wheel balancing weights, or SMART paint repairs. Mask off these areas. Avoid letting Iron X dry on any surface.


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## maccafootball (Feb 18, 2011)

Very interesting, I have only twice used autosmart fallout remover, the last time was about 6 weeks ago, I wonder if this has started it off.i sprayed it over the whole car and a few minutes later washed it all off and began to clay. So I couldn't really go back to the dealer then?. So if that is the case what should I now do to sort this out ? Paint or clean?


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## giggs (May 20, 2011)

Bilt Hamber Auto wheel is also a fallout remover isn't it? Similar to Korrosol, just thicker.

I don't know really what you should do. It's just my guess based on my research on rusting unpainted calipers.

Maybe you should visit your dealer anyway.


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## maccafootball (Feb 18, 2011)

Thanks for the responses, I wondered if just using a wire brush on them would clean it off and sort it out. I must admit I would not really want my local Audi dealer changing bits on my car as they have damaged parts on my previous cars when doing work and servicing before. So for clarity what you are recommended to do is spray the wheel cleaner on and mask off the hub and brake calipers yes?. Funny thing is when I look at members threads or detailing companies threads on here I have never seen anyone mask them off, however they seem to produce amazing results with no rusting it must be me I guess !!!!!


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## asbo (Oct 11, 2012)

So this happens to every Audi for some reason. I stuck a wire brush wheel on my drill, cleaned them off, then sprayed them with silver wheel caliber paint, then a few coats of clear coat. mine are great now. I masked of some slight areas of the disc, and the back of the brake pad.


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## narav (Aug 27, 2011)

On the discs hub it's normal to happen, they dont have any kind of protection to stop corrosion. And by the picture you posted, it seems that it is whats hapenning to the brake caliper.


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## giggs (May 20, 2011)

asbo said:


> So this happens to every Audi for some reason. I stuck a wire brush wheel on my drill, cleaned them off, then sprayed them with silver wheel caliber paint, then a few coats of clear coat. mine are great now. I masked of some slight areas of the disc, and the back of the brake pad.


Sounds like a proper solution to me.


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## asspur96 (Jan 24, 2014)

Happens mate when you use any type of Wheel Cleaner !!!

however you can the n wire brush and paint with Hammerite for easy fix


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

dont worry about the hub, that happens to every car and is supposed too

the caliper shouldn't though, that's pretty poor, i would go back and ask them to repaint them and see what they say


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## litcan91 (Mar 16, 2013)

Seems pretty normal to me that an unpainted caliper is rusting, just paint it silver as shown above & you wouldn't see any more rusting issues?


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

litcan91 said:


> Seems pretty normal to me that an unpainted caliper is rusting, just paint it silver as shown above & you wouldn't see any more rusting issues?


Is it unpainted ? I thought it was silver

If it is unpainted that seems odd for a nice new car


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## litcan91 (Mar 16, 2013)

Clancy said:


> Is it unpainted ? I thought it was silver
> 
> If it is unpainted that seems odd for a nice new car


Doesn't look painted to me, might be anodized in some stuff - but just seems bare. Looks same as this image of A1 found on google - pretty normal to see untreated/painted calipers, don't know if this has changed in the newer cars...


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Ah yeah I see, yeah should be fine after painting then. I thought it was coming through 

Just seems odd to be unpainted, not exactly a cheap car


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## litcan91 (Mar 16, 2013)

Clancy said:


> Ah yeah I see, yeah should be fine after painting then. I thought it was coming through
> 
> Just seems odd to be unpainted, not exactly a cheap car


Agreed, to be honest I don't understand why they aren't just pointed at the manufacturing stage of the caliper into standard silver to avoid any kind of rusting, surely the cost added isn't going to affect their margin in any shape or form and just pro long the caliper life by sealing it from contact with water. :wall:


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## SadlyDistracted (Jan 18, 2013)

litcan91 said:


> Agreed, to be honest I don't understand why they aren't just pointed at the manufacturing stage of the caliper into standard silver to avoid any kind of rusting, surely the cost added isn't going to affect their margin in any shape or form and just pro long the caliper life by sealing it from contact with water. :wall:


If they did that they wouldn't go all manky and fail so early - which of course would mean less money, repairs and parts replacements etc to them now would it ....

Remember who they are building for - shareholders not us!

You do wonder what (small ) cost there would be at bulk order manufacture time there would be to actually protect things property, e.g. , treated brake disks (particularly the internals of vented ones), stainless fasteners etc. painting/treating wheel hubs etc. And even where steel/iron has been replaced by aluminium, some hard anodising wouldn't go amiss!

A Classic manufacturing corrosion failure seems to be bmw hub centres where the hub/bearing main fasteners are, they go brown, crusty and manky in the blink of an eye. If you don't do these from brand new it becomes a never ending battle with deox/fertan, paint/wax grease :-(


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## litcan91 (Mar 16, 2013)

Not the kind kind of brand image that I want to build... But can be seen across the whole board, mercedes come out with wheels bolts which rust the next day after the car leaves the showroom...


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## CrispyL (Apr 30, 2011)

Brake callipers are zinc plated, I've just had my callipers refurbished and re-plated professionally and was advised that salty roads over the winter will corrode the plating which I suspect could have happened to yours.

Luckily mine is a summer car only.


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## Ennoch (Jan 31, 2006)

asbo said:


> So this happens to every Audi for some reason. I stuck a wire brush wheel on my drill, cleaned them off, then sprayed them with silver wheel caliber paint, then a few coats of clear coat. mine are great now. I masked of some slight areas of the disc, and the back of the brake pad.


Calipers and discs are made of steel so rust is to be expected. I can't ever see a manufacturer giving a warranty claim for surface corrosion on a non-paint surface, and nor should they. Sure, this is a detailing site but some people seem to get ridiculously OCD on totally inconsequential things; if you're that bothered then you can paint them.

Also, stainless fastners? More expensive and weaker. No way would I want anything stainless to be holding any critical parts together on my car. Some things need to be put into perspective.


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## litcan91 (Mar 16, 2013)

Ennoch said:


> Calipers and discs are made of steel so rust is to be expected. I can't ever see a manufacturer giving a warranty claim for surface corrosion on a non-paint surface, and nor should they. Sure, this is a detailing site but some people seem to get ridiculously OCD on totally inconsequential things; if you're that bothered then you can paint them.
> 
> Also, stainless fastners? More expensive and weaker. No way would I want anything stainless to be holding any critical parts together on my car. Some things need to be put into perspective.


Forget the stainless, a touch of paint does a better job than anything else, same scenario as with the body work of the car.

Its a permanent part which is visible on the car, so why not just have it painted?

In the same way you could speak about wheels, which technically don't need to be painted... but not many people would be happy with rusty wheels.


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## Andy-P (Jun 1, 2014)

It's not warranty. Audi's stance will be that it's caused by whatever has been used to clean the wheels. Audi are not the only ones to have this issue as most manufacturers, including BMW and Mercedes, will use unpainted, but treated brake calipers. 

The problem then occurs when some types of acidic alloy wheels cleaners are used which reacts with the surface, and then corrodes. Over time, the calipers will eventually corrode anyway, it's just what's been, or being, used to clean the wheels has aggravated and speeded up the corrosion reaction.


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