WD 40 on car brakes, how screwed am I?
Discussion
I was cleaning mt car and came up with the bright idea to spray some wd40 in my brake disc and callipers (from outside), 2/3 sprays on each weel , and immediately dawned on me what I just did, I sprayed it with dish washing soapy hot water, let it sit for 10 minutes and rinsed it with cold water (garden hose). After that tested the brakes and seemed good. Then, I drove to halfords to get from brake cleaners (about 20 minutes/ 5 miles) and sprayed a 500ml can evenly on all 4 dics and pads. After an hour or so, I tested the car's braking and its snappy. No slips or anything, stops as well as it should. Ran my finger along the disc and not oily either. (got new brake pads a month ago). And now Im wondering if its still dangerous to drive, on monday, I need to drive about 200 miles on the motorway and not sure what to do.
DrRads said:
I was cleaning mt car and came up with the bright idea to spray some wd40 in my brake disc and callipers (from outside), 2/3 sprays on each weel , and immediately dawned on me what I just did, I sprayed it with dish washing soapy hot water, let it sit for 10 minutes and rinsed it with cold water (garden hose). After that tested the brakes and seemed good. Then, I drove to halfords to get from brake cleaners (about 20 minutes/ 5 miles) and sprayed a 500ml can evenly on all 4 dics and pads. After an hour or so, I tested the car's braking and its snappy. No slips or anything, stops as well as it should. Ran my finger along the disc and not oily either. (got new brake pads a month ago). And now Im wondering if its still dangerous to drive, on monday, I need to drive about 200 miles on the motorway and not sure what to do.
WD40 is designed to stop rockets going rusty. not tidy up brakes!As long as it hasn't soaked in to the pads - which it shouldn't as you washed it off - it will all have burnt off by now.
Thread for you here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
If they work ok, they are ok. Try some 0/30 fully synthetic next time.
If they work ok, they are ok. Try some 0/30 fully synthetic next time.
citizensm1th said:
oh mate i think you should play it safe and fit new pads and disks who knows what you could have done
you don't want to be that guy who appears in the news paper having run down a bunch of nuns because you got over excited with the wd40
Pads maybe, but discs will be ok surely?you don't want to be that guy who appears in the news paper having run down a bunch of nuns because you got over excited with the wd40
Had something similar last week one of the cars going out we put new brembo disks and pads on the front - a 2.0 smax nothing fast. The Brembos must have had some strange coating on them that the garage forgot or never thought to remove.
My driver brought it back from the garage to me and never said anything. Couple of days later Customer comes takes for a test drive says likes the car but brakes feel strange - I take it for a quick drive and there is zero bite from the front brakes and after a couple of hard stops it’s not getting any better and smoke is coming off the pads - close inspection the disks look to be coated in grease - never seen anything like it and the car just would not stop had no bite even with full pedal pressure.
Cleaned them up with brake cleaner and some emery paper on the pads but no user ruined the braking efficiency dangerous to use like that.
My driver brought it back from the garage to me and never said anything. Couple of days later Customer comes takes for a test drive says likes the car but brakes feel strange - I take it for a quick drive and there is zero bite from the front brakes and after a couple of hard stops it’s not getting any better and smoke is coming off the pads - close inspection the disks look to be coated in grease - never seen anything like it and the car just would not stop had no bite even with full pedal pressure.
Cleaned them up with brake cleaner and some emery paper on the pads but no user ruined the braking efficiency dangerous to use like that.
rallycross said:
close inspection the disks look to be coated in grease - never seen anything like it
It's normal for discs to be shipped with a protective coating to prevent corrosion. Seems that in this case the fitter forgot to clean them before installation. A spray with brake cleaner followed by a wipe down is normally all it takes to clean them.GreenV8S said:
rallycross said:
close inspection the disks look to be coated in grease - never seen anything like it
It's normal for discs to be shipped with a protective coating to prevent corrosion. Seems that in this case the fitter forgot to clean them before installation. A spray with brake cleaner followed by a wipe down is normally all it takes to clean them.GreenV8S said:
It's normal for discs to be shipped with a protective coating to prevent corrosion. Seems that in this case the fitter forgot to clean them before installation. A spray with brake cleaner followed by a wipe down is normally all it takes to clean them.
It's usually a thin coat of paint on the disks though. And the pads sometimes then have a coating designed to strip it off as fast as possible. I have never seen brake disks shipped with protective grease!
Personally Ive always gone as far as clean gloves before handling the disks and then being sparing with the cleaner as a last step just to be sure. Watching some people empty cans of it you wonder how much anti seize theyre probably washing off the back of the pads and the hub onto the disk!
thisisnotaspoon said:
It's usually a thin coat of paint on the disks though. And the pads sometimes then have a coating designed to strip it off as fast as possible.
I have never seen brake disks shipped with protective grease!
Personally Ive always gone as far as clean gloves before handling the disks and then being sparing with the cleaner as a last step just to be sure. Watching some people empty cans of it you wonder how much anti seize theyre probably washing off the back of the pads and the hub onto the disk!
Not changed many disks then if you have not seen the "protective coating" on any (normally a thin wax based product, very few use "paint")I have never seen brake disks shipped with protective grease!
Personally Ive always gone as far as clean gloves before handling the disks and then being sparing with the cleaner as a last step just to be sure. Watching some people empty cans of it you wonder how much anti seize theyre probably washing off the back of the pads and the hub onto the disk!
Skyedriver said:
Can't believe anyone would actually do this. First post, I call troll
Believe it!When i was young (pre 16) me and a mate were cleaning my bicycle and after oiling my chain he went to do my disc!...
And then yesterday, i took a wheel off a workmates car to check pad thickness as it was an advisory on his previous MOT.
He goes "Ahh, whilst the tyre is off i can put some of this on the rest of it.." holding a bottle of tyre shine
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