I'm looking to purchase a 2005 Civic EX that has been sitting outside for the last few weeks. Mechanically, it seems in excellent condition except that the front brake calipers are covered in rust. The rotors were rusty as well, and it appears that it hadn't been driven in a week or two. During a test drive, the brakes worked fine, including a hard stop that activated the ABS. The pedal was as firm as I expected and I didn't feel any unusual caliper flex.

I've rarely seen rusty calipers, so I'm not sure what this indicates. Is there a factory caliper paint that has come off, or is this an indication of some other issue? What can be done other than removing the calipers, cleaning the rust off them, and painting them?

i dont think its rust. maybe jsut real dirty. i dont remember ever seeing calipers rust.

just scrub it with steel wool and some wd40 or any kinda rust remover. then reclean your rotors with acetone.

It was clearly a coating of rust, same color and consistency as that on the rotor hub and rotor race. After the test drive, the rotor face looked fine but the rust was still on the caliper and rotor hub.

It's the first time I've seen rusty calipers like that, and none of the other several Civics I've looked at were this way. Mechanically, this one was about as good as they come, which is why I'm interested in whether rusty calipers are common on 2005 EX's, or if not how to get it cleaned up and prevent it from happening again. I guess it might be possible that because it's sitting in a used car lot and driven pretty infrequently, the rust that is on the rotors gets scuffed off and deposits on the calipers, but I've never seen that happen either.

Thanks.

Your fine, it happens when any car sits. Just clean the calipers and coat with heat resistant paint.

It has to be brake dust... I've never seen rusty honda calipers either. Pictures? Rotors get rusty after not being used n thats totally fine, but calipers shouldnt.

thats what im thinking.

i left my car sitting outside for a month wen i went on vacation last year.

i got back and my ROTORS were all rusted up, but not my calipers.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures. The car is in northern Oregon and I'm in northern Washington. We were going through that area and saw the car was available so I went by to take a look at it.

As my name suggests, I'm an old car nut and have been wrenching on cars for more than 30 years. I'm pretty positive it was rust - it's orange/reddish and had that powdery consistency of a rusted surface. I've never seen orange/reddish brake dust - deep red brake dust yes, but this is exactly rust colored.

I'm not sure it's a make-or-break. I just need to factor in that if I buy that car, taking care of the calipers is just something I need to do, whether that's just replacing them outright or cleaning them up and having them painted. I appreciate all the answers.

So, to take this off-topic, are there any other areas I should be looking at? The car is tight and rattle free. The automatic shifts smoothly under light throttle and firmly under heavy throttle with no slippage. The inside of the tailpipe is clean, and after sitting for days in 40 degree weather, it started right up with no tailpipe smoke and no idle clatter. What problem areas were there for this year Civic?

Thanks again for all your help.

Did you check the condition of all the fluids, thats the first thing I usually do when I look at a car. Maybe bring a can of brake cleaner with you when you go to look at the car next, see if that cleans the calipers up or reveals larger problems.

The 02 sensors cost a fortune in 04/05 civics, I'm not sure exactly how many miles they last before replacement is recommended though.

overheated brakes? some of my caliper paint tipped and have small rust spots after a few track days.
all caliper rust is a different matter, though. maybe some PO did scrape paint to repaint calipers, but did not use high temp paint (yeah, noobs, we know they are around...).
that should explain the rust.
01-02 auto have bad rep, transmission is not liklely to live long. not sure about 05.
my 02 at 95k is still going strong, but is manual. check the suspension bushings, they tend to go out - just a hassle, but good to know what you will need to change.
engine mounts and sway bar endlinks also tend to go out.
never seem much of rust in my car, if you find more if would raise flags?
also, ask for service records, it could be approaching the time to change timing belts/water pump. (110k)
check temp also, many seem to complain temp fluctuations. (usually overheats and blow head gaskets). - based on all the noobs that posts here complaining

Caliper rust is fine. You did an ops check and it worked fine. You only need to worry if the seals are going bad or it is leaking. I would also check/change the fluid. If it is really bothering you, then you can resurface and paint them. I would reccomend treating any rust on any car, but nothign needs to be replaced.

Thanks for everyone's help. The car has 63k miles on it, and carfax shows dealer maintenance every 3-5k miles. It's a one-owner car with no accidents. I appreciate the lists of things to check, and will let you know if I'm soon to be a Civic owner.

sounds like a good civic to me.

what i would do, is check the front engine mount. our civics are notorious for broken front motormounts. its an easy fix, but it still something u can use against the owner to lower the price.


our 7thgen civic are good cars. they dont break down and the parts are cheaper and plenty compared to most other cars.

not sure if stock honda calipers rust. but when i bought my car the calipers might have been changed and did have rust on them. they are metal, so i'm sure if they arn't sealed they'll oxidize.

mine where rusty so i srubed em with steel whool and painted them with caliper, high heat paint.

Where in Oregon is it? Oregon really doesn't have a "northern" part to it. Its pretty much portland in the NW -the area I'm from, salem and bend in the middle, and grants pass / medford south, and then a bunch of nothing everywhere else.

Is this it... http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ctd/2089453945.html

Triz, that's not it. The one we're looking at is at a Toyota dealer in Wilsonville.

I've had a broken engine mount before in our Odyssey (also a weak point - maybe it's a common thing for Hondas?) and it made shifting and settling noises when backing up on uneven surfaces. I did that with this vehicle also, just to see if there's play in anything that might only be apparent when backing up. The pads didn't even click in their calipers so I'm now starting to wonder if the pads might not be rusted inside their holders. Do the pads typical click when shifting the braking direction from forwards to backwards?

The car was pretty well detailed. The engine compartment was cleaned and dressed so it was hard to see if there was any specific problem like a leak or seepage.

I think if we move on this car, I'm going to ask them to fix the rust on the calipers. While I might not see if there was some underlying issue, they should at least clean it up and throw some caliper paint on it if that is the problem (at least I would hope so).

Thanks again.

seems now like a good deal.
you seem to know what to look for already and tested the car.
the only thing them is that autos (agian not sure for 05) tends to not last 100k miles.