Rusty caliper common or of concern?

[zookie]

Checked out a 2005.5 S4 today. No ticking sounds when cold starting. Car was great. No problems that I could find. AutoCheck showed no historical problems although it started in New York and then most of its time was in Florida. It is now in Cincinnati. The one catch. 85k miles. Dealer has had the car for four months so there is a good deal to be had on this car, but something stood out.

The calipers looked rusted. Inside of the rotors (what little you can see standing next the car) was also rusty. The thing that really caught my eye was the calipers though. They aren't rusted to a point where they aren't functional or anything but they really don't look good and from the pics that I've seen on this forum, I really haven't seen any other S4 cars with rusty rotors. Maybe that's because everyone takes care of their cars, sands, and re-paints them as they age.

I'm trying to find fault with this car, other than the miles, and that's all that stood out. Just wanted to see if it was normal for the calipers to chip or get rusty. This isn't like a normal small chip that rusted. I can still see the VW and Audi logo on the caliper but if that wasn't there I would swear they were cheap aftermarkets or something that came from a junkyard because they look like they came off a Daewoo that sat in the rain for three years.

They did an inspection and everything checked out but I guess I'm just concerned of some type of issue that I might not be thinking of but nothing is reporting on AutoCheck. Maybe I'll pull a carfax as well just for piece of mind.

[B6JoeS4]

Don't worry about it. Probably just some rust form it being washed, rained on, and not driven. The vanes on the rotors always rust

[road race s4]

Couple of hard stops will make the rust go away. I've put on about 15k miles on my car since I've had it and never cleaned/sanded/painted them and they look just fine. If I don't drive it after it rains the calipers and rotors do get surface rust and they do look nasty. But like I said before once they get hot the rust just disappears.

[zookie]

Not really worried about the rust in the veins of the rotor. The surface of the rotors are fine. This is the actual caliper. The part that holds and squeezes the brake pads. There should be no wear on the top or sides of the caliper on any car. They age, but nothing rubs against them. I should have taken a picture but I wasn't thinking about it. Often you see the caliper painted. In fact, that's a good question. Is the caliper on the S4 normally painted at the factory? These calipers are definitely not painted and are rusting. It's probably not a big deal, I'm just trying to cover my bases...while still looking for a lower mile car.

[B6JoeS4]

Only 06+ calipers are painted. Dont worry about it!

[GameBreaker]

Take some brake cleaner and a wire brush and clean them up, then finish it off with caliper paint. Done.

[zookie]

Great. Thank you all!

[CHECKERED]

The rust you see on the caliper is brake dust (which is a composite of rotor dust and brake pad dust) if not cleaned regularly a layer builds up and start to rust, it's not the caliper itself that’s rusting, so you’re good.