Washing a car before bedding brakes in...

[anonymous-user]

Full explanation below, but quite simply, how bad would it be to wash a car with brand new discs and pads on it, then to store it for 8 months, and then go out and bed the brakes in? Would the water do irreversible damage to the discs and pads? I have a small area off the public highway next to the house that I can do some stops on, to clear the majority of the water off. But nowhere near the space to bed the brakes in fully.

Long version: I just put new discs and pads on my S2000, along with a calliper overhaul. It’s currently SORN and I’ve decided it’s not (financially) worth taxing/insuring for only 2 months of good weather left this summer. It also has an annual laid up/storage insurance policy on it that I don’t really want to interrupt by insuring it for driving. So I am now going to leave it SORN until March at which point I’ll tax/insure it and then bed the brakes in. The car is in my garage and currently quite dusty. Ideally I want to wash it, garage it, and put the cover on until March to protect the paint. Alternatively I just leave it in the garage with the cover off until March and let it accumulate even more dust.

Thanks

[rustednut]

mstrbkr said:

Full explanation below, but quite simply, how bad would it be to wash a car with brand new discs and pads on it, then to store it for 8 months, and then go out and bed the brakes in? Would the water do irreversible damage to the discs and pads? I have a small area off the public highway next to the house that I can do some stops on, to clear the majority of the water off. But nowhere near the space to bed the brakes in fully.

Long version: I just put new discs and pads on my S2000, along with a calliper overhaul. It’s currently SORN and I’ve decided it’s not (financially) worth taxing/insuring for only 2 months of good weather left this summer. It also has an annual laid up/storage insurance policy on it that I don’t really want to interrupt by insuring it for driving. So I am now going to leave it SORN until March at which point I’ll tax/insure it and then bed the brakes in. The car is in my garage and currently quite dusty. Ideally I want to wash it, garage it, and put the cover on until March to protect the paint. Alternatively I just leave it in the garage with the cover off until March and let it accumulate even more dust.

Thanks

Depends on how you define washing the car and/or brakes.

Small amount of water over the discs, or steam cleaner/jetwash all over the brakes?

Ideally, remove the old pads, grease the discs and refit the old pads for now. Then remove the grease and refit new pads when ready to use it.

But if it was just a relative splash of water, then no real harm will be done, but remember to use the brakes with caution on the 1st drive til they have settled.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks for the reply. I would only be washing the body as the wheels are clean, so i won’t be directly hosing the wheels at all. Now that I think about it more, I could probably put large bin bags over the wheels to further reduce the water on the brakes.

Did you say grease the discs? Copper grease and remove with brake cleaner?

Oh and it’ll only be done with a normal hose - not a jet wash. Really only going to be doing enough washing just to remove the dust so I can fit the indoor cover.

Edited by mstrbkr on Thursday 30th July 15:09

[rustednut]

mstrbkr said:

Thanks for the reply. I would only be washing the body as the wheels are clean, so i won’t be directly hosing the wheels at all. Now that I think about it more, I could probably put large bin bags over the wheels to further reduce the water on the brakes.

Did you say grease the discs? Copper grease and remove with brake cleaner?

Oh and it’ll only be done with a normal hose - not a jet wash. Really only going to be doing enough washing just to remove the dust so I can fit the indoor cover.

Edited by mstrbkr on Thursday 30th July 15:09

Bags over the wheels, not a bad idea, will keep worst of water off.

Copper grease? No. Just general multi purpose grease, and yes, brake cleaner to remove. But if wheels not that wet i wouldn't bother. If you do grease, then use old pads, any grease at all on the new ones and they will be scrap.

[GreenV8S]

It's a non problem and you can ignore it completely.

Any water that gets on the brakes will evaporate within a few hours - and within minutes in the current heat. So the fact you're storing the car afterwards is irrelevant. Washing a car and getting water on the brakes is normal and completely harmless. The fact the brakes are new makes no difference to that. Similarly, the fact the brakes got wet (and then dried off) before they were bedded in will make no difference when you do eventually come to bed them in.

You'll get some flash rust, which will make no difference to anything. Unless you are storing the car in a humidity controlled environment, you'll get that in any case.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks. I had a feeling it would either be no issue at all or the complete opposite. I will still cover the wheels to reduce the water on the brakes, and also drive it around the off road area I mentioned with some application of the brakes to clear any water.

And yes the garage is not humidity controlled which means moisture will be around anyway.

[tapkaJohnD]

Oh, Gosh!

Water on brakes! What WILL I do when it rains?

[anonymous-user]

tapkaJohnD said:

Oh, Gosh!

Water on brakes! What WILL I do when it rains?

I was asking if there is any difference before the bedding in process happens

Don’t be a dick.

[Mroad]

Bilt Hamber Atom-Mac after a wash, can be used on brake discs to prevent corrosion while sitting.
https://www.bilthamber.com/corrosion-protection-an...

[E-bmw]

Simple answer.

Park the car up & buy the discs & pads.

When you are ready to get it on the road again do the brakes then, all will be fresh & ready to go.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks, indeed it’s a very simple solution. Problem is I’ve already done them! I started doing it in May but it got hugely delayed by waiting for a JIS 3 impact driver bit to arrive from Japan. This was to remove the disc retaining screws, which were stuck fast as they always are. With covid it took 9 weeks for the bit to arrive. I was trying to do it properly instead of drilling them out.

In hindsight I should have put it off until early next year, but wanted to get it done in case I found more issues lurking. Anyway, seems it’s not a big deal to give it a quick wash.

Edited by mstrbkr on Friday 31st July 08:50

[Chris32345]

Are they own spec everyday pads as opposed to track type stuff


If so they don't need bedding in

[Krikkit]

Wash it, let it dry off, run it for a few yards and clean the disks back up with the pads, stick it in storage and don't worry. And I only said clean it up because you can, you really don't have to.

[Biggriff]

Use Bilt Hamber Atom Mac