Thoughts on Brake Corrosion

[NorthernVTGT]

First post here in a long time. I recently moved (from VT to ME) and finally have good garage space. Over the weekend I put my GT 5MT Wagon up on stands and pulled the wheels and rotors. I'm an old auto hand of sorts, having rebuilt a bunch of old Detroit iron with my dad as a kid.

 

I'm at about 35k and the brakes had had so much heat cycling that their initial bite was really diminished. The rotors had a pretty decent channel ground into them. Found a local machinist to turn them (this is getting harder to find in some smaller towns ) and had the wife pick up replacement parts at Subaru (keeping stock pads for now - 25 below is not uncommon around here).

 

The GT has covered thousands of miles on back roads in all weather, and a good portion of that has been on dirt and gravel roads in north central Vermont. I have my share of stone chips, and it's often dirty, but I keep the car in top mechanical shape. When doing the brakes, I was a little surprised - but not shocked - to see a fair amount of corrosion on and in the calipers and mounting brackets. The drum assemblies for the parking brakes also looked more like a 6 yr old car than 30 months. Nothing major, but certainly a bit more deterioration than average. The shims on the original pads were almost disintigrating. The concave insides of the caliper pistons were particularly rusty, pocked, and filled with loose debris.

 

I cleaned up the assemblies with a small wire brush and Brakleen, and really blasted out the drums with Brakleen too. I didn't have time for anything more involved. I did my usual meticulous reassembly with Molykote and torque wrench. Braking efficacy is FAR better than before, at least as good as new. The stock setup is not bad when the pads are new and the rotors are straight and clean. (I also changed the fluid minus the abs unit, doing the 2-man method).

 

My question is: what should I do to try to extend the longevity in the lower suspension/braking system? What's the best way to thoroughly clean and de-salt the bottom of a car these days? On my old MGB, I would have it steam cleaned and "WaxOiled" (quaint, I know) ever several years. Anybody have experience with blasting and coating brake parts? Backing plates? Maybe in 30,000 miles I'll just pull it all out and do aftermarket brakes, Pinks and Bilsteins and toss the stock stuff.

 

The chassis itself looks great. Subaru has really improved things there (this is my third dealer-new Subie purchase). My car is a good proxy for what many of yours may look like underneath in several years, and the coating and rustproofing of the core structure is very good.