Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Rusting on calipiers and around rotors

I have the stock svt wheels on my 99 svt and I have noticed that the calipers and the area where thepads dont touv the rotors is starting to rust. It looks really shtty because you can see them clearly through the wheels. I was considering painting the calipers but that will not fix teh rusted rotor surroundings. Can i sand or use a rust remover ont the parts of the rotor that the brake pad doesnt touch or will this cause problems? I have thought about buying a ne brake setup but it seemed to be costly and the guy i bought the car from jsut put in new pads. I dont want to nit pick about little things but it really looks like garbage and its strating to piss me off. Rusting after only like 3 years thats pretty ****ty. Any help wiould be much appreciated, thanks.

this is easy and it works on any car. this is what i do on the cars on my car lot. buy a spray can of arosol brake cleaner, a can of duplicolor gunmetal metalic truck spray paint, and some fine 0000 steel wool. clean the brakes with the brake cleaner,rotor,disk,calipers,etc. and knock off the rust with the fine steel wool. spray the complete brake assembly with the duplicolor spray paint,disk,rotor,caliper and all. you do not even have to mask off the rotor because as soon as you apply the brakes, it cleans what little overspray you get on the rotors. no big deal. looks great and it last a long time. make sure you rotate the rotor to get the underside of the center section.

Go spray water on your rotors. They will show signs of 'rusting' instantly. If you clean it off, it will come right back.

If you dont want your rotros to rust, buy cadmium or nickel plated rotors.

its your money. :shrug:

That is the price you pay for living in an area that uses salt on the roads.

Yes, you can paint the rotors. Most any spray paint will do, but high temp paint is better, such as engine paint. It also helps to clean off as much rust as possible before painting it. You would be wise to avoid paint on the friction surface (where the brake pads contact the rotors), but some even paint that part and allow the paint to burn off from braking. I would think that would contaminate the pads but some people do it without any seemingly bad effects. When it is time to replace the rotors, you may want to paint them before you install them or, as the last guy posted, have them cad plated. Yes, you can paint the calipers too.

I thought the SVT rotors were dacromatted to prevent this rust from happening? Mine look like hell too.