Hi everyone,

Just curious to see if anyone else has corroded brake calipers (I'm talking surface rust) on a car approx. 3 years or younger...

Ford have fobbed me off that it's not covered under warranty with various excuses, but I would like to hear from others on the forum - does your vehicle have this issue, and if so, have you had any result (positive or negative) from Ford?

Cheers

Post a couple piccies 🙂. I would say it's pretty normal though.

Not sure about Ford's but I know Peugeot used to Zinc coat thiers from the factory.  They had a gold tint to them...which was immediately removed by the TFR and wheel cleaning acid used by any cheap car wash so they ended up rusty anyway.

3 hours ago, Luke4efc said:

Post a couple piccies 🙂. I would say it's pretty normal though.

Will do mate.

I disagree that it's normal though - I've spent ages looking on other Mondeo's and other cars, and it's extremely rare on newish cars (approx 3 years old or younger).

I've probably just got bad luck.

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Not sure about Ford's but I know Peugeot used to Zinc coat thiers from the factory.  They had a gold tint to them...which was immediately removed by the TFR and wheel cleaning acid used by any cheap car wash so they ended up rusty anyway.

But nearly all cars go to cheap car washes, so surely there'd be loads of them exhibiting the same issue if a few cheap washes could remove the protective coating? 😕

11 hours ago, Incontro said:

But nearly all cars go to cheap car washes, so surely there'd be loads of them exhibiting the same issue if a few cheap washes could remove the protective coating? 😕

There are!!   How bad are they?  Totally normal to look like this within a few years:

 

That's nothing!

Check these out...

And rear:

Oh wow, yeah those are bad!  You should've put those pics in the first post lol.

Has it been parked in a river? What does the suspension look like?

 

10 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Oh wow, yeah those are bad!  You should've put those pics in the first post lol.

Has it been parked in a river? What does the suspension look like?

 

Nope, it's in immaculate condition apart from that!

Suspension is alright, no excessive corrosion anywhere else.

Honestly I think it's a factory defect/QC issue, I have been staring at the calipers of every parked car since this started bugging me to try and find something as bad, but have failed! But Ford won't admit. Shameful.

I painted lacquered mine with foliatec red enamel brake caliper paint soon after purchase nine years ago, 

Highly recommended, but ensure you do both sides before driving; otherwise it handles like a Greased Pig 🐖🛢

13 hours ago, Incontro said:

Nope, it's in immaculate condition apart from that!

Suspension is alright, no excessive corrosion anywhere else.

Honestly I think it's a factory defect/QC issue, I have been staring at the calipers of every parked car since this started bugging me to try and find something as bad, but have failed! But Ford won't admit. Shameful.

Is it just the outward face or the whole caliper?  I'd still say it's caused by acidic alloy cleaner myself, plus road salt as well, the open design of those alloys gives maximum penetration for all of that.  Once the protection is removed, it won't take long for rust to set in.  Do you know where the car originally came from, somewhere by the sea maybe?  Is the exhaust rusty at all?

On 10/6/2019 at 10:04 AM, TomsFocus said:

Is it just the outward face or the whole caliper?  I'd still say it's caused by acidic alloy cleaner myself, plus road salt as well, the open design of those alloys gives maximum penetration for all of that.  Once the protection is removed, it won't take long for rust to set in.  Do you know where the car originally came from, somewhere by the sea maybe?  Is the exhaust rusty at all?

Good question... I didn't check the inward face... Car originally came from an inland area/region, and the owner looked after it (you can tell), and no other parts are corroded.

I went onto eurocarparts out of curiosity, and looked up the cost of replacing them... alas they didn't even have a valid part, checked other cars, and its 170 quid a piece minimum, forgot how expensive calipers are! 

surely you'd see more mondeo's with corroded calipers... i'm still not convinced... what i dont understand is ford honoured someone else's claim (link below if you're interested), the original pics have been removed though.

ah well, bigger fish for me to fry. i mainly wanted to know if other people on here had a similar issue.

https://www.kugaownersclub.co.uk/threads/rusty-brake-calipers.7909/

On 10/5/2019 at 8:05 PM, Lenny said:

I painted lacquered mine with foliatec red enamel brake caliper paint soon after purchase nine years ago, 

Highly recommended, but ensure you do both sides before driving; otherwise it handles like a Greased Pig 🐖🛢

can't do this lenny, as i live in a flat unfortunately (and so does everyone else i know)

16 minutes ago, Incontro said:

can't do this lenny, as i live in a flat unfortunately (and so does everyone else i know)

At the time of painting mine; I had two toddlers walking around which would possibly pick up a stick and paint the car with it; as result I drove to the forest one fine Saturday, parked up and jacked up the car, put down some cardboard and painted one side and fitted the spare wheel incase the paint dripped on the alloy, then painted the other side and had some lunch while it dried, 

Doesn't matter where you live mate, 😉

21 hours ago, Lenny said:

At the time of painting mine; I had two toddlers walking around which would possibly pick up a stick and paint the car with it; as result I drove to the forest one fine Saturday, parked up and jacked up the car, put down some cardboard and painted one side and fitted the spare wheel incase the paint dripped on the alloy, then painted the other side and had some lunch while it dried, 

Doesn't matter where you live mate, 😉

Brilliant suggestion mate, love your out of the box thinking there!

I'm tempted to try, but knowing myself I'd probably find some way to **** it up big time... I'll probs just leave it as is

On 10/7/2019 at 9:19 PM, Incontro said:

can't do this lenny, as i live in a flat unfortunately (and so does everyone else i know)

There was a guy I saw on YouTube who painted his calipers with a paint brush and it came out really well. 

5 hours ago, zain611 said:

There was a guy I saw on YouTube who painted his calipers with a paint brush and it came out really well. 

Yeah, I just need someone to do it for me, there's no way I'm doing it myself lol

10 minutes ago, Incontro said:

Yeah, I just need someone to do it for me, there's no way I'm doing it myself lol

This was the video I saw. You'd be impressed like me on the finish. I'd say use a sandpaper or wire brush to get rid of the rust before painting. Skip to around 14 minutes in 👍

 

really appreciate the vid mate, but simply don't have the time nowadays...

between a court case, looking for a new job, and all the other jobs around the house there's zero time for this job at least for the next few months!