Subaru with rusty rotors

[Donald]

My Subaru Forester seems to have rusty rotors that the indy mechanic says are because of all the salt from winter roads. He said plenty of pad, just live with the rusty rotors until the pads need changing. The car makes what sounds like brakes with no pad left when I turn right turn at 40 MPH or above without using the brakes. He put the vehicle on a lift and checked it out and concluded that the noise was due to rusty rotors.

I am thinking of pulling the rotors and wire brushing the rotor face?

Or stop being cheap and install new pads and rotors.

I think brakes are a weak spot on the Forester. The brake system as a whole does not deal well with the salt from the winter. And part of the reason to buy an AWD vehicle is because of the winter.

 

[dlundblad]

Can you post a photo? I'm curious to see how bad they look.

2015 is too young to need anything like this done.

 

[supton]

Little odd. Rust should come off very quickly. Maybe you have rust working its way in from the edge, lifting the brake surface. If so, I'd leave it alone. Yeah you could hammer it off, but I'd rather replace the rotor and pads if so.

If you're not dying in this heat then I'd think to pull the calipers, check to make sure everything is free, and do your own examination. FWIW, I think my Camry was about 3yr old / 55k when it ate a brake pad--seized on the sliding surface.

 

[skyactiv]

The car prior to my VW GTI was a WRX. The rotors on my Subaru rusted, too. The rotors on my VW are still the originals with 129K and show no rust.
But the OEM VW rotors are zinc coated, the Subaru rotors on my old WRX were not.
Even if you prep and paint the hats of the rotors, it's a lot of work and wont last forever in your driving environment.
If you end up buying new rotors, make sure to get ones that are coated.

 

[Doc8404]

I have a 2017 legacy fleet car my work provides. The rotors rust just sitting for a day or two. But that’s surface rust.

 

[The_Jeff]

Get a 2nd opinion.

Can you get in there and see if the rotors themselves are mirror-polished where the pads contact?

A noise that comes and goes with turning should be figured out as all that stuff should be tight in there.

My first and second thoughts are a bad wheel bearing and seized caliper sliders. Then maybe a pad that has a swollen ear in its bracket that won't move like it should.

 

[krismoriah72]

A rotor with a rusty surface after driving means that the pad isnt touching the surface. There should be no need to wire brush a rotor that a pad has scoured.

I would suspect frozen slide pins or caliper frozen, or bad hose..

I would check slide pins first the vehicle is too new for those others to be a factor i think.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Donald
My Subaru Forester seems to have rusty rotors that the indy mechanic says are because of all the salt from winter roads. He said plenty of pad, just live with the rusty rotors until the pads need changing. The car makes what sounds like brakes with no pad left when I turn right turn at 40 MPH or above without using the brakes. He put the vehicle on a lift and checked it out and concluded that the noise was due to rusty rotors.

I am thinking of pulling the rotors and wire brushing the rotor face?



https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ub...ums#Post3864753

 

[Rob_Roy]

Donald, I had the same problem on our 2014 Outback. Turned out to be rust on the outer edge of the rotor. There is very little clearance between the rotor, caliper btacket, and stainless pad hardware. After a few whacks with a hammer and a little clean up with a file, everything was quiet again.

 

[CT8]

The rust will be removed with use

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Rob_Roy
Donald, I had the same problem on our 2014 Outback. Turned out to be rust on the outer edge of the rotor. There is very little clearance between the rotor, caliper btacket, and stainless pad hardware. After a few whacks with a hammer and a little clean up with a file, everything was quiet again.


This.

Had it happen to my 2012, 2014 and 2016 Subarus. Rust chunks would at times break free and make all kinds of racket between the dust shield and rotor until they cleared out.

My rear pads and rotors were shot on my 2016 Forester around 36K miles.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Coated rotors are awesome. Centric Premium, Wagner E-shield, EBC Premium, etc

 

[Kira]

Happened with my Subaru....the only new car I ever bought.

Never again Subaru. They are overrated to the extreme.