How do some folks at shows keep their brake rotors so shiny. Have been thinking of doing something to spruce them up over the winter, but have no idea WHAT to do...

History:
The zinc wash on my Eradispeeds are definitely NOT up to snuff. Called Baer and they basically said "oh well, this happens and the coating is there only to retard the rusting. Anything cast iron will rust." The area where the calipers don't grab (about 1-1/2" on the +1s) were rusting in the first year. I painted that area and it's holding OK, but not great. Even the holes and slots show some rust. Great stopping ability...Crappy in the looks dept.

My thoughts:
Thought about chroming them but don't think they will hold up. It's also a little over the top, even for me.
Thought about using emery cloth in the holes and slots every show, but that would be too labor intensive.
Thought of having rotors made from a SS, but got real as I don't have an engineering degree.
Finally thought about ceramic coating which would hold up to the heat but unsure about the mechanical (stopping) effects or detriments.

Your thoughts:
Plating?
Ceramics?
Other ideas?

Thanks,
Dan

 

Dan --
You can't chrome plate the area where the brake pad will contact the rotor. The best case scenario there is that you have a hard time stopping for a while until the plating/chroming wears off (should happen real quickly), and then you're back to rusty rotors again. Worst case scenario is that the chrome stays on for a long time and you have a hard time stopping for a long time (or worse, end up in a wreck). Getting the rotors cleaned and zinc plated again might be an option, but note that this prevents proper rotor/brake pad bedding.

I am surprised to hear that the zinc plating is wearing off inside the holes or at the rotor hub. Are you sure that area of the rotor was plated? I just bought zinc plated SportBrakes and my assumption was that the plating will hold up for quite a while wherever the brake pad does not contact the rotor. If your experience is different than this I'd like to know more...

 

I had the same problem with my Eradispeeds. After about 10K miles, they started to rust and show on the center and edges of the rear rotors. The anodized section of the front rotors turned from Black to a sort of off-purple color and the edges started to rust. The zinc plating is a stop gap at best if you drive the car at all. If you want pristine looks for shows, either don't drive the car or get your rotors replated when they start to look bad. Not much else you can do.

 

My Eradispeed rotors are five years old. Here is a picture taken a month ago, these rotors have 50,000 miles on them.



There are some tricks;
Here is what I do. Knowing that brake dust is a bit harsh and zinc is soft, and sooner or later the protection will fade.
once a year since two years ago, I have done this :
I only do two Rotors at a time, it is labor intensive. I remove the two front rotors, throughly clean them with brake cleaner, making sure I clean out the cooling vains, then blow them off.
I take a dremel tool and polish each hole with some 120 emery ( just a small square of emery 3/8ths sq. on a dremel arbor ) I polish each one to a mirror finish. IT takes about a minute to do one section of holes.
I made a tool from a paint stick which mimics the slot width and radius.
I use OO steel wool under the paint stick and rub it up and down the slot ( like trying to start a fire by rubbing a wooden stick ) the steel wool will remove any brake dust that is crusted into the slot and polish them. This all takes about a half hour. I then take a Q-tip and some 1500 F clear paint. I dab each hole with clear, allowing the clear to drip down inside the hole. I also do the slots. I let this dry and start the other rotor, after an hour or so working on rotor #2, I dab another coat of clear on the holes and the slots of rotor #1, after doing this to rotor #1 , I then do the second coat of rotor #2. It's now lunch time.. After an hour, I mask off the fire path ( where the pads contact the rotors. )
I then use steel wool on the outside edge of the rotors, and If you do not have two piece rotors with aluminum hats, you can steel wool your steel hats. then the last step is spraying the hats with clear 1500 F clear as well as the outside area vain area. let it dry for 30 minutes and apply a second coat. This should last the whole summer season. My rotors look like jewelry.

 

What about using an epoxy paint on the holes and vanes. I have thought about cleaning mine and using a grey or clear expoxy paint to prevent the rust in these areas.

In any case, the aftermarket rotors still look better than stock.

