[Judge Dredd]

I have new Carbon brake pads coming in on Friday and while washing my car yesterday I noticed a very thin layer of rust is starting to build on the rotor. When I go to change the pads, is it safe to clean the rust with Brake Cleaner and a wire brush? If not, what IS the safest way to clean them?

Thanks!

[Judge Dredd]

Can anyone give any insight?

[mike-y]

do you mean rust on the braking surface, or rust on the hub?

if it's on the hub, you can take them off, wirebrush them, and paint them. if it's on the braking surface, the pads will just scrape it off, no need to worry.

some surface rust on the rotor is normal otherwise.

[Judge Dredd]

Originally Posted by mike-y

do you mean rust on the braking surface, or rust on the hub?

if it's on the hub, you can take them off, wirebrush them, and paint them. if it's on the braking surface, the pads will just scrape it off, no need to worry.

some surface rust on the rotor is normal otherwise.

On the braking surface. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for the info!

[avocet]

you can clean the rust on the braking surface by applying the brakes!

but seriously, you can scuff the braking surface with scotchbrite or sandpaper to smooth it out and get all the bedding material off. then go and do a proper bed-in with your new pads.

just be careful if you have zinc coated rotors.... if you remove the coating from the edges and hat of the disc it will begin to corrode there.

[Judge Dredd]

Originally Posted by avocet

you can clean the rust on the braking surface by applying the brakes!

but seriously, you can scuff the braking surface with scotchbrite or sandpaper to smooth it out and get all the bedding material off. then go and do a proper bed-in with your new pads.

just be careful if you have zinc coated rotors.... if you remove the coating from the edges and hat of the disc it will begin to corrode there.

Thanks! I'll probably just skip cleaning the rotors and install the new pads unless there's any reason not to skip it.

[Meeni]

No need to clean the rotor from rust, they'll clean themselves the first time you use the brakes.

If your new pad compound is different, you may want to scrub the rotors with emery paper and brake cleaner, to remove the old compound. Do not use sand/silica based paper, use only metallic based paper.

[Judge Dredd]

Replaced all the pads today. Everything is clean and working great, with exception to hubs which are a bit rusted but not enough to cause me concern. I'm very happy with the Cool Carbon pads. I'll get to the hubs at some point.