This is a first for me.. I'm sure I won't know until I pop them open.

But before I do has anyone ever heard of these front discs locking up after being out of use for 5-7 months off the battery?

Only thing I did was remove cats, muffler, intake, plugs and injectors. Then added a 6266 with new plugs injectors and piping and Osiris OBDII.

I noticed the discs were locked up a couple weeks ago on the jacks but figured that was just cause the wheels were off. But once I dropped it on the ground they are sure as hell locked up.

Tried pushing the car both directions. Nope.

Tried to pump the brakes. Nope.

I did notice what looks like a drip of rust that ran down the pads over time but I really doubt they rusted shut in 6 months.


Anyone ever heard of this on a Z?

05 roadster with brembos. Pads and calipers weren't removed or changed the entire time it was on blocks.

 

Yeah. It's not unheard of for the calipers to freeze up after months of non-use outside of a temperature controlled environment.. Does your storage unit have climate control? If not, they could've succumb to condensation, and as a result rust. As you probably know, brake fluid likes to draw moisture, and as you use your brakes the calipers heat up, dissipating that moisture. So when you don't use them, any accumulated moisture that gets inside of them stays there and causes rust, especially if your storage unit doesn't have climate control.

 

Lots of humidity here in S Florida this time of year. If I don't drive the Z for a few days, sometimes I can hear the calipers "pop" as I move the car - because the pads have rusted to the rotors. I also didn't drive one of my Alfa's once for several months, and the damn clutch rusted together - couldn't do anything to break it free.

 

The same thing happened to my Z before.

Put the car in gear and drive it, I had to give it a good punch of gas to get it to move.

 

Or just take them apart and clean them with brake parts cleaner, inspect, reassemble, then bleed.

 

Huh that's a first. But glad to know it's fairly normal.

I'm almost 100% sure it's rust caused. Cause there is a nice dry drop rust stain from the caliper down the disc.

Usually the whole calipers get surface rust, but they are sparkling clean aside from the drip stain.

I'll see what I can do since the tires are on bricks since I'm lowered and can't get the jack out with out blocks to roll off of.

And as for my storage, it's a very high securety non controlled drive way lol

 

That's weird. I had my BMW on stands for a week in my ''high security'' driveway and already the rotor has surface rust.

 

Yea it's weird to me too. I left it for a week once and the rotors were all rusty. But on stands it has like 0 rust. Aside from that drip.

But I worked at it for a good 5 min and they broke free. I'm going to take them off and clean them before use tho. Seems like there is a good bit of rust on em.

 

Interesting. There's some physics going on there.

 

You'd think that by now, someone would develop a brake fluid that wasn't hygroscopic.

 

They did it's DOT 5 and it sucks but if you have a show car or classic that just always sits around it might be a good option. Castrol srf is less hygroscopic but is crazy expensive.

 

Yeah, you would think.. I remember reading somewhere that if it wasn't hygroscopic, the moisture(water) would begin to pool at the lowest points(the calipers) and begin to boil as the calipers get hot because of the lack of absorption into the fluid as a whole. So the benefit of it being hygroscopic is in its ability to absorb and spread that moisture throughout the entire system, hence preventing it from pooling at low points in the system.