Look at my rotors, all this rust normal?

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The pictures below are roto-tech rotors with less than 500 miles on them. The rust happened all in one night of rain. Notice how the rust don't come off near the cooling fins and just cover everything where the pads don't come in contact. These are fairly new rotors and aren't cheap on frozenrotors.com. Is all this rust normal because there are no other cars on the road with rust in the areas where I have it at.

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Here's what happened to the rotors after another night of rain.

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I had these pictures posted on another forum and people thought they look like they came from the junkyard. I do drive the car everyday and its not like the rust developed from a weeks period. I e-mailed someone from roto-tech and this is what they said.

Edward,



As you might not be aware, but all brake rotors are made out of cast Iron, which is very quick to rust once they been exposed to the weather. The only way rotors will not rust if they are platted with Zinc Chromium.



In regards to your pictures, you are correct there is rust all over your rotor, but just by looking at it I can see that you have not driven your car for a very long time or have let it sit outside for extended period of time. If any car is parked outside for over one week rust will build up on all parts of the rotor including the braking surface. If you were to visit a new car dealer ship you would see the something on all the new cars that are parked out side.



Regarding your second picture, that rotor looks like there is rust on it also, but as you can see there is no rust on the braking surface. I can assume that that rotor is always being used, or is stored indoors in a garage?



We at Roto-Tech want you to be happy with your rotors, and need to inform you that the rust will in no-way diminish the function of the braking. But I am sorry to say that this is the nature of cast iron, it will rust, unless they are treated with Zinc Chromium platting.
 
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I wouldn't worry unless you start getting heat cracks from the drilled locations. My ebay crossdrilled/slotted had many heat cracks and pitting from our Ohio winters.
 
situation normal. parents rented a new VW jetta diesel with less than 2k on the clock. overnight, rust would form on the rotors. after a trip, the rust had been worn off.
 
completely normal. cheap rotors like that dont have the hats painted to prevent rust. also i hope you didnt buy the cross drilled rotors thinking they were better, i have been to a few track days where people have failed tech inspection because they have drilled rotors that were not OEM or an approved aftermarket brand.
 
These aren't exactly cheap rotors at $150 each. I know its completely normal to have rust on the rotor itself where the pads contact but other members on another forum has the same exact rotor and didn't develop any rust after rain and snow.
 
My sister's old Firebird used to do that. The brakes would rust every single time we'd turn the car off, even when it doesn't rain. They still worked fine, they were just an eyesore.
 
My OEM rears have rusted at the hat. The ATE rotors I put on the front are still rust free. The rotor/pad area on both will flash rust overnight after a rain.
 
My Saab starts to surface rust rotors very fast - I think it is the combo of very open wheels and how water drains from the car compared to the rotor placement. My other cars, which have more closed wheel faces, don't rust as fast or as much. Metallurgy may have something to donwith it too...
 
People down here in South Florida [the rip off capital of the world] get ripped off all the time with that...Some woman in my complex just paid some guy 800 bucks to remove the rust from her rotors from her 04 Marquis.
 
Originally Posted By: wantin150
My OEM rears have rusted at the hat. The ATE rotors I put on the front are still rust free. The rotor/pad area on both will flash rust overnight after a rain.

ATE puts a MetaCote protective coating on their rotors.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
My Saab starts to surface rust rotors very fast - I think it is the combo of very open wheels and how water drains from the car compared to the rotor placement. My other cars, which have more closed wheel faces, don't rust as fast or as much. Metallurgy may have something to donwith it too...

The HC (high carbon content) rotors are more susceptible to rusting.
 
Tape off the areas where the brake pad comes in contact with, and anything else near the area and spray paint them (silver or black) with high heat engine or caliper/rotor paint.

I do this to all my cars... Controls rust for at least 2 to 3 years... have to touch-up/reapply eventually, but not a big deal. I usually use some ("Aluminum" colour) rust paint over the spray paint (applied with a children's pain brush) which actually makes the whole rotor/rim pop!

I'd use those hard bristle brushes (like a bbq brush) to clean the rust off first... and also wipe with a paint prep pad. Then use a high heat primer, then spray or brush on another coat of high heat/caliper/rust paint.
 
You might want to consider painting the non-contact portion of the rotor with a bright zinc coating out of a rattle can.
 
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
People down here in South Florida [the rip off capital of the world] get ripped off all the time with that...Some woman in my complex just paid some guy 800 bucks to remove the rust from her rotors from her 04 Marquis.


sorry but... LOL
 
Originally Posted By: skylinegtr
These aren't exactly cheap rotors at $150 each. I know its completely normal to have rust on the rotor itself where the pads contact but other members on another forum has the same exact rotor and didn't develop any rust after rain and snow.


I get the same thing on my cars. You would think that for $150.00 a pop they would come painted. The raybestos replacement rotors for my Sons Focus came with a nice shiney black paint job for $46.00 each. Still look good a year later.
 
Completely normal. I see you live in Queens, I'm in Valley Stream, sometimes I can actually smell the salt water smell from the south shore beaches. What you're seeing is typical flash rusting. When I worked over at a Local Honda Dealership there were cars that would sit overnight and get that rust coating on the rotors. Some flash rusted faster than others but just about all of them looked like yours. Other than priming and painting the hub all you can do is live with it.
 
Normal.
But too bad you wasted so much money on drilled rotors.
You could have painted the hub areas lightly first, since they didn't.
 
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