So I have a citigo and it has been parked for a long time like around 1 year(brought it damaged). So basically there was a lot of rust on the front discs. Usually if you drive the car, the rust will disappear. But in this case most of the brakes are clean but some bits of rust remain and the disc is a little sticky when you touch it, not as it should be??

Would it be safe just to spray some brake cleaner on the discs?? after the car has been parked for say a few hours, due to the stickyness that car takes a little bit of gas to move from a stand still and I think they brakes are also causing risistance while driving. The brakes dont get very hot though. The car has only 3000 miles on the clock, so the pads arn't worn out and the calipers should be fine as well.

 

Any suggests for the best remedy??

Edited 29 September, 201312 yr by naza911

brake cleaner is a highly volatile solvent which doesn't leave residue behind when it evaporate so I see no issues, just check the product  and make sure product has fully evaporated before driving car

After being sat for a year and causing resistance whilst driving I'd be more worried about corrosion on the caliper / slide pins and the brakes being seized on. Will take more than a tin of brake cleaner if that's the case...

has it been sat outside in full weather?

If the brakes are already corroded enough that they're binding, plus there's resistance while you're driving, I'd be inclined to replace the pads and disks. It's not the most expensive job in the world and, for something that you rely on to stop in an emergency, it's better safe than sorry.

 

If you're not sure how to do it yourself, any halfway decent garage will get it done in less than an hour. A really good garage will probably even let you know if you don't actually need anything replacing.

if you have some quiet but straight roads I would be inclined to give it a few hard stops, starting at 20-25mph then increasing 5-10mph at a time up to 40-45mph to burn off the carp from disks and pads

 

as I say, quiet road and start slow for safety, this should also allow you to test operation of the ABS etc as it has been repaired and give you some confidence in the car,

 

after a couple of runs check the wheels and see if any are warmer than the others indicating sticking calipers / more investigation required, and check again at the end , note under these sort of testing the wheels will get warm you are looking for a difference in temperature

 

if you still have rust etc then you know time to change disks and pads etc