maby66

Just put mine in for a service - 02 car and its having the 54k done 3k miles early - and have had the "authorisation to proceed" call....
Pads at front (not a surprise) and discs.....showing wear/evidence of rust.
Now, I knew the pads were on their way out and did some reading up about replacements at the weekend - was toying with the idea of going for some uprated ones.
Within at least one of the threads I read was a remark, possibly from Bassoctopus, that the discs "always" end up looking rusty.

Car is used probably 3 days a week out of 7 - but then it would be for a long-ish journey (work related). I've noticed the discs showing rust spots but assumed with it sitting still for more than a few days, this was fairly normal and would disappear when taken out for a blat.

So - I've so far told them to go ahead with the pads, but I need to think about the discs - thoughts/opinions?

EddandSam

Thoughts are:

If the discs need doing then the pads need doing at the same time!

Edd

UK Paul

By rusting they may mean deep scoring, a MOT failure and definate replacement.

If pads fitted to the discs you may condition them to the profile of the knackered disc.

Less wear / use on long distance travel as well rather than a short start stop scenario!

Get them to explain more fully the rusty disc comment, as they do get a surface rust in merely hours that does clear on one decent brake application....

m1bjr

If you have a tech manual, get the minimum disc thickness for your model and confirm what they currently measure. If close or under it's a no-brainer.
Then make an educated guess on how long they may last on your car.
If badly scored, then replace them, they are relatively cheap.
Putting new pads on scored discs is false economy anyhow.

As for rust, sounds like a money spinner to me. If they arent scored, warped (you'll know) or under thickness then it's nothing to bother about. You could always take a wire brush to them yourself if it bothers you.

lower

I'd want to have a look at it myself. If the car isn't used that much, rust can build up on the discs that is abrasive enough that the rust wears away the pad before the pad can wear away the rust. You then end up with a reduced braking area. This sort of rust normally works its way in from the edges of the swept area, ie the inside and outside edges of the disc.

My rears ended up needing changing because of this. I ended up with about 60% of the swept area being free from rust, and even though i scoured off all the rust it had made the disc abrasive so it just wore the pads away in those areas.

Nottm_S2

ask them

'would it fail an MOT?'

if not then don't replace.

it's amazing how innaccurate some dealers comments are.. all my pads are "85% worn" apparently.. are they fook as like, the same dealer fitted the rears about 4k miles ago and there is not a big difference in the pad thickness now from when they were new (i bought red stuff and gave them to dealer). I'd say they were nigh on 10mm.

grrr

i need new fronts though so that pads thread has come along at a timely moment

s2konroids

Is this small rust spots on the surface of discs?, does the rust dissapear after a short journey?

If so IMO nothing to worry about.

Bandit_287

Those front discs certainly aint cheap! My dealer quoted me