When washing my 2006 Z51, there is always rusty colored "junk" all over the inside of the wheels when I first drive the car. It was never much of an issue, I would always just wipe down the wheels once the rust was dried from driving. Now that I have ordered 19/20" CCWs, I care a little bit more, lol.

I have read about zinc plating the stock rotors. I would have thought that zinc coating the rotors would have eliminated it but some of those people still report this same condition. Are there any other options? The rust seems to be coming from the "vaned" part of the rotor, not the center hub itself (the "hub" still looks grey and not rusted on my car).

What, if anything, are my other options? Anyone completely eliminated the "rusty drip"? Will any kind of plating stop this?

Thanks, Shawn

 

Cast iron rusts. Brake rotors get very hot under hard braking, enough to glow yellow (see night racing pics of the C6Rs). That's approximately 1800 degrees. Zinc boils at 875, so zinc coatings won't hold up if you actually drive the car hard. If it is a garage queen that never gets driven hard, then the zinc washes can reduce the amount of rust you'll see. If you drive the car hard, you might want to look into something that can stand the heat. Hard chrome (different from decorative chrome) doesn't boil until 3300 degrees, so that might be an option.

 

I am going to trade in my Porsche Boxster S for a new C6 next month. I've noticed the rust on the rotors of Vette before. I've never had that problem with my Porsche. I'll find out what the rotors are made of and post it here.

 

Every car I\'ve ever owned that had disk brakes has accumulated \"rust\" everytime the car a) isn\'t driven for long periods of time b) sits after it gets wet. This is normal, as the rotors are unpainted and therefore oxodize when wet. As soon as you drive the car... BAM! It goes away!

The only part that stays icky on the C6 is the hub portion (which I hate.) Besides that, you can get carbon fiber disks and ditch that unsightly \"rust\", or just get out and drive to make it dissappear for free!

 

One option is to replace the rotors with some Baer Rotors - rust be gone:

http://www.westcoastcorvette.com/s-1...te-brakes.aspx

 

Can you now get 1 piece front and back Baer rotors for the C6?

 

Another option would be to get some '07 rotors. GM started coating the unswept area of the rotors in '07.

 

Was at the dealer yesterday, all the 07 rotors were rusty....

 

Was that in the area swept by the pads or beyond that area? My rotors with the base suspension have a dark coating beyond the swept area. Not a dealer add, did NCM delivery.

 

Brake rotors get very hot under hard braking, enough to glow yellow (see night racing pics of the C6Rs). That's approximately 1800 degrees.

The C6R has ceramic brakes>
The brake discs are made from reinforced ceramic, a material which has already proven itself many times over in the field of aeronautical and aerospace engineering. The ceramic material's composite structure is made up firstly of silicon carbide, an extremely hard and abrasion-resistant base material with a crystal structure similar to that of diamond. The high-strength carbon fibres which are then embedded in this base material are able to absorb the stresses that occur in it.
The technical benefits have an even greater impact: first, there is the weight-saving of around 50 percent, per wheel. The result is a clear reduction in the unsprung masses at the wheels thus the vehicle's handling characteristics are also enhanced by the brake unit's lower weight.

The high abrasion resistance of the ceramic discs means a long service life ... at 24 Hours LeMan the C6R's only required on brake set up...the ones they started with at the beginning of the race.

The ceramic braking system also represents a significant step forwards in terms of brake performance. The discs are able to offer tremendous braking power, even when the vehicle is being driven to its handling limits. Resistance to fading even while glowing yellow/red hot from performance stops.

For us street drivers the high-tech material offers a whole spectrum of benefits. The most visually apparent of these is its insusceptibility to corrosion; no signs of rust formation will be found on a ceramic brake disc.

Also I believe the WCC Baer kits are not available to Z51 set ups..

I did find these... Brake Performance.com and they have the Z51 compatable rotors>>
http://brakeperformance.com/site/bra...icle_type_id=1
Michael

 

Brakes don't get rusty sitting as mine has been sitting for a couple weeks. When they get wet, yes. Maybe high humidity. Drive it and keep them dusted down every other day and no issues.

 

True. My car is always garaged and I don't get any rust on the rotors. I did notice the Vette's sitting in the dealer lot did have some surface rust on the rotor.

 

I maintain MR BLU with a passion...rust on rotors AND hubs seems to be a characteristic of the C6 (can not speak for earlier C versions since this is my first Vette..)
These pics tell the tale (I used these pics in explaining my process of removing rust and coating them... a product I got from EastWood)
Before:


After:



Michael

 

Another option is to replace them with zinc plated rotors. I repaced mine with the ones below from the Corvette Garage for around $400. No more rust!!! Mine is my daily driver and I have not had any problems with the zinc coming off due to heat. I don't race the car, but if I did the heat may be a problem with the zinc.

 

How well has that held up since you did them? Did it completely sop the "rusty drip"?

Shawn

 

I bought a Saturn Sky in August. She had the chrome rims. The rusty water would get on them after cleaning them. I took the wheel off and used silver spray paint and just sprayed down in the vaines with several coats. That pretty well ended the rusty water. Put 6k miles on the Sky with out a rusty water return. That was one of the first things I did to my new Vette as soon as I got her home. And I am sure my rotors will never GLOW.
I also removed the gray paint on the back side of the chrome rims, would you believe there is CHROME on the back side and they painted over it. The chrome is easier to clean vs the paint and looks SHARP!!!!!

 

First... my C6 is not the daily driver and I do not use wheel cleaner (I am testing a new yet released product that is going to change way some think about cleaning alloys... pretty amazing but more on this at another time)... so this is after 1 yr >>


Also again the rotors at Corvette Garage for the Z51 care are only the Baer two piece type at around $1300 (set of four) and not the zinc coated ones shown in the above picture at $400 (set of four)..absolutely nothing wrong with Baer...in fact the two piece units are great... just a couple of pieces of gold more to get ;-)
Michael

 

Well that's a surprise on the paint in the inner barrels of the factory chrome on the C6 ? That flat grey stopped me from getting them, got re-chromes instead.
Does it still have the fine machine groove rings all around inner barrel, or is it very smooth like the faces ?
How did you remove the paint ?
Did you do any prep in the vanes, high temp grey paint ? Brand please and exact color ? What year is yours and how long have you had the painted vanes?

I see the rust in them our 07, not dripping yet, but lots of break dust when washing

Yeah, I'm full of questions thanks.

 

A lot been said on this especially about nickel plating, do a search.

 

Hi! the forum is all about shareing. The chrome on the backside is chrome over the machine groves. Its not smooth like the front, but looks a lot better than the gray paint and is easier to clean. I just remover the wheels and sprayed DUPLICOLOR PAINT STRIPPER(Auto Zone) on them and hosed the gray off. Actually pretty easy.
I used DUPLICOLOR METALIC SILVER to paint the vains. Just sprayed down the vain while rotating the rotor. Did it several times, then wiped the overspray off with a rag with carb spray on it. Have had no issues and no rusty water. I did the exact same thing on my 2007 Sky. Thats where I first tried it. That was in August and the Sky rims have never had rusty water marks. So, I did the same when I brought my new Vette home two weeks aso.