Today I had a nail in my tire so i decided to plug it myself and did tire rotations at 9592 miles just for the hell of it. I think I plugged it successfully fingers crossed but when I was rotating my tires I noticed something in my front brake rotors. Is this level of rust on the brake rotor normal for a car of such low mileage? I live in so cal so no salt on the roads for what it's worth. Thanks in advance. iPhone ?
Looks great. I hope the my Gen 4 goes the same distance my Gen 2 went without touching the brakes. 200 K!
I think you'll find all rotors tend to rust because of humidity as much as anything else due to the high iron content of the steel used. However it will form a barrier against deeper rust, I believe.
Has the car been sitting out in the rain? The rotor surfaces are the first thing to rust if the air is moist, even overnight, I've noticed rusted rotors (even on brand new cars) in the car-park of the apartment block where I live.
Nope. I live in so cal, the Prius capital of the world, so we don't get much rain at all and I park with his car in the garage. It did however rain a little more than usual this past winter...wonder if that has anything to do with it. iPhone ?
That's NOT normal...: looks too dang clean. Here's our 2010, this spring, with 67K km's: Good luck with the plug repair, btw. I've done a couple so far, and they've both held up just fine, for several years.
The initial oxidation (i.e., corrosion) layer does indeed protect the underlying metal from further corrosion. That's why it never made sense to me to "polish the brass" when I was in the Navy. They just (a) wanted to give us some "busy work", and/or (b) wanted everything to be all nice and pretty.
A good thing to coat with a bit of anti-rust is the center hubs, the threaded axle end and nut. It can turn into a rusty mess real fast, especially on salted roads. Much of Toyota's hardware, nuts and bolts, seems to have zero rust coating. Especially vulnerable if you're using steel rims without center caps of some sort: This is the same hub that I pictured above. After this pic, I went hammer and tong with wire brushing, and anti-rust coating. And jury-rigged a center cap (2" ABS end cap with a rubber gasket) to make it less exposed in future.
Thank you. I plugged it successfully, it has been about 5 days and I checked the pressure and it doesn't seem leaking for now, fingers crossed. Also the center nut is the only thing that seems prone to rust as of now on my rotors after looking at that of others. I am just surprised a new car has rust on a bolt like that already. I love toyota as a manufacturer but would it have been that hard to make that center bolt a little bit more rust proof? Calling you out toyota! iPhone ?
A quick squirt of WD40 or similar gunk should sort the problem. Just be careful not to get it on the disk /rotor.
Keep in mind the hub and rotors spin with the wheels. Whatever you apply, use it sparingly, and let any liquids dry-off before driving, they will migrate outwards as the hub spins.
