Rusty rotors- need help!
 

I remember seeing, years back, a thin aluminum plate that would cover the center piece of the rotor. They were usually painted or anodized.

I just put a set of wheels on a base Altima, and the piece I'm talking about is painted black on cars with alloys, but completely unfinished on cars with hubcaps. Looks like crap. (I will get a pic up soon)

Does anyone know where I can get these? it's easier for me and customers than painting that hub.

Thanks in advance!

Brake rotors are supposed to rust! That is normal. Some after market rotors have a coating or cad plating but that wears off with usage and then rust!

Those brake dust covers hinder rotor gas dispersion or general cooling. They are detrimental and a bad idea!

If that is what you are referring to!

he's not talking about the actual contact area, he's talking about the hub area (i think)

kind of like a spacer i guess

I know rotors rust, I'm talking about the center piece where the lugs are. They are exposed after i put a nice wheel on, the hubcaps hide everything.

yay i was right heh :tiphat: to me lol

+1 rep for you!

flat black hi temp duplicolor spray paint is the easiest. I've only seen those rotor covers for corvettes in the past.

There's a liquid you can use to remove minor surface rust. Someone awhile back on myg37 cleaned the rust off his rotors and they looked new after. I thought it was bogus til I saw some pics LOL

I'll search for what product it was.

just use a wire wheel on a drill, its very quick and easy, then hit them with the spray paint. It will hold up to everything short of a track day, and you don't have to worry about the swept area, as the brake pads will clean it up.

I don't want to spray paint, because if it starts peeling in a few months, i don't want an unhappy customer coming back to me! That's why I was hoping to get some type of cover.

spray paint is for graffiti, powdercoat the center of the rotors. Should be able to get it done in a day or two turn around. If I were to price it I would say $25-35 per corner with sandblasting for a single stage color.

not only aesthetic but will help to wipe away brake dust and keep everything clean.

Powdercoating is going to hold up under high temps?

Aren't brake calipers powder coated? PC needs to be baked anyway :).

PC will be the best for higher temps. it is the only way to go really.

just don't end up like one guy on here and let the PC bond the wheels to your hubs, thereby requiring a hefty mallet to remove them ;)

PC is ok, I mean, I am a professional powdercoater, but I still use spray paint on my own. I have also ceramic coated them in the past. Any of the 3 coatings will burn off on track use. For the street all 3 will hold up. My order of preference is Ceramic, Paint, Powdercoat. The ceramic is kind of a pain to set up, clean up and apply, so I only did it one time and it still burned off at the track. The spray paint doesn't require masking, as its a thin enough coating to let the brake pads scrape it off, and it doesn't peel when properly applied.

I do charge 25 per rotor to PC the centers, but you have to mask off the swept area and can't get in between the cooling vanes. By masking, you don't get a nice clean edge where the pads and rotors meet.

Now, all that being said, depending on how early UPS delivers my new rotors today, they may actually get powdercoated instead of spray painted, as they will be my street rotors.

:tiphat:

my centric rotors came in today and have a nice shiny black paint on them. We will see how they hold up.

NOGOOD still waiting for the name of that stuff

found some stuff called navel jelly on other sites, it's made by loctite

use CLR? or just spray a little wd40 on a cloth and rub it off.. from your standpoint of selling the car it would probably be better if they were just really clean than spray painted...

Factory nickel-plating is the only finish I've seen hold up to all conditions.

Do you just spray the entire rotor then? From what you say, it doesn't sound like you mask the pad contact area at all.

I'd considered painting my rotors with a couple of coats of high temp engine paint in the past but worried about masking the swept area.

On the rotors for my truck I did 3 coats of caliper paint, 2 light coats 10 minutes apart followed by a wet coat. It's best if you cant let the paint cure a few days before reinstalling, but masking isn't necessary as it wears off quickly with some gentle braking. I would also recommend a light coat of caliper grease on the top of the rotor hat where it meets the wheel to prevent sticking.

Yep, no masking at all