myr4ste8

Like most of you, I assume, we all want to see pics of projects or mods, especially if it helps you make a decision on whether or not you would want to pursue with that mod. So, I decided a few weeks ago to go ahead and zinc plate my rotors, plus paint the calipers and add stainless steel brake pad covers to bring life to my C6 wheels... As so many of you CF members have provided me with help and many great ideas, I though that I'd contribute my two cents worth and share with you my little project... The fun part is that I have been taking pictures of every step of this relatively easy project. So if any of you are interested, I can post pics of these steps further down in this post. To start, let me say that I have a 2008 base w/ Z51 suspension, and because the gumbies show so much space behind the wheels, the look of the dark, somewhat rusty rotors annoyed me. So, I was motivated to see these rotors shine without having to replace them. Here's a quick breakdown of my costs:

- 8 litres (about 2 gallons) of Evaporust (environmentally friendly product in which I soaked my rotors to remove any rust/crud): about $90

- Zinc plating 4 rotors: $80 cash ($20 apiece)

- Dupli-Color black caliper paint: about $28

- Stainless steel brake pad covers from RPI Designs: about $90

- Time spent working on this project: Priceless (I always enjoy every second that I spend working on my car)

I finished the rotors on the left side yesterday, then took the car out of my garage today and backed it in to do the right side, which I plan to complete in about ten days (a few hours here and there). When taking the car out of the garage, I took a picture of each side to clearly show the before and after look. I'm very happy with my decision to go forward with this, and even though I heard some say that the zinc plating may not last a long time, I should be good for at least a few years at a reasonable cost and it's a great winter project for me to do while the car is sitting dormant. So, if any of you are on the fence with doing this, now you know what zinc plating should look like (the clear zinc anyway as there is yellow zinc plating as well - you can Google images), and roughly how much it could cost depending on how you decide to go at it (I live in Canada BTW, so we pay more that in the US for just about everything, over and above the "Corvette Tax").

I can go through the details further in this thread (with lots of pics), but only if I hear that some of you are interested. Meanwhile, I present you the before and after pics plus a few random close-up shots of the completed left side rotors. Enjoy!!

gwalsh88

Looks Awesome!

FlyerVette

Question... Does this in any way harm your braking performance?

FlyerVette

BTW.... Does in fact look terrific....!!

42Chevy

Looks Great!

Mean C 6

Very please PM how you did that or post for all to enjoy.

myr4ste8

I read from numerous sources that it does not impact the braking performance. I am not worried. BTW, not that it should change anything, but I have ceramic pads.

R&L's C6

Should come from the factory looking that way.

saplumr

If you're referring to the zinc plate in the swept area they are self cleaning and any zinc will be removed after several braking cycles .

michaelinmech

I agree with that statement 1000% - a quick acid dip and zinc plate of 4 rotors would cost almost nothing relative to the overall price and eliminate that first impression rust cheap corner cutting in the wheel wells. It's almost comical that BG offers mutil thousand dollar wheel options and have no qualms bolting them into wheel wells dripping with rotor rust

Joe B.

Look great. There actually are a few (zinc) plating shops left here in the Chicago area. Not sure if they are commercial only though.

Iconic

Look great and a huge improvement. It'd be interesting if you could post pics in a year or two to compare before/after on the longevity of the zinc.

Err, I mean every 44th day........

KC-Vette

www.rotorpros.com has them, and they looked great for two years on the car I had them on. They were good to deal with also...

saplumr

Mine have been on for 6 years and look like the day I put them on.

Iconic

6 years - excellent!

Truckie

Yes looks great!!! How is the zinc done??? At replacement time, I would want to get a set of 4 rotors new and zinc them and do caliper paint...

saplumr

Take them to a local chrome and zinc plate business.

Knob Jockey

I did a Z06 brake upgrade and had the new rotors zinc plated locally.

The shop was a "commercial" shop and even though they tried several times, they were unable to plate the inner cooling vanes. I'm assuming their electrodes were too large to get inside the hubs.

I used very-high temp. aluminum paint to coat the vanes and 7 years later, they still look great.

If I did this mod again, I would buy aftermarket slotted rotors that were already plated.

I agree this is how they should look in the first place.

Truckie

Do you know... is "clear" the silver look and "yellow" is the gold look..

looks like best bet is to buy the regular old drilled/ slotted rotors and have a shop zinc them.

HMMM... then get calipers powder coated yellow to match car...

shaimerej

Very nice. Thanks for the info and pics!