Tiny White "chips" On Brake Calipers

[Matthew_McNally]

Have noticed recently tat I have a lot of tiny white spots on my brake calipers.

Thought for a while it was a build up of salty deposits off the roads, as I have been doing some high mileage recently,and my car has been filthy (get it cleaned once a week - but its rotten a few days later )

But I tried to clean them off today, and had no luck - at closer inspection they seem like tiny chips.

Does anybody else suffer from this?

Any "cures" out there, I really don't like how it looks.

[Rodders_UK]

Could it be Aluminium Oxide Mat?? - looks a lot like white chips

I'd recommend painting them mate

[Monster-Mat]

this was a recall and replacement thing about a year ago..............along with corroded brake discs

speak to your friendly dealer

[RYX]

I noticed this a few weeks ago and, like you, assumed it was salt and other crap due to the bad weather. Trouble is the jetwash doesn't want to know - it looks permanent.

Car's only 10 months old :( :(

Think I'll point it out when it goes in for the next service.

[NigeSt]

My car shows these.

When I bought the car 'Approved Used' I was told the rear calipers had been replaced for this reason but, a year on, they're back.

Nige

[rob200]

mine does too, I asked about it last year when my rear discs were replaced, but they said it was just one of those things

[Matthew_McNally]

this was a recall and replacement thing about a year ago..............along with corroded brake discs

speak to your friendly dealer

Mat

care to expand on this please mate?

What was the problem? Why were they recalled?

[Monster-Mat]

to be honest i dont remember the tech paper on it, only that ppl had there calipers changed.

if i remember it was part of the disc replacement as "they didnt look good on a new luxury car"

then shortly after this the wheels saga started, i think supercharged morph had his calipers changed under the scheme.

at the end of the day, the protective coating on the calipers shouldnt be coming off so early in a "modern" cars life

[UKPulse]

Gives rise to two questions...

1) Is Hammerite (smooth) definitely the best stuff to paint the calipers with?

2) Would painting them invalidate any subsequent warranty claim on the calipers (although painting them would obviously remove the most likely cause of a warranty claim).

[wildrnes]

good call i am going to do my calipers next wk and would like to know

[Rodders_UK]

I've heard that Hammerite works fine.

I bought a pucker Folatek caliper painting kit from Halfords (you get paint and hardener and have to mix it up) - works great too

Just take of the wheels - wire brush it all clean and go for it

I've you're planning to put stickers on after you paint them - cover the stickers with a few coats of clear lacquer to protect them

[bigsul]

My car is 11 months old and I had all the brake callipers changed a couple of weeks ago. They all had the white deposits on, which is corrosion. Lexus Edinburgh changed them, no questions asked. Top job. :D

Cheers .......... bs

[guitareth]

Went into Lexus Aberdeen today and showed them my calipers (see this thread with my photos) and cust servicemanager said he was not aware of a problem, but would contact Lexus UK and phone me back. He just called back and said that Lexus UK were quite emphatic that on no account will they replace such calipers under warranty - said this is treated as "normal wear and tear". I reminded him that I'd pointed out that others in the owners club have had their's replaced under warranty when showing this defect. He said he also raised that with Lexus UK, but they stated that the dealers in question will have had their warranty claim for the repairs subsequently rejected by Lexus UK.

Told him I wasn't happy, but not really much more I can do! Anyone got any suggestions, or any further evidence that Lexus UK have previously treated this as a warranty repair?

[Matthew_McNally]

Guitareth

this sounds disgraceful mate.

do not know how old your car is - but mine is a touch over 12 months (25k miles), and I'm afraid that this is not normal wear and tear - thr calipers on my last car (Renault) did not look like this - and that did 36,000 miles in three years

I expect better than this of Lexus, and shall keep you notified of how I get on when I bring this subject up with my local dealer.

[guitareth]

Well mine is 1 year old this week and only done 9,300 miles yet this is what they look like

Rear: Front:

[Matthew_McNally]

my front is worse than that, and the rears about the same.

[wildrnes]

mine look like that :duh:

[Rob]

those are terrible, it can be caused by, A: the protective coating coming away and leaving the aluminium alloy exposed or B, the aluminium alloy calipers containing vast amounts of impurities eg dis-similar metals thus causing the corrosion.

no way is that caused by " fair wear and tear" in one year. if i was in that situation and they Lexus GB refused to even look at the car/ evaluate it then i would be writing a friendly letter to them along with copies of a letter to watchdog and auto express etc etc.

im sure you would get a call to have the calipers changed then.

[Monster-Mat]

totally agree with Rob

push this with your dealers!

[bloofire]

Is this something we can use our collective 'club muscle' on?

Perhaps we could approach Lexus UK directly about the issue? (a letter and lots of signitures?)

If not, can people say which dealers they have had joy with on this issue and which they haven't?

I'm a bit loath to ring Lexus Ipswich as they have just changed my wheels for me!!

[kev dood]

Good idea. I will be taking my car to Reading for its service in April so will mention it then. So far having service, will ask them for new wheels due to bubbling on spokes, and now new calipers all round.

To be honest, when I washed then ages ago I noticed it but thought it may be stone chips or something, didn't think I could claim on warrenty!?

Will let you all know what they say. Also might mention that break pedal not as firm as other cars I have had. Have noticed people here mentioning they think brakes are brilliant, so maybe mine are not right?? When first go it, and pads were thicker, when sat there with brakes on, the pedal sometimes starts to sink a bit. Happened all the time, though not so bad now! Also in summer didn't think that air conn was as good as could be! Fan was going mad for ages trying to get temp down!

[removed_member]

I've you're planning to put stickers on after you paint them - cover the stickers with a few coats of clear lacquer to protect them

Couldn't find any paint-on lacquer - is spray stuff ok? It's high temp (450degrees) clear lacquer. Thanks