The best is when I rinse my truck after I'm on the beach. The pads are always stuck so hard the next morning unless I use salt wash. Makes a hell of a pop when it finally lets go.

​​​

 

I am going to pretend I didn't read this and look to get that 30 seconds of my life back....

 

No. You need to brake more. One aggressive stop from a high speed will grind off all the rust.

 

And once they're clean, just give them a nice coat of WD40 to keep them from rusting again.

Of course, the rest of the car may have some issues after the next drive, but the rotors will still look good.

(EDIT: Please do NOT do this! This was just a joke! If you put WD40 on your rotors, you will not stop and you WILL crash.)

 

I am not sure that telling someone that is unaware of why cast iron rotors rust to put a lubricant on the vehicles braking surfaces is a good idea. In fact is sounds like a really bad idea.

 

I thought the smiley face would be enough of an indicator that I was joking, but your point it taken. My post has been edited.

 

Brakes and rotors are a combination designed to turn forward energy into heat, rather simple. Now there is a balance in the grippyness of a pad and the softness of the rotor. If the rotor material is too rigid, then it also tends to be too slippery. So over all rather mild steel that has enough grip and can take the cycles of heating and cooling is best. Well corrosion resistance is not that good with a milder steel. However just kind of dragging the brakes for a few hundred feet will indeed clear them up. Again, aircraft reference, like one of my test platforms, it had ten rotors per disc pack. They were made of a berylilium alloy for best heat cycling properties (Airplane weighed in at 26 tons on two dic packs). If you did not break in the pack, it would tend to lock up on breaking initially, causing you wheel to lock, tire to blow and all kinds of embarrassing questions. So my ground tech would taxi the aircraft dragging the brakes lightly to get off coatings and bed to the rotors. If you brake too aggressively the rotor can even explode, as happened to me on an emergency engine out landing. Quite an impressive explosion, but I was really focused on staying on the narrow runway, vice going overland.

So the long winded point. Drag the brakes to clear them, but they will clear naturally within a couple of miles by normal driving. BTW, your rotors are showing differential wear, so next brake change you may want an automotive machine shop surface your rotors. I have heard of, but not tried, on wheel surfacing. Some places have a gizmo to turn the assembly on the car and surface them. The dealer will tell you to replace them, but that is generally a crock of poo, since rotors have a large wear limit and they want to sell you new ones at stupidly high prices. Got to pay for that fancy espresso machine in the lobby and all.

 

Normal. Best way to clean them is to use them! Go on a long drive and you'll be good.

Just read @Dogpilot . He's obviously much smarter/detailed than I am! That's a much better / longer answer.