 

STAINLESS IS BAD FOR CARS. SO IS TITANIUM AND ALUMINUM. To hard to form and they are too ductile. A heavy car will quickly put them out of spec.


What the Evil-Twin suggested works or send the rotors out to be
Cadium coated. Cost is pretty reasonable.

Can get it in a 3 different finishes:


There's also E-coating, this is not very cheap and if done incorrectly it will only make things worse. And it only comes in flat black.

And there's always Nickle coating, quite expensive.

And the best of all.......Carbon Ceramic! Yeah, you'll need a bank loan for those!

You will also need:
3M P/N-01411
3" DISCS 120 GRIT

This is to remove the coating from the rotor face that contacts the pads.

I suggest finding a local shop, that way you can have it done quickly and you can go back if not done correctly.

However, nothing is permanent and eventually even the nickle will give way

 

ET
That is what I'm looking for. Glennm27 has that same look...I love it! Have saved off your info for the darkest of winter days. Did yours have the same problem that I had whan you began this endeavour? And is the 1500F Clear difficult to come by as I haven't heard of it?

Vetteconvert
Haven't heard of Cd coating...will it give me what I'm looking for...shiny finish and semi-easy maintenance? Who does it and where? Does this also need to be removed from the fire path? Also figured that the ceramic (I was thinking Jet-Hot Sterling) wouldn't be that expensive, but haven't priced it out yet. Is carbon ceramic the same thing?

 

ET,
You are right. Your rotors look incredible. Thanks for the tips, I have saved this thread in my favorites.

 

Like I said my rotors looked great for three years. Last year I could see brake dust deposits in all the holes.. No rust but embeded brake dust.. needless to say i cold not wash it off.. so I decided to remove it from the holes and slots.. Let me tell you a dremel and some emery turns those holes into mirrors. Now the Clear coating will last a year, but they look great, and as this picture shows , they look brand new.. this is the second time Ive done then and it does last about a year... Most auto parts stores sell 1200 F or 1500 F clear.

 

My Erraspeeds are only a couple of months old if that. I don't have rust...god forbid!!! But I have lost that nice shinny silver look where ever the brake pads contact the rotors. It is a purplish burnt color. I have the Hawk ceramics.....and I have used them HARD enough to get brake fade on the last long canyon run.

Is this color normal. Are you saying you DRIVE your car and the rotors maintain that mirrror finish....this does't seem possible

 

It doesnt seem possible??? I just showed you a picture of my five year old rotors taken with my brand New CCW's. Ive never seen Purple rotors, but then I dont have ceramic pads... Everything is a trade off.. ceramics mean less dust, but they are harder pards and sometime conflict with the rotors..for hardness..
The pards can become "work Hard" making them harder.. I Had a similar issue early on when I bought the eradispeeds.. The vendor told me to stick with those pads.. after a month I was unhappy with the noise and the potential to damage the rotors. so I put the stock Pads on.. I dont worry about dust because I never put the car away dirty. I do Not like the ceramic pads.. or what they do to eradispeeds or sportbrakes rotors. I use stock pads and have never had another issue, OH and Get this, my car has never failed to stop.. and Ive done a few panic stop. Lots a deer around here. I had an encounter on the AC expressway doing about 75. A deer just walked out ion front of me, this was at 2 AM.. I saw it at about 100 yards, I was able to bring it down to 30 mph without having to swerve into the next lane where there were some cars , or bail into the woods..

 

Cadium has been used on brake rotors forever. It usually adds something like $15-$20 to a rotor's price.

Cadmium:
Exceptional white luster similar to silver plating
Corrosion resistance in marine environment
Excellent Lubricity
Low electrical contact resistance
Uniform ductile deposit
Pliant
Solid Rust Prevention
Can be solder almost as well as tin

Shops:
http://pages.infinit.net/pconcept/magnum/custom.htm
http://www.rascalscycle.com/service.html
'Van Nuys Plating' in the L.A. (818)785-5885

Like I said though, look up local shops in the phone book:
Metal Fabricators
Custom Motorcycle Shops
Restoration Shops
Iron Shops
Custom Metal Work

Also many aftermarket rotors come with Cadium, usually shiny silver, KVR Performance (uses MIL-spec - Military Spec Cad coating) and PowerSlot come to mind.
http://www.powerslot.com/
https://www.kvrperformance.com/world/world.html


Carbon-Ceramic rotors are the rotors used on Porsche GT and high-end Ferrari's. They have no iron in them to rust and along with the pads create almost no dust. But, they cost around $5000 EACH!

