Rear Brake Drum Rust

Hi Tacomaworld,

Just had my rear brakes replaced. Theve have been on for two months and are absolutely coated in rust. I suspected cheap parts were used and am making the shop replace these. I realize this is primarily cosmetic and can be fixed with a rattle can but this seems like a lot of rust. Am I being unreasonable here or were they using crap parts?

 

I DIY my brakes, and always use coated drums/rotors because I live in NH. Even coated drums/rotors rust, the coating just slows things down a bit. Having used coated for many years now, I'm not familiar with how long uncoated stuff can go before rusting.

That being said, at least from observation of the uncoated section of new rotors (and all rotors in general), they can show surface rust in just one day - especially after it rains. Of course, just a short trip wipes the surface rust off immediately on a rotor. They are, after all, essentially just made from cast iron. I can see how an uncoated drum could look like that in a couple of months. Perhaps others that use uncoated drums will chime in.

 

My factory drums were completely rusted in under 1200 miles (and I live in the desert). No amount of wire brushing, priming and painting would help. Ended up replacing them with some Durago electrophoretic coated drums and they've stayed black for the last 16k miles.

 

Depends. Did you pay for quality parts and they put cheap ones, or did you just let them decide what to use?

Brakes are wear items at the end of the day. Drums are easy enough to pull off and brush/respray.

 

or let it rust a little bit more then coat with Por15 (except where the wheel/drum meets).

 

The shop agree to replace them of is that what you want to happen?

If I were the shop I would replace them - for a charge of course ( like the labor and cost for new drums ).

Surface rust on the outside of the drum brakes has no effect on the operation only cosmetic appearance. Meh.