Storing a car outside: How to save the brakes elegantly.

[crazypete]

Good day fellow mustang enthusiasts!

I am approaching the time when I need to take the stang off the road and store it. Alas, there is no garage available so it needs to sit outside.

Now the underside and frame are well preserved

Only problem I have found with parking cars outside for lengths of time is the rotors rot away.

What are the best shadetree mechanic tricks to keep the rotors servicable but rustproofed?

Thanks!

ete

 

[DmnStr8]

Silcon tire spray?

You could also try the spray on gun rust protect products. There are some good ones that leaves a protective oil behind. Probably won't last the winter, but you should be re-applying it often.

Whatever you do. Spray them down with brake cleaner come spring and before you attempt to move it.

 

[DmnStr8]

http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/sport/maintenance_index.asp?categoryID=2&subcat=3&prodcat=75

 

[jrichker]

Part of your problem will be access. The dust covers hide the rear rotor face and make it hard to get any perservative on or off.

 

[crazypete]

Part of your problem will be access. The dust covers hide the rear rotor face and make it hard to get any perservative on or off.

In that case, I have no problem as I threw away the dust covers!

I tried tire silicone and it has no noticable efect. It basically washes right off. I havent tried engine oil or chassis grease but I'm pretty sure that would permanently hose the brake pads (those turbocoupe rear brake parts are expensive!).

I guess the question is...what can I smear on the rotors that will not contaminate the pads too much and will burn off when the car starts to get used again.

 

[seijirou]

Um, are we seriously advising someone oil up their brakes? Brake pads are porous and will absorb this stuff.

If you're really worried about the rust on the rotors, paint them. Pull off the wheels and the backing plates, shoot some black rattlecan rustoleum at them and you're good to go. when the time comes to drive the car again, the paint on the friction surface area will go away the rest of it will stay to protect, or it may burn off if you're hard on your brakes. The paint won't soak into anything and won't hurt anything.

 

[90]

grass moisture rots away metals and tires... so try leaving it off the grass if at all possible.. id leave it on the driveway with four jack stands and a car cover should cover the tires.. as long as the rain and snow stays off your breaks and rotors should be fine....

 

[thehueypilot]

Let them rust as the rust is a coating itself. The first time you step on the brake real hard it will wipe the rust coating off. A steel surface only pits if water is able to pool on its surface for long periods of time. Don't coat them with anything.

 

[crazypete]

Let them rust as the rust is a coating itself. The first time you step on the brake real hard it will wipe the rust coating off. A steel surface only pits if water is able to pool on its surface for long periods of time. Don't coat them with anything.

Back when I blew the T5 on my first mustang, I left it parked over the winter at the bottom of the driveway and went off to school for the semester car-less.

When I reassembled the car in the spring, the brakes were horrible. They never did seem to "machine" themselves fully and I got pedal vibration when braking from highway speeds. Same thing with a used thunderbird I worked on. The brakes never fully recovered from a year of sitting before we bought it.

I am more paranoid about brakes now.

The paint idea actually sounds good now that I think of it. Paint will burn off much easier than oil and wont contaminate anything. Worst case is I leave a smokescreen behind me for the first few days of driving.

 

[DucatiRdr]

Ford rotor material stinks, always have and still does. When I bought my 2004 Explorer new in 2004 it must have been sitting on the lot and the brake pedal bounced as the pads rode up and off the plateau left by the unrusted area where the pads were. My old Contour had 3 sets of rotors all around (under warranty) because the car would sit for a chunk of the week when I took the train to work. My Mustang has had its rotors turned twice before I put it away in 1992 and they are so bad now that it is scary to drive at regular streed speeds (under 50mph).

The only car company I know of that has eliminated this issue is Mercedes who (I heard) uses stainless rotors.

 

[seijirou]

Carbon rotors

 

[Boss 351]

remove 'em... put the grease on blocks, er I mean put the car on blocks.

 

[crazypete]

remove 'em... put the grease on blocks, er I mean put the car on blocks.

Thats all my folks want to see....my old highschool car sitting on cinderblocks in the backyard.

"Well...he's finally gone over to the darkside"

 

[urban96]

i vote for painting em. if their kinda old i dont think new plane rotors are all that much

 

[HISSIN50]

Having grown up in Alaska I can say that atleast some rotors will rust right through.

Aren't new rotors cheap? You could replace them in the Spring. Then keep the 'winter rotors' and put them on the car next winter. If new ones are not cheap, how about grabbing some old ones for cheap and put them on the car over the winter (while your 'good set' are inside the house).

Or get a car bubble?

Good luck Pete.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Let them rust as the rust is a coating itself. The first time you step on the brake real hard it will wipe the rust coating off. A steel surface only pits if water is able to pool on its surface for long periods of time. Don't coat them with anything.

That's what I used to do. I just let them rust up.

Then come spring time 9 months later or so after i stored it I would just drive the car and the rust would get "wiped" off within 10 miles or so. Never had a problem really.

Right now my car has been stored for 2 years and the rotors are rusted pretty badly, but it's just mild surface rust and is no way "rot"

 

[PJB]

Just get the rotors turned in the spring

 

[blackened88lx]

The paint idea sounds pretty good to me, I might do that myself.

 

[crazypete]

Having grown up in Alaska I can say that atleast some rotors will rust right through.

Aren't new rotors cheap? You could replace them in the Spring. Then keep the 'winter rotors' and put them on the car next winter. If new ones are not cheap, how about grabbing some old ones for cheap and put them on the car over the winter (while your 'good set' are inside the house).

Or get a car bubble?

Good luck Pete.

New rotors for the rear are definately not cheap. Otherwise I wouldnt care as much. Its a turbocoupe rear and the brake prices are more expensive that import brake prices!

It's not like the rear brakes do much to begin with....

 

[Modular2v]

omg! i cant believe that some of you think that silicon spray on the rotors is going to disable the brakes when he goes to drive it!!!!!!!!!!! Do you know how long its going to take for the brakes to burn that off? About .000001 seconds!