My new rotors are rusty!

[Patman]

I had all new brakes put on last week and the Wagner rotors I bought are already all rusty! Their website even has the nerve to claim they've been coated with something that prevents them from rusting too.

What can I paint them with to cover the existing rust and keep them from rusting further? It looks so ugly to see these nice chrome rims on my Corvette and to see the rotors all rusty underneath!! It's mainly the center section I'm concerned with, since that's the most visible (I know I'll never be able to paint inside all the fins on the edges)

 

[ChrisW]

AS far as I know the only coating that brake rotors come with from the factory is a light oil coating to prevent rusting during shipping. That is generally washed off when the rotor is prepped for install.

You can use a high-temp caliper painting kit; theyre availible from walmart in yellow or red (about $15). I prefer silver or black, but have not been able to find a local place that sells high temp brake paint laquer in silver or black.

I'm sure you know this but don't paint the friction surface...it does make for a nice firery show. =)

 

[Fatboymoe]

I just had the brakes done on my 2002 BMW 325i. The rotors rusted near the hub almost instantly.

 

[Tosh]

And even when you paint the centers with high-temp paint, they'll still start rusting at the edge of the paint.
How were the originals as far as rust?

 

[sanitarium16]

Had my rotors replaced too. They are rusted already too. Don't worry about it, It happens to all cars

 

[bdcardinal]

i have cobra R brakes on my mustang (4 piston brembo calipers with 13" brembo rotors) and the hubs rust when the humidity changes outside. if it rains the rotors get completely rusted, the car stops quicker though.

 

[04SpecV]

Zinc plated ones would help somewhat, but they will still rust where the pads rub.

 

[JTK]

They dont use SS rotors on 'vettes anymore? I havent kept current on my corvette *knowledge*!!

Joel

 

[eljefino]

You'd be hard pressed to find stainless rotors on *any* car. IIRC only a couple motorcycles have 'em and there's a good technical reason that presently escapes me.

Patman (or anyone with properly working brakes) should have nice shiny rotors after he's driven, stopped, and scraped the rust off.

Incidentally, I was at a volvo dealership where they had plastic "hats" somehow wedged in to protect the rotors in storage.

 

[V1]

I've heard about zinc-plated rotors before. Will the hub or edges ever rust on those?

 

[Kestas]

The coatings you guys are talking about are either the protective coating for storage before use, or other coatings to keep the hub from rusting... probably metallic coatings.

The active braking surface of rotors do not have such coatings, or the coatings are designed to quickly wear away with use. The active braking surface is most commonly cast iron, which rusts horribly... even turn orange with one day's non-use in humid weather. Other designs use fiber-reinforced aluminum or (I believe) regular steel.

Zinc plated rotors will not rust at the hub or edges - at least not until the zinc is sacrificed.

I sometimes grit-blast and paint the non-braking surfaces with a high-temp paint.

 

[Audity]

Rusty rotors are unfortunately a fact of life. The original rotors on my daily driver rusted, and the oem ones I replaced them with a couple of months ago have rusted. Maybe the way to look at it is as a badge of honor that demonstrates that you own the car to drive, rather than to dust it occasionally in its heated garage. Obviously true, since they needed replacement.

 

[Audity]

BTW, its not a reflection on quality. As noted, cast iron is the material of choice for rotors because it works best (leaving carbon fiber out of the equation, because we're normal folks...), not because of cost. As Eljefino notes, stainless isn't suitable for rotors, for reasons I don't know either. As he said they have been used on some motorcycles, and I'd guess that's at least partly because many (most?) bikes sit a lot unused.

 

[Patman]

The original rotors were rusty too, but the rust on them was not as noticeable because it was darker in color. On these ones the rust is like a bright orange!

I wish I had ponied up the dough for some nice custom rotors which come with special center sections that are painted and will never rust. There is a C5 at the shop I go to which has Willwood rotors on it and they look sweet! Probably four times the price of the rotors I have though.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Rusty rotors are unfortunately a fact of life. The original rotors on my daily driver rusted, and the oem ones I replaced them with a couple of months ago have rusted. Maybe the way to look at it is as a badge of honor that demonstrates that you own the car to drive, rather than to dust it occasionally in its heated garage. Obviously true, since they needed replacement.

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Hehe, I like your way of thinking!

I like to try and keep my car as clean as I can, but I definitely am not your typical Vette owner who keeps it in the garage all the time. My car gets driven in all kinds of crazy weather, as long as the snow isn't too deep for the front end, I'm out there driving it.

 

[Patman]

For clarification here, it's not the actual braking surface which I'm worried about, since any rust forming on that gets removed the first few times I hit the brakes. The rust I'm referring to is on the center section of the rotor, and it's very visible on my car since I've got the thin spoke rims on my car which give a very open view of the braking system. So it stands out like a sore thumb seeing the bright orange rust in the center of each wheel.

 

[mechtech]

On a rainy or humid day, rotors that we had resurfaced had light rust on them as they arrived from the shop 10 minutes away.
It is hard to get a paint to stick and work well with the extreme temps of a brake rotor.
You may try a light coating of rustoleum [mask the actual braking surface when spraying].

 

[blupupher]

Your OEM probably looked the same way when new. You got it once the bright orange had turned to a dull brown. These will too in time.

 

[GoldenRod]

Am I missing something here? Isn't the rust going to get wiped off at the first stop sign?

 

[Kestas]

quote:

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... it's not the actual braking surface which I'm worried about....The rust I'm referring to is on the center section of the rotor, and it's very visible...

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Grit-blasting and painting would be the solution. I sometimes do it for my daily drivers. (I have the luxury of time since I switch out cars seasonally). But be careful with the hub mount surface. Don't paint it! Working on hub problems is part of my livlihood. I've seen problems when paint is applied on the hub mount surface, up to and including, wheel-offs in the trucking industry.