# Strange rusted metal I found on the driveway... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 22, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537 "2005-04-22T02:19:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/1 "2005-04-22T02:19:08Z")
Yes, it’s ‘name that thing’: I think it’s a car part but maybe not. It’s a [rusted metal ring](http://members.shaw.ca/nanoda/StrangeThing/StrangeThing2.jpg) about 1’ in diameter, with an edge that [looks like](http://members.shaw.ca/nanoda/StrangeThing/StrangeThingClose2.jpg) it was wearing against something. I found it on the driveway this morning, where my parent’s 1998 Ford Windstar was parked the night before. My Dad swears it couldn’t have come off the van, but given his mechanical history, I’m still undecided. Given the state it’s in, it looks like whatever function it used to perform has gone unfulfilled for quite some time, so it’s clearly not something essential, but still - anyone care to guess what it is? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/2 "2005-04-22T02:28:17Z")
I’m so relieved it doesn’t look like Jesus or his mom. Sorry I can’t be of any help. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/3 "2005-04-22T02:31:53Z")
Looks like disc brake pads to me. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/4 "2005-04-22T02:32:25Z")
It’s something of a stab in the dark, but I’d say there’s an outside chance this is a piece from a badly deteriorated disk brake rotor. It might be worth checking the condition of these. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/5 "2005-04-22T02:38:06Z")
It’s obviously either a CD or a DVD. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/6 "2005-04-22T02:39:37Z")
It’s obviously part of the B-52s tin roof. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/7 "2005-04-22T02:42:50Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > It’s obviously either a CD or a DVD. 😃 Or maybe one of those 12" Laser Disks? Seriously, that was a good idea using a CD for scale. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/8 "2005-04-22T03:25:34Z")
It looks as like something that has accumulated until it got big enough to fall off. If that doesn’t make sense, it reminded me of the “build-up” of metal shavings on the chop-saw at work where we cut angle iron. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/9 "2005-04-22T03:39:00Z")
> [@hermann](#): > > It looks as like something that has accumulated until it got big enough to fall off. You can get buildup that looks like that inside drum brakes; a crumbly amalgum of brakeshoe dust and corroded metal shavings from the drum. I’m not sure how it’d work itself out of the brake system though. The size is right too. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/10 "2005-04-22T03:40:57Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > It’s obviously either a CD or a DVD. 😃 You are too much. Good laugh. I hope that CD doesn’t have your tax returns on it or somtin :smack: It’s rusted metal, and it was just laying there??? I agree about the rotor idea, but if it was off the Windstar, you’d know. Fast, fast as in can’t stop. Very odd. Looks like it could be whats left of the cover to a meter pit. But the location found and the darker color around the edges doesn’t really support that. Ya know, this would be a very good (or very very bad) April fools joke. Save up some old rusty nuts and bolts, a few old hard to identify parts… Once a week or so… yow… ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/11 "2005-04-22T07:19:50Z")
Well, **FatBaldGuy** gets partial credit for identifying the 1995 BSD install disk #2 I found in the garage. (And thanks to **enipla** , I’ll now be saving random junk I see in the gutter. \>:-) ) I’d checked the rotors before, and they looked fine. I think **hermann** and **Squink** have the right idea - metal dust from rotors/drums could build up as rusty crud until thermal stress or something made it fall off. **Oh hey!** The Ford uses sealed drum brakes on the rear, and the front rotors don’t match the debris at all. But after seeing that the rotors were rusty, but not that rusty, I just checked the '94 Grand Prix that occasionally sees use. The front rotors didn’t look right, but when I checked the picture I snapped under the rear, I got [this](http://members.shaw.ca/nanoda/StrangeThing/GrandPrixRear3.jpg). That stuff adhering to the rear rotor (just down and left of the middle) matches the ‘ring’ almost perfectly, and you can even see that at least half of it got chipped off. I’d say that due to lack of impingment from the brake pad, the center of the rotor builds up rust and metal dust in a ring shape. For some reason, a lot of it broke off and thus looked like a car part. Well thanks everyone, that’s cool. You helped me figure it out in less than 6 hours, and (apparently due to the multimedia style of my OP) broke both my personal records for thread views and replies. So long as nobody decides to take this route in the medical advice threads, I’m a happy guy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/12 "2005-04-23T03:34:39Z")
Good to know it wasn’t a vital part, and glad to have helped. ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-rusted-metal-i-found-on-the-driveway/300537/13 "2005-04-23T07:48:52Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m so relieved it doesn’t look like Jesus or his mom. Sorry I can’t be of any help. How could you have missed the picture of Jesus reflected in the CD?