New rotors are giving off a thin white smoke on the test drive

[beer]

The roads are wet, it rained a couple of hours ago, and I drove through several puddles. I did quite a few 30-0 stops and it was fine but I parked and noticed the rotors are giving off a white smoke. Braking performance seemed fine though.

Is this normal, like burning off a film or something? Or should I be worried?

 

[Insane3D]

They sometimes have a thin coating of oil on them to keep rust away IIRC, it should burn off shortly... Do a few hard braking sessions....should be fine.

 

[pillage2001]

Beeeeeeeer.........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............

 

[boyRacer]

Is it necessary to break in new rotors?

 

[tnitsuj]

Did you clean the rotors 1st? Rotors are shipped with a coating of grease on them. I always clean them off with alchohol prior to installation, and then spray the whole works with brake cleanear to be doubly sure.

I don't think it will hurt anything though.

 

[sillymofo]

The roads are wet

That should be your first clue right there.

 

[fredtam]

Steam?

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: fredtam
Steam?

It's not steam. It's an actual white smoke.


I wiped the rotors down with shop towels before I put them on, but I didn't use alcohol. I have brake parts cleaner but didn't spray it on the rotors.


Would I be able to spray the rotors with it without unmounting the wheels and be effective?

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: beer

Originally posted by: fredtam
Steam?

It's not steam. It's an actual white smoke.


I wiped the rotors down with shop towels before I put them on, but I didn't use alcohol. I have brake parts cleaner but didn't spray it on the rotors.


Would I be able to spray the rotors with it without unmounting the wheels and be effective?

The smoke will be gone in a day or few dude. No worries about it. I freaked when I saw it happen last month when I had new rotors and pads on but it was gone after a few days.

 

[sillymofo]

You have to defrag, and run a scan disk then. Make sure you check the "Auto repair surface" option.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
You have to defrag, and run a scan disk then. Make sure you check the "Auto repair surface" option.

:beer:

 

[Xionide]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
You have to defrag, and run a scan disk then. Make sure you check the "Auto repair surface" option.

Make sure you do a low format too.

-Xionide

 

[WhiteKnight77]

There is a thin coating of anti-rusting compound or even cosmoline to keep new rotors from rusting. It needs to be cleaned of with break cleaner before mounting on the car.

New rotors should be bedded in to the new pads (a transfer takes place between the rotor and the pads) and set the pads. Do about a dozen easy stops from 30MPH to gradually heat the rotors and pads. Let the rotors cool some between each application. After the test drive, let everything cool down to help the pads and rotor cure.

That white smoke is normal if you do not get all of the anti-rust compound off.

 

[todpod]

I used to work at a factory that coated rotors with a paint like coating. The ones we did were for Dodge mimi vans and whatever used those type of rotors. Our other factors did for some GM models and I think VW.

 

[beer]

bump for more opinions
im gonna drive it out in a few minutes....

 

[StageLeft]

From what I've read I agree it must have been the coating that you failed to take off. Surely it's no big deal, but in the future you could use cleaner on new rotors.

In regards to bedding what little I've read says to go easy on rotors/pads when you put them in for a couple of days. After that you can drive normally, although some would at this stage recommend 5-7 hard stops from 70-0 all in a row to really burn those suckers in.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
From what I've read I agree it must have been the coating that you failed to take off. Surely it's no big deal, but in the future you could use cleaner on new rotors.

In regards to bedding what little I've read says to go easy on rotors/pads when you put them in for a couple of days. After that you can drive normally, although some would at this stage recommend 5-7 hard stops from 70-0 all in a row to really burn those suckers in.

Thanks, skoorb

I sprayed the brake part cleaner but I had the wheels on, I just sprayed it all over the rotor, it should work at least better.

If I'm not online in 30 minutes, avenge death

 

[beer]

OK...didn't die. brakes are fine.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
They sometimes have a thin coating of oil on them to keep rust away IIRC, it should burn off shortly... Do a few hard braking sessions....should be fine.

Wouldn't hard braking warp new rotors ?
I thought you had to be gentle with them if they're new for a short while.

 

[Insane3D]

Hmm...I don't think it would warp the rotors, especially not after he had already done quite a few 30-0 starts. If the first few times you used the brakes you did some hard braking, it might not allow the pads to seat properly, but I don't see it warping the rotors unless you didn't allow any cool down time in between and were doing repeated like 100-0 stops...

 

Water vapor, plain and simple, isekii, brake rotors warp from hard braking then parking the vehicle, the friction surface cools relatively quickly when parked except where the pads are, this surface (because they are shrouded by the pads) cools much more slowly, thus causing the rotor(s) to warp.
You can prevent this by driving around for a few minutes after heavy braking, this will allow the rotor to cool off evenly.

 

[Insane3D]

So Roger...new rotors aren't coated with a coating that needs to be cleaned off? I've seen what he mentions, and it defiantely wasn't water vapor, it was a distinct smoke from something burning off.

 

Sorry, I did not see "new" in his title and he failed to mention it in his thread

Yes, that probably is the oil/wax coating burning off his rotors (this is applied at the manufacturing facility to inhibit corrosion during shipment), if this is the case, he has likely contaminated his pads and probably has glazed his rotors.

If no noticeable decrease in braking eficiancy has been noticed, leave it alone and consider this a lesson, always, ALWAYS clean all new parts before installing them on your vehicle.

Nice catch Insane3d

On a side note, I prefer to use Brake Clean to remove the corrosion inhibitors on the new rotors I purchase for my customers, using soap and water works well but this will cause the rotors to immediately rust which I do not like

Off to get some coffee to clear my sleepy brain

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Roger
Sorry, I did not see "new" in his title and he failed to mention it in his thread

Yes, that probably is the oil/wax coating burning off his rotors (this is applied at the manufacturing facility to inhibit corrosion during shipment), if this is the case, he has likely contaminated his pads and probably has glazed his rotors.

If no noticeable decrease in braking eficiancy has been noticed, leave it alone and consider this a lesson, always, ALWAYS clean all new parts before installing them on your vehicle.

Nice catch Insane3d

On a side note, I prefer to use Brake Clean to remove the corrosion inhibitors on the new rotors I purchase for my customers, using soap and water works well but this will cause the rotors to immediately rust which I do not like

Off to get some coffee to clear my sleepy brain

Thank you Roger!

I have Brakleen, if I take off the wheels and spray it on the pads, would the contamination be eliminated? I did wipe down the rotors with paper shop towels before I mounted them, I actually didn't think about using alcohol although in hindsight it seems like an obvious, easy solution. I guess I didn't have it out with me and didn't think about it.

 

No, cleaning them now will be fruitless, let them be if the brakes stop the vehicle normally without any noise.