I could almost bet that 90% of dealerships have never heard of zinc coated rotors.. Ive seen several post over the last few years about dealers washing cars with zinc coated rotors and ruining them.. the few people that have posted this said, they (deralership ) was not notified of any issues the rotors .. and it was the policy of the dealership to return the customers car with a washing. These chemicals are ok for clear coated wheels. So with that in mind , zinc has to me more delicate than clear coat... thats why I think my method is good.
Another tip is dont bite off more than you can chew..
One or two rotors in a day is about all you should do..
if you try to do them all... by the forth rotor you will give it about 50% of the effort of the first rotor.
Same thing if you try to do the insulation mod... it takes several days to do it right..

 

just drive you car, they well stay shiny

 

Today while cruising the forum I found a thread that referenced a member who bought new Wheels and was showing them off with a few pictures,.. the car was beautiful, the wheels where beautiful, and very expensive.. I cant for the life of me see someone investing 7 grand on wheels, then taking the time to photograph them, With completely rusty rotors, I mean Super rust completely covering them, and with dirty wheel wells. Now these wheels are brand new, so he had to take the old ones off . Is it me, am I that ****? If you buy beuatiful wheels, that draw your attention to them.. shouldnt the whole area be clean?? to me rusty rotors and dirty wheel wells and 7 grand for wheels is a completle waste of 7 grand.

 

Is that a rhetorical question........

Of course you are!!! Is there any dought in your mind...

 

Thank you very Much

 

Mine started rusting in the holes and insides after 1000 miles. Now after approx. 6G they look atrocious. If I keep the car they are getting replaced next spring.

 

Think I have a line on a plater to re zinc coat them. They were busy today and asked me to call back next week for the particulars. Only took 7 phone calls.

 

Dan, I'd appreciate it if you could post the info when you get it straightened out. I went back and read all the posts here, this is an awesome thread!!!

Now instead of looking for new rotors I am ready to get to work on mine. Having them re-coated then following ET's advice sounds like the way to go.

 

wonder if that was me with the dirty wheel wells.. hehehe

I know the first pics I took of the C5 once I had her home and washed, the rotors rusted up.. but after driving it that afternoon, the rust was gone.

Lots of good info here on this thread (BOOKMARK)
Rain

 

A few people have told me to just drive it and the rust will be wiped away. Not so with the +1's as there is an inch or so out of the firepath.

JL,
Will keep you posted. I don't yet have the rotors off the car so I cannot give first hand info, but will post what I have.

Dan

 

Thanks Dan. I'm thinking about messing around with my fronts this weekend, though I am reluctant to pull them as I haven't been able to find the high heat clear locally.

Something I've been thinking about though, can 2 piece rotors such as we have be re-plated? I'll admit that I don't know anything about this.

 

Great Thread Guys!

Just glad it was posted here and not on the Tires & Wheel Section since I seldom go there.

ET, would your procedure work with the calipers removed and the rotors left on the wheel? I've had my calipers off before but I'm not too eager to do that last step before the clean-up. Thanks for all your continuing contributions to this great forum. BTW..... could you post a link to your rear wheel well insulation write up? Merry Christmas to all,

mtv

 

I have used spray brake cleaner on my zinc plated rotars. hhhhhhmmmmmmm sounds like I have trashed the zinc coating. I know, they look NOTHING like ET's. Heck they didn't look like that when they were new.

Now that the Zinc coating is gone (my fault) can the roatrs be polished and sprayed with 1500 clear coat?

 

Check this beauty out. I have a hard time believing that this POS can be resurrected, no matter how much time I put into it. The right rear actually looks worse than my fronts.

 

I have used wheel cleaner many, many times. My questions would be if these rotors are so sensitive to these type of chemicals, then why don't the manufacturers of the rotors mention this? Baer doen't mention this anywhere in any of their installation instructions.

 

Found these on another forum..

 

Well I am going to post pictures of my Rotors tomarrow. But I did clean them today with Green Gunk (PepBoys)....I figured this is safe. I was suprized to see that my fronts actually showed signs of rust (I think) on the very edges. The holes and slots looked rusted also but I think its actually the ceramic material from pads burnt into the rotor beccause on my rears it is still silvery looking outside of the pad fire path. This will be easier to see when I post the pics.

I did throw away a bottle of Armoral Wheel Cleaner after reading the fine print that said not to use on ZINK!!! I went to Pep Boys and spent an hour reading the labels/fine print on every single wheel cleaner product. They ALL claim to remove brake dust. Only one...HOT Wheel Cleaner from Maguires said not to use on brake parts. Most had acids (sulfuric and hydrochloric) as ingredients. I found two that specifically said "Contain No Acid"....one by Turtle Wax the other by Simonize. I bought the one by Simonize cause in said it was also safe on Rubber!!..figuring it had to be the most gentle.

Anyways I don't know how any of these products expect you to clean your wheel without getting the **** on your rotors/pads unless you take the wheels off the car.....and non of them mention this. I am also pissed that Baer doesn't warn of this issue.....they are going to hear from me on Monday.

My rotors never had a chrome/mirror finish...just a dull silver(zink?) finnish.

Mike....we gotta find our own local AnalRetentive (Evil) to help with this issue. I get a hardon everytime Evil posts pics of his rotors.

 

whew, think you need to date more often!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! ;LOL

 

Holy $***

Mine are nowhere that...uh...interesting. Maybe I'm just being almost as **** as ET, that is without the cool looking rotors.

I was thinking the same thing. Think that a call back to Baer is in order on Monday. Think that it would be better to take the rotor apart before replating. They'd probably freak. They should warn folks not to use harsh cleaners on these delicate rotor surfaces

 

They don't tell people cause they want them to keep coming back for new rotors. I actually keep my car looking like brand new (only 15G miles), I even have a hot water hose hook up in my garage for winter cleaning.

These rotors just never held up. Definitely the most disappointing purchase for my C5. Like I posted, they were starting to look rough after 1000 miles. I am going to replace these if I keep the car, but I don't know if I will spend the money on Eradispeed's again.