Topic: Rusty rotor cure.

[Wheelboy]

Has anyone been mad enough at their rusty rotors to do something about it?  I'm getting another car and the rotor rust isn't too bad and I'd like to nip it in the bud before it takes hold.

What have you done to combat the rust?  I'm considering rotary wire brushing the hell out of the rotors (I'm talking about all areas where the pads don't rub) and then painting with something like silver Tremclad or hi-temp BBQ paint.

[Railton]

Has anyone been mad enough at their rusty rotors to do something about it?  I'm getting another car and the rotor rust isn't too bad and I'd like to nip it in the bud before it takes hold.

What have you done to combat the rust?  I'm considering rotary wire brushing the hell out of the rotors (I'm talking about all areas where the pads don't rub) and then painting with something like silver Tremclad or hi-temp BBQ paint.

Yup, used Tremclad myself on the RX-8 Rotors. Lasted a few years.
Railton

[rrocket]

Yea, you can paint the hats so they don't rust.  I too have done this in the past.  I usually do them flat black to keep a stealth look.

[No H2O]

What have you done to combat the rust?

On my daily driver, nothing really. On my Carrera, they come painted from the factory. I take it its the "looks" you are concerned with.

I'm more concerned with rust within the vents and outer edges.

[Wheelboy]

I take it its the "looks" you are concerned with.
I'm more concerned with rust within the vents and outer edges.

Yes and no.  Yes I'm concerned about the looks.  I just put new rear rotors on my current Acura recently (it will be traded next week) and three days later the hats and edges were a rich rust color.  It looked awful through my wheel spokes.  I want to combat that on the new car.

I'm also concerned about the mechanical aspect of rust buildup.  I changed the rear rotors partially because of a constant scraping noise which had me somewhat baffled until I took a rear rotor off the hub.  There is a groove on the back of the rotor into which fits a baffle flange on the backing plate of the rear parking brake.  This groove was almost filled with rust and the flange of the backing plate was scraping the rust - and so much so that the thin (tin) flange had worn right through for a 1" section.

And of course the edge vents are just about plugged with rust, not to mention the thick buildup on the rotor face where the pads don't rub.

So to prevent this happening on the new car I want to prevent rusting by painting the hats, edges, vents and backing plate groove.  I'm sure it's possible to buy aftermarket plated rotors that won't rust but I don't see the need to spring for new rotors.

[dr_spock]

My Honda OEM rotors came pre-painted out of the box. 



I painted my drums with Tremclad before but they'll still eventually rust after a couple of winters and you'll have to repaint.