Just moved out to the San Diego area and I noticed that the brake rotors are starting to show some minor rust. I believe it is due to to being along the coast and all of the salt in the air. Curious to know if anyone else along the coast has had a similar issue and if there is anything I can do to clean it up/prevent it in the future.

 

All rotors rust.. every one except of course those 15,000 dollar carbon fiber composites.

Rotors are made of Cast iron, all of them... Cast iron and H2O crated Iron Oxide.. aka Rust.. the rust on the fire path is removed after a few brake cycles. when rotors are exposed to moisture, humidity, rain or plain water they will rust..
My rotors are 14 years old and cost 1500 dollars. they have 80,000 miles on them.. they will rust when exposed to moisture, but only in the fire paths.

 

Do they make stainless steel rotors for C5s?

 

Like E-T said, all rotors rust. You can paint the hat area of the rotor to help minimize rust in that area.

 

Stainless steel rotors are a big no no.. Stainless retains way too much heat... and many stainless alloys contain a fair amount of ferrous alloy. many stainless alloys will rust.

 

The best thing to do with rotors, if you want to keep them looking as good as mine is once a year remove them and tape off the fire paths, run a cone shaped wire wheel on a drill into the vane area. warm them up with a heat gun or hot lamp.. and spray the vane area with clear VHT paint of you have drilled rotors punch through the tape to alow the vane area to breath and allow any run off. Much rust comes from the vane are if it is raw or after about two years if they are zinc coated. this rust winds up on the barrels of your wheels..
you can then make off the vane area and paint your hats any color you want clear silver, black.. my rotors are 14 years old and look almost brand new and have 80,000 miles on them. You can also have them powder coated.

removing the rotors and detailing them like I do is a Saturday project 6 to 8 hours total time including clean up. I do once a year,

 

Many Vette Enthusiasts would eat a meal off of ET's rotors. Every pic I have ever seen they have been in pristine condition and look Awesome!

 

The way I look at things may be different than others.. for me I bough these rotors 14 years ago..and at 1500 dollars, I wanted to make sure I kept them nice for as long as possible. These rotors do have 80,000 miles on them. My car is not a garage queen. I understand how these rotors are made, what are the reason rotors deteriorate. I make sure that I use the correct brake pads, ones that do not cause excess heat.. I would never put a set of ceramic pads on my car. Brake pads that dust, shed heat much better and never cause fade like ceramics which need a heat cycle. Fortunately most ceramic pads that are offered are just a buzz word with very little ceramic in them.. the more pads dust the better they stop. The pads with the highest rate of dusting are BMW pads.. they dust more than any other factory pads. The have a highest rate of frictional integrity.. they create the lowest amount of heat, and never fade.. we almost had the exact same compound used by BMW but Dave decided to go with a slightly harder pad but no where near that of ceramics..
I use AC Delco ferrous oxide pads, original OEM. MY rotors are not heat soaked or darkened by excessive heat. Rotors are two piece with aluminum hats which dissipate the heat. I have functional brake cooling ducts front and rear.

just some insight.
Bill aka ET

 

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. This helps.

 

Drive it more often!

 

It's my daily driver

 

I just changed my 13-year old non-rusted rotors a few months ago and the new ones (not OEM) are starting to rust noticeably. I guess I'll have to live with it or put in some effort to clean them up.

 

Some interesting information there.