I just replaced my front discs & rotors and did NOT clean anything before installing. (not on purpose, I just didn?t think about it at the time) I took it out for a test spin, did a couple of firm 60 -> 0 mph (activating the ABS) and came home. Not surprising, there was smoke coming from the brakes when I got out. I assume that would be normal b/c I didn’t clean off the protective film from the rotors first. I?m hoping that this is OK, it will all burn off pretty quickly, and have no lasting problems.
Then in the back of my mind, I remember some warnings about keeping oil and such off of brake discs because it will degrade them. Maybe that was a warning specific to brake fluid - I don’t remember.
So, do I need to worry that if done something nasty to my new discs, and if so, what should I do about it?
Oil won’t hurt the rotors, they’re metal. Oil might be harmful to the pads, however. I would consider removing the wheels and cleaning the rotors with a solvent to remove any remaining oil.
However, after the braking you described I’d imagine any oil that was on the rotors has been pretty much burned off.
What was the purpose of the 60 to 0 mph panic stops?
If you just replaced the disc pads and rotors then your several “did a couple of firm 60 -> 0 mph (activating the ABS)” hard stops was the exactly wrong thing to do.
The proper way to handle new brakes after a brake job is to not do any heavy braking until the pads and rotors “seat” themselves together. The general rule is avoid heavy braking for the 1st 100 miles after a brake job. Did you do any harm? Only time will tell. Nothing to do now but wait and see.
New rotors are coated with an oil to make sure there is no rusting while they are packaged, shipped, and stored on shelves prior to being installed on a car. It is proper to clean off the oil during the installation of the rotors on the car. That way there is no oil on the rotors that could get on the pads.
Thanks for the reply!
Sorry, I didn’t write my concern correctly - I MEANT to say that I was worried that the oil on the rotors would have damaged the PADS (not the discs- I’m a dummy). And by now it would probably be too late to do anything about it. Do you think I did anything bad to the pads?
The 60->0 stops were just a stress test. If I’d done something incorrect, I’d rather find out about it going straight, by myself, on a road with few cars and near home, than in a real panic situation. Of course I built up to that slowly before the real hard braking.
Thanks for that info - I hope I didnt mess them up with the stress test.
Still I’m worried about the oil on the pads thing. Wondering if I should just go ahead and put another set of pads on to ease my mind.
I did just find a post on this thread that said not to worry about it:
http://community.cartalk.com/posts/list/123810.page
Anyone else have an opinion?
Damage from the oil residue should be none to minimal. Shops wipe off the oil because they don’t want any issues which might require a redo. Let it ride now and if the brakes work OK then you are good. You just have some lessons learned to be mentally filed away for your next brake job.