When i took delivery of my car I noticed my calipers had what looked to be white drip lines running down them from possibly just some water. However after getting home cleaning the car I noticed they seemed stained.Im assuming an unsafe chemical was used and stained the caliper. So I took some meguiars all purpose cleaner on a towel and used good pressure to try and rub the stain to see if it came up at all. No luck. Moved on too mag& aluminum polish , no luck. Steel wool, nothing. So heres what my calipers look like and ive tried everything and have gotten no results. Anyone else have this issue? Anyone know a fix?

 

looks like something took part of the factory coating off, did you point it out to the dealer??

 

It was a dealer trade so it wasnt my dealers fault. I told them not to prep the car at all, and they didn't. Im contemplating painting them anyways but this is ridiculous. Even if I complained to the dealer where the car came from I'm sure nothing would come of this anyways. I think this picture right here should motivate ford to just paint these things to begin with!

 

Makes no difference what dealer had the car or where it was damaged. The point is, it was delivered to you with a problem. I would see the dealer about fixing the problem under warranty, period,

 

Ill give it a shot tomorrow . But I just dont think anything will happen. Besides this ridiculous finish on these calipers im absolutely loving the car. I wish ford would have put more thought into this. Especially when their dealers prep the cars using less then freindly chemicals and this is what happens.

 

I agree, dealer MUST fix this. They will prob even call you in a few days to follow up and ask if anything is wrong. Get er dun.

 

I mean do you think they would actually replace the entire caliper? Something tells me otherwise. Even if so Im less then joyous thinking some service tech has to do a full replacement job on the calipers.

 

They might. Even so, replacing calipers is not that difficult. A few bolts, and a brake line and it's done. Hardly the most difficult thing for a service tech to do.

I'd say it's worth a shot. Maybe call Brembo and see if it might be a defect in the finish, and it could be covered under warranty.

 

It looks like hard water etching into the caliper... OR the dealer used some kind of wheel cleaner, and permanently marred the surface.

 

The wrong wheel cleaner could do that in a heart beat. I think that is an anodized finish. The color is dyed and absorbed into the open pores of aluminum oxide and then sealed by treating in cold water. Usually it is pretty robust but not to acids which many wheel cleaners especially those for painted wheels have in them. Once the acid reacts with the dye in the aluminum oxide coating there is nothing you can do. But the finish is great for powder coating. Unfortunately that means disassembly and replacing all the rubber parts except the o-ring which you can leave if you don't split the halves which you don't have to.

 

My boat engines have the same finish and similar problems.

I use WD-40 and buff w/ a paper towel to restore a new luster to those engines.

It may be possible to protect the pads and rotors from the oil and get the desired results.

 

Based on the streaks that are appearing in the coating and the origination of them, I'd say somebody spilled brake fluid on the calipers and it ate away at the paint coating.

My guess is this may have happened at the factory.

 

Ditto on the brake fluid. Even a couple minutes left un-cleaned and you could be toast. BTW, Brembo owners, what type of wheel cleaner are you using and is the brake dust as bad as my '07 Shelby was? It was awful!!

 

I use mild soap and mostly water with a microfiber cloth on mine.

The brake dust is pretty bad. I'll be replacing the pads with something like a Carbotech Bobcat with better initial bite and less dusting.

 

The dealer should fix this with no problem. I always thought the surface on brakes like this was as hard as a rock. Are there any special instructions in the owners manual for cleaning them?