I went to an LR Experience at Dunkeld this morning and their Freelander was the same age as mine but I noticed that the rear discs were really shiny and looked new even though it had more mileage than mine, whereas my rear disks are scored and rusty.

The problem with my discs could be that during the winter the main A road has lots of salt spread on it and the car is put straight in the garage at home. The one at Dunkeld doesn't go on the road as much and the brakes work harder so the discs get cleaned more.

I'm assuming that rusty discs wouldn't be covered under warranty.

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dont worry mate, rusty discs are normal, salt will play a part as with water, damp air etc etc. The best thing you can do is when you drive off make sure you gently work your brakes this way your discs will be cleaned by your pads and braking will work much better. There is a maximum run out thickness which you can check your self or get a local garage to check for you.
Dont forget every now and again to gently apply the hand brake lightly for 20-30 metres just to clean the inner brake disc drums or your hand brake wont hold properly and may jam when you come to release it

Didnt see the pics of your discs below on your post, they look fine. To clean them up just drive and brake a little more, after a few miles or so they will be bright and shiny but dont touch them while they are hot, not unless you want to do a" men in black" and remove your finger prints lol

Yeah, rusty discs are normal. Metal plus CO2 equals iron oxide. You cant argue with chemistry.

You could always purchase ceramic discs. THE PRICE

Thanks guys, I don't feel so bad now. Andyfr

dunroof wrote:

Yeah, rusty discs are normal. Metal plus CO2 equals iron oxide. You cant argue with chemistry.

I think you can with that one

Fe + O2 = FeO2

The only thing to worry about is deep grooves on the disc itself and distortion when you have two options, have the discs skimmed or replace,the latter being the favourite.
In the first instant this could be caused by worn out pads or trapped stones, rust isn't really anything to worry about. My old Kia Sorento did 800 miles from new and I got a thumping when braking on the peddle. Turned out to be a bad patch of discs and they had distorted, something I found out later was happening to all of that years model.
If a car gets laid up even for a reasonably short time the discs will develop a coating of rust quickly got rid of by use. The edges of the disc don't come into contact with the pads so will have a rust ring as a normal condition

Realspeed Ex 2010 Freelander2 GS-e Diesel manual Silver owner

I suppose I was comparing another Freelander of the same age with perfect rear discs, that one had done 5,000 miles where mine has done 3,500 miles. It must be that the other one doesn't go on the roads as much where the salt and grit is. Andyfr

An LR experience car will be using HDC and TC much of the time. These act via the braking system, so the discs will get polished in a way that the ones on your road-going car will not.

It's probably because you live in the highlands and only have to brake at the end of your journey with no roundabouts, traffic lights or other hazards in between that the rest of us have to contend with  1982 RR Classic-converted to 200TDi-gone
1992 RR VogueSE- converted to autogas-gone
2000 FL1 3dr (wife's)
1996 Disco 1 300 Tdi(gone)
2007 FL2 TD4 GS auto (gone)
MY 2011 SD4 HSE Automatic

I think that is exactly it. When we travel south I can go 100 miles without touching the brakes. My wife's car has the same problem and that is used for the local commute, but again we don't have to use the brakes very often. Probably two dozen times on the round trip. Andyfr

Give it a heavy breaking now and then. That should cure that.  2010 Freelander 2 Select TD4 auto....gone
2011 Freelander 2 TD4 auto ...current

If you wash the car, by the time you dry it and have finished messing about putting stuff away they'll be rusting just from that  Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
Family's: 2009 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto, Stornoway

Yorkshire - God's County

Yes, I've seen that myself, incredible how quickly it appears. It's mainly the scoring on my rear discs which seems bad. I guess it's the amount of grit on the road through the winter. Some must get onto the pads. Andyfr