How to prevent car from corrosion?

3-4 years is perfectly normal for brakes and rotors. Good even.

Professional brake jobs are 400-600/axle and everyone should expect to do them semi-routinely. 20-50K depending on car and driving habits.

If you want to cut the price, learn to do it yourself, it will save money.

Or at the least use a cover.

SOuthern man111 wrote:

If you want to cut the price, learn to do it yourself, it will save money.

Exactly. The disk brakes are easy. I did the drum brakes a few months ago in my civic and there was a little learning curve but very easy overall. In the future it will be super easy to do them again.

When I used to have drum brakes done at a shop, the rotors would invariably leak. I'd have to keep going back and they'd want to charge me again. I think most shops are either totally inept, lazy, or else trying to scam everyone, probably a combination of these. Doing them yourself is much better.

You need to liberally coat the rotors with oil.

Well that's good to hear, at least I don't feel as bad now. I paid $400 for rear brakes and rotors.

Do you guys change rotors Everytime you change pads?

Rotors can be machined a few times.

Most people drive in such a way that wastes time, fuel, and brakes.

Look ahead to red lights and coast, rather than accelerate into them, look a full block or two ahead. If you get to the back of the stopped car with speed, just as they begin to accelerate, you’ll save time/money/fuel/brake wear.

You might also look for a specifically corrosion resistant rotor for your application.

There are products, like Fluid Film and Lanox MX4, that you can spray basically all over the underside of a vehicle, try to avoid exhaust and brakes however.

Ziebart wrote:

You need to liberally coat the rotors with oil.

not funny. some idiot might try it.

BoBBy KnighT wrote:

Ziebart wrote:

You need to liberally coat the rotors with oil.

not funny. some idiot might try it.

What about the idiot in the post above who said his rotors leaked.

New investor wrote:

Well that's good to hear, at least I don't feel as bad now. I paid $400 for rear brakes and rotors.

Do you guys change rotors Everytime you change pads?

Correction, it was the wheel cylinders that leaked after a shop changed the brakes.

After that I did them myself. The total cost with new rear brake shoes, new drums, new wheel cylinders, flare wrench and bleed kit was right around $100 on Ebay.

Keep car in garage wrote:

New investor wrote:

Well that's good to hear, at least I don't feel as bad now. I paid $400 for rear brakes and rotors.

Do you guys change rotors Everytime you change pads?

Correction, it was the wheel cylinders that leaked after a shop changed the brakes.

After that I did them myself. The total cost with new rear brake shoes, new drums, new wheel cylinders, flare wrench and bleed kit was right around $100 on Ebay.

Leaked? Or do you mean squeaked?

What did they leak?

Ziebart wrote:

You need to liberally coat the rotors with oil.

This. I never got corrosion issues since I started oiling my rotors. And mind you, I don't have a hangar and live in Kolkata, so we get regular monsoon rains for 4 months a year.

Airwolf wrote:

Ziebart wrote:

You need to liberally coat the rotors with oil.

This. I never got corrosion issues since I started oiling my rotors. And mind you, I don't have a hangar and live in Kolkata, so we get regular monsoon rains for 4 months a year.

Please stop.

Do not put foreign substances on your rotors.

Also, the cost of machining rotors vs just replacing is sometimes not much. The is labor involved afterall. Shop time is often 100+/hr.

SOuthern man111 wrote:

3-4 years is perfectly normal for brakes and rotors. Good even.

Professional brake jobs are 400-600/axle and everyone should expect to do them semi-routinely. 20-50K depending on car and driving habits.

If you want to cut the price, learn to do it yourself, it will save money.

Just remember a bad brake job can be deadly.

BoBBy KnighT wrote:

Ziebart wrote:

You need to liberally coat the rotors with oil.

not funny. some idiot might try it.

Well if you're that dumb.....

Counterintuitively, don’t keep your car in the garage. The freezing and melting everyday is way harder on the metal than just leaving the car out in the cold. I lived in Maine for years and my mechanic gave me that tip

Keep car in garage wrote:

Correction, it was the wheel cylinders that leaked after a shop changed the brakes.

After that I did them myself. The total cost with new rear brake shoes, new drums, new wheel cylinders, flare wrench and bleed kit was right around $100 on Ebay.

BoBBy KnighT wrote:

What did they leak?

I don't know why, but probably the shop didn't change the old wheel cylinders, which was dumb on their part because new ones are not expensive. That, and a few other things, have caused me to totally lose faith in that shop and mechanic. On the bright side, I can do my own brakes from now on.

Keep car in garage wrote:

Keep car in garage wrote:

Correction, it was the wheel cylinders that leaked after a shop changed the brakes.

After that I did them myself. The total cost with new rear brake shoes, new drums, new wheel cylinders, flare wrench and bleed kit was right around $100 on Ebay.

BoBBy KnighT wrote:

What did they leak?

I don't know why, but probably the shop didn't change the old wheel cylinders, which was dumb on their part because new ones are not expensive. That, and a few other things, have caused me to totally lose faith in that shop and mechanic. On the bright side, I can do my own brakes from now on.

You probably mean brake cylinders, and they probably leaked brake fluid.

So if I have to replace the brakes n rotors every 3-4 years anyway, is there any point in getting a car wash?

There are various sealant products that you can put on your wheels that help them resist the salt and other chemicals used to clear the roads. The other option is to put your snow tires on a separate set of rims that are better suited for winter.