Is this true, rotors & brakes can rust from not driving much??

[JohnnyO]

Few things here as others have eluded to already. If the rotors pit heavily then they’re bad. Not worth the risk! The more carbon in the iron the worse and faster the rust. So cheap rotors made in China will be worse for this than say quality steel from known sources.

Depends on your weather but a bit of normal driving should knock the rust off. As mentioned, better quality rotors will rust less. Wagner's top shelf units or NAPA Ultra Premium (last time I got them the box said Made In Canada) are quality stuff with anti-rust coating and the only ones my wife can't kill in a year in her cars.

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[towpro]

I didn’t read everything but RP said it best IMO. You got fleeced. think of all the vehicles in the Caribbean. They are surrounded by 90% humidity and live in an island. Do you think they are replacing breakers every couple thousand miles?

Think of all the coastal city’s on the central and South American countries near the ocean. They are not replacing brakes every couple thousand miles.

Even in the Vegas desert that gets a couple inches of rain a year the rotors will rust up If a car sits idle for a couple days. Step on the brakes once and the rust is rubbed off.

Find another repair shop next time for a brake job.

none of those places spray a liquid mixture of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride on the roads before every time snow is in the forcast. This mixture drys to a white coating on the road, once the snow (or rain) starts to fall this turns liquid again and gets all over everything that drives over it.
Than once it does snow they dump tons more sodium chloride on the roads once it becomes show covered like PA and other northern states do.
THIS is the stuff that tears up the brake rotors (and every other piece of the vehicle)

 

[mgallo13]

I live at the beach, I make it a point to drive my truck at least one time during the week and one time on weekends. My old Focus ST front rotors used to oxidize after sitting just a few days, my truck's doesn't seem to be as bad. Much more surface area on the ST rotors- those things were huge.

Curious to see how long they last.

 

[paval3]

If the outboard pad is much thinner than the inboard side then the caliper is binding. The caliper should float easily on the two pins which hold it in place. Lube of the pins and checking the caliper moves freely is part of the brake job. Hard to check after the brakes get applied for the first time because the clearance between the rotor and pads will only be small. The runout of the rotor creates the clearance.
If the inboard pad was thinner, then the caliber piston is binding and the caliper needs rebuilding.
These are not failures created from rust on the rotors.

So is that something I should call and ask him about??

 

[Megawatt]

none of those places spray a liquid mixture of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride on the roads before every time snow is in the forcast. ..

sodium chloride
[ˈˌsōdēəm ˈklôˌrīd]

NOUN

1. a colorless crystalline compound occurring naturally in seawater and halite; common salt.
synonyms:
table salt · sea salt · marine salt · rock salt


Magnesium chloride:
magnesium chloride can be extracted from brine or sea water. In North America, magnesium chloride is produced primarily from Great Salt Lake brine. It is extracted in a similar process from the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley.

You just listed two fancy names for……..SALT.

The places I talked about are surrounded by sea water, aka sodium chloride. It’s 24/7 and 365 days a year. It is everywhere and even in the air you breath. It’s not a seasonal thing like you mention, it never gets washed away, it doesn’t get diluted, it will not dry up. It’s on every brake park, car part and people that live in those locations they don’t replace brakes at 2000 miles.

You can throw out the fancy chemical names I still say he got taken and should try another repair shop. Why not? Always good for second mechanics opinion.

 

[D Fresh]

none of those places spray a liquid mixture of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride on the roads before every time snow is in the forcast. This mixture drys to a white coating on the road, once the snow (or rain) starts to fall this turns liquid again and gets all over everything that drives over it.
Than once it does snow they dump tons more sodium chloride on the roads once it becomes show covered like PA and other northern states do.
THIS is the stuff that tears up the brake rotors (and every other piece of the vehicle)

I live in Denver. We use sodium and magnesium chloride to de-ice here.

My YJ is parked outdoors, driven as infrequently as the OP's Mercury's, and has had the same brakes on it for roughly 8 years.

Any surface rust gets knocked off after a short bit of driving.

There is just simply no way OP's rotors rusted out in the 8 months since their last brake job. OP was ripped off.

 

[jsphlynch]

If the outboard pad is much thinner than the inboard side then the caliper is binding. The caliper should float easily on the two pins which hold it in place. Lube of the pins and checking the caliper moves freely is part of the brake job. Hard to check after the brakes get applied for the first time because the clearance between the rotor and pads will only be small. The runout of the rotor creates the clearance.
If the inboard pad was thinner, then the caliber piston is binding and the caliper needs rebuilding.
These are not failures created from rust on the rotors.

Isn't it possible that if one face of the rotor is more rusted/pitted then the pad on that side could wear faster even if the calipers are functioning properly?

 

[jsphlynch]

I'll offer up my experience as to why I shared my opinion.

