Clear Coating rotor hats?

Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
84
Location
Missouri
I bought some non coated rotors that began to rust almost immediately. So I took them off and sanded them down to remove the rust then painted the hats silver with Rust-Oleam 2000F High Heat Silver and they now look great. However it got me thinking, if I had brand new non coated rotors and used brake clean on the hats to remove the oil that comes on them from the factory, then immediately hit them with 2000f high temp clear coat only, would straight clear bond to just metal with no paint. The product page insinuates that this should work, I have contacted Rust-Oleam directly for an answer, but I was wondering if anyone on here has tried this and what was the result?

Thanks.
 
Most coated rotors aren't "painted" but are either electroplated (Centric and Wagner coated rotors) or have a zinc plating such as Geomet (Powerstop coated rotors, for example)
 
I agree with Reddy45.

I am going to review my black coated EBS plain rotors at their one year point this September. In my experience (steel wheels only), all coated rotor hats flake off where the wheel contact points meet the hat.

I keep my rotor hats and hubs rust free by massaging on a paper thin coating of Paste Lube. The outside hat gets touched up as needed during tire rotations. The inside hat and hub maybe every 2 years when I clean and lube everything (salt belt).

https://goodson.com/products/bpl-2400-pastelub-brake-lubricant ...this stuff is tenacious against water wash off and is an excellent rust proofing lube all over the farm. Also what I use on metal-to-metal exposed to weather brake caliper components.

Here's a pic of my 7 year old rear hub coated in Paste Lub: ................... Typical rust belt hub: Same result on hats.
IMG_2525.JPG
IMG_0648.JPG

Frame components look good due to annual Krown.
 
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I’ve had some newer black paint hold up well on rotors. NHT was the brand I think. It was probably their roll cage paint or something like that. Or maybe it was their wheel paint. It was not specifically brake or high heat paint. I’m not very aggressive of a driver most days, so it’s not like their coming home glowing red. Neighbors kid now owns it 4 years later. Still black.
m
 
Is that basically naval jelly?
Not sure 🤔 . Years ago I did use a similar product . Worked well for rocker panels , lower doors , undercarriage , etc.. Should work for rotors ( area not touched by pads ) , drums , brake shields and other parts . I think it was purchased at NAPA .
 
If you live in Arizona the clear coat will hold up well, but in Michigan (with all the road salt) not so much. In Missouri I'd expect something in the middle.
 
Our local club visited a restoration shop and one of the items that were mentioned was brake rotor coating. They actually fully Cerakote the rotor then turn them to remove coating on brake swipe area. I thought that was interesting and a great idea for long term anti-rust. Of course these are for concours/factory type restoration, not daily drivers.

CTopher
 
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