Hi to all;

I had a colleague who (I thought was) pretty proficient in working on cars do my brakes and rotors on all 4 sides. This was a complete pad/rotor replacement.

I noted the following:

Proper cleaning wasn't done using brake cleaner.
Proper slider lubrication wasn't done with grease.
Because the two screws holding the rotor onto the axle hub were completely seized up, the screw heads had to be drilled out to remove the old rotors on the rears. I'm still shaking my head on that one.

Anyhow, It's been about 10 days with the new pads and rotors, and we received some rain... so I noticed some surface rust buildup. I know that if the pads are making proper contact with the rotors, the rust should wipe off. It isn't. This is happening on both left and right rear rotors. I have attached a pic to show what's happening.

Also, my emergency brake isn't functioning well at all. About 12 clicks in the up position still lets me drive the car with a little tension on the brakes.
Also, even with the e-brake in the up position, it's not cleaning up the surface rust.

Also, to note, my colleague had some problems with the pistons in the rear .. he had to use so much force on a c-clamp to push the piston in on both sides. Now, I know what you're all saying ... You're supposed to turn the piston to get it to retract. Big OOPS there right?

Question is ... based on the current visible wear of the rotors and pads, with 10 days of use and the fact that the piston was pushed into the caliper incorrectly, what might be the cause of the rust not wearing away?
Honda has replacement pistons available for $40 each (my cost is $20).
Since it has to rotate, that tells me it's a screw based system? Am I wrong? Are there threads that might have been stripped? Has anyone done this before?

Also contemplating getting those screws completely drilled out (that hold those rotors on when there's no wheel on the hub), and replaced.
Help! I'm hitting up the mechanic tomorrow ...

 

My brakes are due right now, but haven't got to it yet. I know on many cars with rear disc brakes, the emergency brake doesn't use the caliper itself, but actually has a small drum brake type setup in addition to the rear disc brake equipment. This small drum brake is what functions when you apply the parking brake (haven't checked mine out, so I can't say this for sure, but something worth checking into). I would imagine forcing the piston into the caliper improperly probably dislocated or bent/broke something inside the caliper assembly since it seems the piston is no longer moving in a 90 degree angle to the rotor surface. As far as the screws you mentioned, they ARE a PITA sometimes because of heating up/ cooling off and corrosion; I've destroyed many of them and actually am missing half of them from the front end of my car. From what I understand, these screws are there to hold the rotor in place during the assembly process of the car and will not cause any issue if not there - many cars don't have them at all. I don't see any way possible that those small screws could bear the pressure that would be involved in the braking process (they're so weak and soft that you can't even get them out without stripping the head in many cases) - the pressure is transferred from the wheel to the lug studs to the rotor.

 

#1. Your colleague more than likely damaged your rear caliper. As stated, you would need to turn them counter clockwise to compress them. The e-brake does use the rear pad for the braking mechanism which sounds to me that its not making full contact onto the rotor.

#2. Those screws your referring to need to be removed using an impact driver / screw driver. A regular driver will break the head off which in turn will require to be drilled out.

Honestly, replacing the pads and rotors on your car is super easy. Might seem challenging but not impossible.