New Rotors - beginning to rust at the hubs
 

My new rotors are begining to rust at the hubs and vents - was I supposed to paint these areas before installing?

I've done brakes many times in my life but this is the first time I've ever had this problem and it may be that this is the only time I've noticed due to the phone dial wheel design.

So, what kind of paint should I be using for this area - or shoud I be powder coating?

Now that I've had the rotors on the car for 5 months, I suppose I will need to prep them - but how do I prep the areas where the wheel vents are?

They looked really good new but now they look really rusty...

It's pretty common for any rotor or drum to get rust. They can be annodized to prevent it, but that always adds cost. I wouldn't worry about it though. I've done brakes on lots of cars and have never seen a rotor dor drum that wasn't rusty (unless it was brand spanking new)

Oh and you dont want to paint or powdercoat them either...pads wont like that at all.

Only way to prevent it from happening is to paint the rotor hats. Use a high temp engine paint, available from almost every autostore. Hit them with a wirebrush to get the rust off, then wipe with acetone and spray.

The vents i usually never do. Painting the parts is mostly cosmetic and you dont really see the vented portion. What i have done in the past though was mask off the face of the wheel and lay it flat on a bench, then spray. If you get any overspray on the disc face, just wipe it off with acetone. Usually i am to lazy to mask off the face of the rotor as it takes a while..i just spray the entire disc basically and clean the face with acetone. Laziness prevails!

I would just drive them.
Speedy:)

I've had zinc plated rotors on one of mine for 2 years. The only area with any sign of a rust bloom at all is the pad contact area and that's gone the first time you apply the brakes. Rotors can not be 'anodized', plated or coated only.

Thanks for the tips...fyi, I'm only talking about the "rotor hats" as I see thay are called - the surface area where the pads rest is not the issue.

Vern

I always paint the hats before I install new rotors.

Rust-olem hi-temp BBQ paint will work (brush on). Available from the local mega depot stores. 2 or 3 coats will last the life of the rotor.
Bill K

Exactly what I did... Mask the rotor and paint the rotor hats black with high temp paint. Looks really good and prevents rusting. Don't worry about the vent holes.

Zinc plating is what I was thinking of. Thanks for correcting me.

Anodizing is an aluminum process, just so you know why you can't anodize the rotors.

Porsche paints the hats with some kind of battleship gray paint.

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to paint the hats this weekend. I've got a newly powder coated set of phone dials coming out of the shop on Friday and I want everything to look perfect.

Here's what I started with:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1198015912.jpg

Here's what it looks like 6 months later: (like crap) Lousy photo...it's raining
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1198015970.jpg