 

You're nutz evil. Sorry, but that is just crazy. Yes your rotors are beatiful, but OMG.

 

First of all I am retired with a lot of time on my hands. Secondly, these rotors where 1000 dollars. After a few years they start to look haggard. A two day investment in detail brings them back to their 1000 dollar look.. it is also personally rewarding to bring these back to the luster they had when new. Actually they look better than New because the zinc is gray. After my polish and clear they sparkle like mirrors.

 

Evil....I would do anything reasonable to have my rotors look like yours. I wax my car every 5 weeks. I treat the leather/vinyl regularly. I have gone thru almost a whole tube of Dialectric Grease for ALL rubber. My car is garaged at home and covered at work. Washed weekly and tire dressing. Is there anything I can do without taking off my wheels??

I have seen other local guys with Eradispeeds and they all look like mine. I will take a picture this weekend and post it here so you and others can see and compare. I will also call Baer and see what they have to say.

Your rotors are shinier than your wheels... .........

 

I've had gold cadmium plated ones on mine for 5 years.

 

Why don't mine look like these.

 

there is nothing you can do with the wheels on the car... believe me I am not a glutton for punishment.. If there was an esier way I would do it that way..
believe me , as an Engineer, I see a problem and I try to fix it.. I may try several things , but once I focus on a problem , I wont rest until the problem is solved. I can not think of a time where I have been beat, except trying outside my area of responsibility to correct the Ebrake adjustment issue from the factory before retiring.
The zinc is soft, the brake dust is a bit caustic, you can blow it off for a few years, you cant use a wheel cleaning chemical that cleans brake dust, once you use that you can say goodby to any zinc coating you have..
the only options are buy new rotors.. with sportbrakes offering rotors at a resonable price... this could be an option for some.. considering they are only 70 dollars each. Compared to ERadispeeds at 250 each.
Baer wont help, because after all these rotors are cast iron, they rust.
my fire paths rust if wet too. the pads clean them but some of that rust washes into the holes and slots.. the rotors really need to be cleaned once a year and some protectant like clear 1500 F paint will protect the holes and slots from rust. The paint will get pretty hard due to the heat of the rotors.. this is a naturally good thing for keeping the rust wash from attaching itself to the paint. I know this workd because I have done it over two season cycles.
I also have to tell you this..
I dont take the car in the rain although Ive got caught in it many times.\
I never wash my car... well I should not say never but I do not wash my car five times a year. I never put it away dirty.. its always garaged.. I use a california duster, and windex, or zaino gloss enhancer.. in the summer I zaino or NXT the car once a week..takes about 45 minutes.. I haver tips for doing this too.,..
in fve years I've gone through five bottles of zaino, one bottle of liquid glass, and one bottle of NXT.
Its all just therepy.
After 40+ years of owning, R&D prototyping and engineering Corvettes , Ive learned a few things and have had the pleasure to share them with some folks here on this forum..



Happy Holidays Real Corvette people.
ET

 

Here is a shot of my Eradis. I don't do the polish that ET does, but these are three years old and no rust problems. I must have got lucky with the coating. I do pressure wash them from time to time and a good soap and water job every weekend, weather permitting.

Oops sorry pic is too big!

 

[QUOTE/]you cant use a wheel cleaning chemical that cleans brake dust, once you use that you can say goodby to any zinc coating you have.. [/QUOTE]

Since it was only months since this began to happen, I wonder if the Dealerships used a brake dust cleaner on them. The car was drop shipped to LPE, so it may have been my local dealer, while prepping the car, that did it. But it is almost 2 years later and getting them to admit might seem to be impossible.

Merry Christmas to you too, ET