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Date:         Mon, 19 Feb 2001 12:36:17 -0800
Reply-To:     Ed Mellinger <meed@MBARI.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ed Mellinger <meed@MBARI.ORG>
Subject:      Re: storing van-brake discs
Comments: To: Lee Roesner <paradigm@ALLEGRAPRINTING.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

No real experience, but if I had this problem I'd try a lightweight spray-on silicone coating/lubricant (brand names escape me at the moment... the one I used was sold for lubing food processing eqt but FLAPS sell similar stuff... basically you want the stuff that comes out in a thin clear mist and then dries leaving a light, somewhat slippery film behind.)

Reason I suggest this is I used to use it to reduce corrosion on the alloy wheels of, um, a rear-ended german sports car I owned in my carefree youth. It really slows the formation of those white "zits" that aluminum gets when stored/used near the ocean (salt atmosphere). At first I was quite paranoid about getting the supposed "lubricant" on my brake discs (overspray going between the wheel spokes), but after awhile I found out that the stuff is not really a heavy-duty film-forming lubricant, at least not in the context of brake pads and brake discs and fifty or a hundred kilowatts of input braking energy per wheel... it always just seemed to vanish in the first half-second of brake application after I used it. With brakes as good as that car had (everyone owes it to themselves to at least experience P*rsch* brakes once in their life... they are as good as it gets), I used the brakes hard and often, and I was very sensitive to any impact on brake performance and can confidently say that the silicone had NO effect on either performance or pad life. Maybe the rotors lasted *longer*, it is hard to say since I also had the now-lost luxury of garage parking for my toy, and didn't have the after-rain corrosion issue that outside-parked cars have.

DISCLAIMER: These are brakes we're talking about here, the most important saftey system on your car. My suggestion is just a suggestion. If you elect to try it, do so carefully and under controlled, deserted-road conditions the first time... not when you have a vanload of pre-schoolers aboard and a steep hill down to a busy intersection in front of you!

regards, Ed

> Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 10:07:37 -0600 > From: Lee Roesner <paradigm@ALLEGRAPRINTING.COM> > Subject: storing van-brake discs > > Any ideas out there regarding keeping the brake discs in good shape on a > sitting Vanagon (currently outside). It seems when I first take it out > for a drive after sitting for a month or so I get that rough scratchy > noise until the discs get polished again. I was going to grease them up > - just kidding. But seriously folks, any tricks out there?? > > Lee >


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