Rust on rotors with pic

yep, that's what mine looked like when we got back from florida

 

If you are finicky (like me), and want to clean that rust up easily, you can drive the car slowly in reverse and steadily apply the brakes, OR proceed forward below 7 mph and gently/steadily apply the brakes, giving enough gas to keep your speed.

That wee bit of rust won't affect your mechanical brakes when/if you need 'em, though (but I'm finicky).

 

Are you in a hard enough lockdown that you are not allowed to go do it today? This is something that can certainly be done without violating any social distancing rules or bans on gatherings.

Out here, automobile repair and maintenance falls under "essential business".

 

we're in a sah, but driving is not an issue

 

It’s called “Flash Rust” and is not anything to worry about in the short term. Your first brake application is enough to clean the rotors’ surfaces. BTW, it will sound like metal to metal grinding when you first apply the brakes. Not to worry.

 

Yeah if I wash the car, and then it sits for multiple days, the brakes sound noisy for the first block or two. You'll hear noise with every application of the brakes, even up to 50 kmh.

 

As others have noted, light flash rust is nothing to be concerned about if the vehicle is driven regularly. But if it sits idle for months, it could damage the rotors. I learned that one summer when I parked my car and used my motorcycle as my exclusive mode of transportation. After a couple of months of sitting in the driveway, the rotors were so pitted they needed to be replaced.

 

My first brake application is usually not enough to clean the rotors' surfaces. It is, however, the first brake application that makes the dragging-a-box-of-bricks noise that alerts me that I have the rust (as I don't usually peek at the rotors before getting in the car).

Then I correct the problem by shifting to N before the next two stop signs on the way out of the neighborhood. The box-of-bricks noise is almost always gone by the end of the second stop in N.

These do not have to be any l kind of elaborate production, no driving extra fast down the block or braking extra hard. Just a matter of leaning the shifter over to N while approaching a stop sign normally.

If I don't do that, the box-of-bricks noise will usually follow me all the way to work, and most of the way back (or all the way back, if it was still raining during the day while I worked).

 

I find the noise clears up without any special tricks. Again, in just a few blocks. FWIW, we're garage parked, maybe less dew makes a difference.

 

It may help to remove the pads and rub the side that contacts the pad on concrete in a figure 8 pattern.
You can also use sand paper, but concrete with work, like a driveway or side walk. Do it until you see a
evenly clean surface. Remember to put each pad back in the same place you removed them.
They may be dirty and do this should clean the built up rust out. At least for a while.
Also, if you drive in reverse and apply the brakes a few times that will also help.
Apply the peddle lightly, that will clean off the surface rust without embedding into the pad.

 

The couple-of-ordinary-stops-in-Neutral method is what was recommended to me right here on PriusChat a dozen years ago when I got my first Gen 1, has always worked for me, and is super easy and takes no extra time or effort (I was going to stop for those stop signs anyway, right?). I would feel like an animal listening to that sound for more of my drive, when it's that easy to clear up.