After driving in the rain and starting the car again after a few hours( as in starting the car again after work, or starting it first thing in the morning) the following happens: As soon as I release my foot from the brake pedal to go into “drive,” there is a “thunk” sound from the rear of the car as well as a lurch. A soft “thunk” may have a soft 'thunk" sound, but a louder thunk will have a pronounced lurch/jerkiness from the rear. The car drives OK and has no problem with braking when I apply the brakes. It happens only after driving in the rain. The dealer says the sound and movement are the normal result with disc brakes wearing off the rust on the rotors. Other wet weather concern (happened once): while driving in a couple inches of snow, the brakes began to grind and eventually failed to bring the car to a stop. Dealer rotated the rear rotors (due to uneven wear, although I had the car only two weeks at the time) and installed new rear brake pads. He said grinding brakes on an Elantra are normal in rainy, snowy, and dusty conditions. Is my car really safe to drive? Is there a problem? I’m considering trading it it as I don’t feel safe. It is an otherwise OK car. I welcome comments.
Your pads and rotors are rusting together a little bit when conditions are moist. Lots of cars do this, it is not really a problem, just an annoyance. Driving the car and applying the brakes clean this off. The dealer is right, don’t worry about it.
If you use your parking brakes, I’d suggest refraining from using them in rainy weather.
Rotors very quickly develop surface rust in wet weather. I’ve had mine do so just while shopping for a few hours at the mall. That’s normal and cannot be prevented. Using the parking brakes can allow the pads to stick to the drums/rotors, making the problem worse.
I feel confident in saying that your car is perfectly safe.
Rotors very quickly develop surface rust in wet weather. I’ve had mine do so just while shopping for a few hours at the mall. That’s normal and cannot be prevented
It can be prevented but would be cost prohibitive for the average Joe. They make rotors that are specifically designed not to “rust” in the typical sense.
What can be prevented fairly easily is having the pads rust to the rotor. OEM pads are often semi-metallic materials which have ferrous metal in them. I had one car that was really prone to this issue and it sat for extended periods. I solved the problem by going to fully ceramic pads. Although the rotors still rusted, the pads did not and wouldn’t stick to them. Therefore no ridges from the pads and only a fairly smooth rust layer on the rotors that was easily scrubbed off without any annoying vibration…