After three Alfas and being accustomed to stripping the rear brakes every three months I have found my first 12 months & 9,000 miles to be a novelty - I haven't had to touch them!

A lot obviously depends on your dealer. My Alfa dealer assured me that they were not siezed (an item under warranty) but did require freeing and cleaning ( not covered)........

I soon learned how to do it myself.

Hi Chris,

from this experience I think by maintenance an annual removal/clean of the rear pads seems in order. Although I will be interested to see how we go on now I've had them out and greased them up a bit.

Also I don't think it affects all cars the same, looking at wakev's photos the level of caliper corrosion appears much less and the disc's are worn nice and even.

Why my discs corroded in this way can only down to how tight a fit the pads are in the clips and or lack of factory lubrication, plus a poor design that allows a build up of crud in the moving surfaces.

Whereas with the calipers then maybe dissimilar metal corrosion, the harsher climate up here (and subsequently more winter road salt) or a combination of both (suppose salt laden road spray makes a good electrolyte) :wonder:

However the previous Monster did not have these problems and interestingly that had the Lucas rear calipers, which the Bosch set-up superseded :wonder: :wonder:

TP

Thanks, TP; I was afraid that that what what might be needed :-). I might be tempted to persuade the garage to include it in the (free) servicing at some stage, perhaps . . .

At least though I am warned.

Chris

Does not look good at all, to say the least. If I were you I would get to the Dealership garage ASAP for the sake of the safety of your family and yourself.Seems like the rear brakes are NOT doing what they are intended to do,and you have front brakes working hard and rear ones failing.Extremely dangerous.

Edited 23 April, 201214 yr by oriki

Does not look good at all, to say the least. If I were you I would get to the Dealership garage ASAP for the sake of the safety of your family and yourself.Seems like the rear brakes are NOT doing what they are intended to do,and you have front brakes working hard and rear ones failing.Extremely dangerous.

The mate of mine who stripped it down and freed up the pads is probably a lot more qualified and knowledgeable than most dealership tech staff these days, hence letting him sort it and advise me.

Discs are starting to clean up a little now the pads are free to move, will keep an eye on it and if I'm concerned I will replace the discs and pads.

Regards,

TP

This sounds like the problem that I brought up a few months ago re Scarlets rear discs being scored.

When she went for her service the garage (MSB Skoda) stripped and cleaned her rear brakes to rectify the issue.

When I spoke to 2 other 'local' Skoda dealers both were wanting to charge me for stripping the brakes down as it wasn't a warranty issue!!.

It certainly shows the value of finding (and sticking) with a good dealer.