Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes Rust and Rotors

I recently put on a set of rev Type X rims and Toyos and painted my calipers black, and the combo looks very nice. The problem I have is that the rotors are rusted around the circumferece and around the hub. You can see the rust clearly even at this distance:



These are rotors I got from Stazi and have been really happy with their performance.

Is it worth it to have the rust removed and the rotors plated, or should I just get plated rotorsand replace them? The turnaround on just replacing them would be faster, since I could just do that with my next brake job.

Any recommendations for replacements that won't rust? Anyone know if Stazi offers rustproof rotors, or if new ones from him could be plated after the fact?

You can paint that part of the rotor just like painting the caliper. You can even paint over the rust, althout it would be best to knock of the worst of it with a wire brush. Although I would prefer to keep the paint off from the pads and the friction face of the rotor, many do paint that part too with no ill effects. The paints comes right off as the brakes are used.

Big Jim is correct, however do not paint the finned part (outer-most edge that's perpendicular to the face). Since you need the heat dissipation from here, you don't want to paint over it. Unless someone knows of a paint that helps heat dissipation (ceramic maybe?)

Would a high temp. engine paint work well on the rim of the rotor? While the hub is visibly rusted from a distance, it annoys me to see the rust on the rim too.

BBQ black.
And I'd not worry to much about the edges personally. That alone is not going to have any impact on your cooling. Not to the degree you'd achieve with a rattle can.

Wire brush or steel wool for the rust?

Brush, followed by some rust converter, then paint. If you choose to skip the rust converter, spray it with brake cleaner after you scrub it with the brush.

Any recommendation for brands for the rust converter and paint?

I forget what I used, but it worked very well,
I even painted the edges, but one week later I ran a track
event, and most of the edges burned off...
but the hubs are good, and the rotors still look nice.

I used the VHT caliper paint that spmotorsports.com sells. Works very well! Although I've only had it on for about 3k miles so far... but it is holding up MUCH better than just a normal high-temp paint. The VHT is formulated to be resistant to brake cleaners and other chemicals such as road salt that totally abliterated my "normal" high-temp engine paint I used previously.