A friend had a Pontiac SUV. it was getting old. needed work.
She had blown the engine the year before and when the brakes came due, I did them in the driveway. all new pads and rotors.
a couple weeks later she had a check engine light.
assuming the replacement engine wasn't as good as I had hoped, I elected to get her into a new 2017 Focus.
we put the SUV up for sale and we had decided to sell it with a current safety inspection.
So, about 4 weeks after changing the brakes and a week or two of sitting, her dad took it to the local mechanic for the safety inspection.
He fleeced the old man into all new rotors and pads ** for excessive corrosion** and charged him $700 when he picked it up.
I called the shop from the other side of the country and tore that motherf*cker a new ass over the phone.
The SUV was returned to her father that afternoon, his money returned- no charge....all new brakes still installed and the old parts in the back in a box. My threats were not fake, I still reported him to every automotive and better business association i could find for Ontario.
The new owner of the SUV was happy to have a replacement set of brake components as well as new brakes installed.
I wont put up with scams. And this is an easy scam to screw someone over who doesn't know better. Her Dad was only thinking about her safety and the bullshit story he was given by the shop about safety being affected was utter bullshit. He got taken. He was vulnerable to that scam, and unfortunately so many others were too.

One side of me is saying that your scenario doesn't apply here because OP was shown the pads and they were discernibly unevenly worn...but then again we don't know for sure that the pads shown to OP were the pads that came off the vehicle.

 

[paval3]

Isn't it possible that if one face of the rotor is more rusted/pitted then the pad on that side could wear faster even if the calipers are functioning properly?

This right here!! I stopped and talked to the shop owner this morning since it is right down the road from where I work.

I asked about the calipers. No, no problem with the calipers. Evidently only the front pads were replaced in January 2021 at the previous shop I used since the 80's (per my records). This mechanic told me he doesn't think they looked at the one face of the one rotor on the side where the that brake pad was more worn than the other when they told me my rotors were still good and I only need pads. (This is all in layman's terms because I can't recall his exact words.)

He told me checks all that stuff while he's waiting for oil to drain. I think he knows his stuff because he wanted to show me something before I drove off with the vehicle. Soon as he started to lift the hood , I said, "Your going to show me that white powdery stuff." He said yes, someone must have put lok-tite around "what ever he called it" (something to do with coolant)... and told me to watch that.

BTW... no probem being called a "he" when fellow members refer to me.... but I'm a "she" .

Thanks to all who responded and for your thoughts. I feel confident I was not ripped off.
My brother (who I work with) just told me when it comes time to get new brakes/rotors on the Ranger to order my own better quality product and have them installed. I was going to have the Ford dealership do all that when the time comes, I just assumed they will use a good quality replacement product.

 

[Dsc]

First my apologies for referring to you as male.
Buy good quality parts and having a shop install is a good thing. But you need to know what you are to buy and the shop has to agree on the install. Most shops make a good profit off the parts, so the labor costs doesn't look as bad on the bill.
It is tough to do internet diagnostics since seeing actually parts will explain a lot. I am still of the opinion to always change rotors when you change pads. The costs just aren't that bad.
Hopefully you won't need brakes for some time on the Ranger since they are extremely hard to find rotors right now.

 

[got3fords]

I got so many miles on my OEM brakes on my Focus, that I will not have anyone put on anything but Ford brake parts anymore.
One problem that I had with my F-150 is that I was replacing things like that too often because it sat so much.

 

[paval3]

First my apologies for referring to you as male.
Buy good quality parts and having a shop install is a good thing. But you need to know what you are to buy and the shop has to agree on the install. Most shops make a good profit off the parts, so the labor costs doesn't look as bad on the bill.
It is tough to do internet diagnostics since seeing actually parts will explain a lot. I am still of the opinion to always change rotors when you change pads. The costs just aren't that bad.
Hopefully you won't need brakes for some time on the Ranger since they are extremely hard to find rotors right now.

We talked about that the other week when i took the Ranger to this new to me shop down the road from where I work. He told me he charges $60/hr labor if he's supplying the parts... $90/hr if customer brings their own parts. He's the one who charged me $25 to put the upgrade rear shocks that I bought online (Eibach) for my 2021 Ranger (took him no more than 15 minutes). This guy is probably in his early 50's. Said he used to work in service at a Ford dealership.

 

[Trigganometry]

We talked about that the other week when i took the Ranger to this new to me shop down the road from where I work. He told me he charges $60/hr labor if he's supplying the parts... $90/hr if customer brings their own parts. He's the one who charged me $25 to put the upgrade rear shocks that I bought online (Eibach) for my 2021 Ranger (took him no more than 15 minutes). This guy is probably in his early 50's. Said he used to work in service at a Ford dealership.

In essence he is charging you his markup for the same part. Doesn’t matter at that point ether way. He’s still strong arming you into what his ‘fixed’ price would be.

You sound pretty knowledgeable, it’s not that difficult to do. Might even show up a few guys around here! ? I taught my daughter and she has no problem as long as she can wear gloves

 

[paval3]

In essence he is charging you his markup for the same part. Doesn’t matter at that point ether way. He’s still strong arming you into what his ‘fixed’ price would be.

You sound pretty knowledgeable, it’s not that difficult to do. Might even show up a few guys around here! ? I taught my daughter and she has no problem as long as she can wear gloves

See though, I don't see it as strong arming me. Being in business too, I understand part of the profit he makes is from selling parts and he loses that when a customer brings their own parts. I'm just glad he's willing to install parts he didn't sell. I know with our own business, the overhead costs is a lot to even open the doors each day. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't mind paying a fair price.

 

[Jason B]

All I know is the big round disc looking things LOL which I assume are the rotors, were all a nasty brown ... he also showed me the pads where one was worse than the other, it was worn much thinner than the other one. He did ask me if I had heard any grinding, any noise. No I hadn't.

He showed you pads. But did he show you YOUR pads from YOUR truck? Hard to tell
sets from one make or another as they all are very similar.

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