Rusty Rotors
 

The Grand Sport I bought had rust around the inside inner portion of the contact area on the rotor and a bit around the section where the wheels mount. I sanded them clean, but of course they are rusted again already.

I am planning on painting the calipers, so probably a good time to paint or seal the rotors in that area. Anyone have any recommendations?

I used black caliper paint on my rotor hats and perimeter and it has held up well for five years now.

Thanks, yeah was thinking about doing them black. I want to do the calipers red to match the car. Thought about doing the rotor areas in the same color, but not sure how that would look. Maybe do the Calipers black as well, definitely need something other than the stock gray or silver or whatever that stock color is.

Like to find some decent pics with the rotors painted. Have any pics of yours?

Used black caliper paint as well almost 3 years ago and it’s still good.

Was looking at my buddies base 2008 and his rotors being different don't seem to have the same rusting issue. Is this something specific to the GrandSport/Z06 brakes? Unless the previous owner sanded that area before, not sure why it would be rusting there. I sanded it off, but it cam back very quickly. Maybe can just sand it again and put a sealant on it. Guess black would look good though, especially if I do the calipers black, though really like to get the calipers to match the car, but think doing the same on the rotors would be too "blingy"

I did that as well and no more problem.

Nope, I think all OEM rotors come with primer gray or cold galvanizing to help keep them from rusting. Wait until you wash the car, you can see the contact area oxidize in realtime.

DBA rotors come pre-painted too. I like them for track use, but then I'm not running a BBK (yet).

"...rust around the inside inner portion of the contact area..." Do you mean there is rust on some of the area contacted by the pads? If so, do not put any coating over that area, as it will transfer into the pads, and affect braking, as well as decrease pad/rotor life. Some rotors have factory coatings on them, but you cannot effectively duplicate that at home.

If I misread it, I apologize.

I think that he is talking about the rotor hat and a small section of the rotor which is not in the pad sweep area. I have the j55 brakes on my base car with aftermarket rotors and I have a ring about a half inch or so wide where the pad does not come in contact with the rotor. In my case, the aftermarket rotors cause this problem because the stock j55 rotors have a modified hat which doesn’t leave the excess rotor area. I am not sure about the GS brakes. I have attached a photo of mine which were just cleaned at the time, but you can see where the inside ring is that instantly rusts when it gets wet. I have been thinking about painting or sealing this area myself.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...716832a21.jpeg

stock GS rotors

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2b4fde2661.jpg

I had the rotors Zinc Plated on my 06 Vert. Never had a rust issue.

Yeah RickC is correct. It isn't where the pads comes in contact with the rotor. It is the little dip channel that goes around on the inside, about the width of a finger, and then around the hat area where the wheel is attached. I probably made it worse when I sanded off the rust initially with a dremel as I sanded down some other areas that weren't really rusty and now it is as well. I am guessing they are coated when they were new and maybe the original owner or the dealer cleaned that area and may have removed the coating. I will take a picture when I head out to show what I mean.
It is the area on Jughead's pictures (as well as RickC's) that is grayish/greenish as well as the "black" ring that is just inside of the contact area on the rotors.

I painted the area you are describing using flat black BBQ paint. Tremclad / Rustoleum makes it. I bought a small can, and used a 1/2" brush. I did this at the time I removed the wheels to clean the barrels, but there was no need to remove the calipers and rotors. I was just careful with the brush, and maybe overlapped into the sweep area by 1/8" deliberately to get a clean edge later. I had to do this in two stages: first, paint what you can, because the area close to the bottom of the calipers can't be done on the rear wheels without rotating the rotors a bit. You can rotate the fronts easily and paint everything.. You can paint the hat as well just don't get any paint on the lug nut studs, or you will end up over tightening the lug nuts. After the wheels are put back on, you can move the car a bit to expose the small area that you couldn't paint on the rear wheels, and then reach through the spokes with the small brush, and finish the job. This is what the end result looked like, and pretty much looks the same after 12,000 miles. I can always touch it up again when I clean the barrels, or just reach through the spokes again with the brush. BTW, because the paint has no luster, you will not see any brush marks.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b49a3d01dc.jpg

I painted my rotor hats high temp silver. The tarnished, old look wasn't appealing.

MT//

Me too, all four hats and the ring on the rears. Still looks good two years later. I tried taking a pic but my garage is too dark to show any detail. I wouldn't paint them red or any other color, you want to bring the eyes to the wheels and calipers, not the ugly hub area.

You could always zinc plate them at home yourself.

Thanks, yeah will definitely be doing that as the rust is driving me crazy. Were the wheels sealed with something when it was new and wears off, or was this a thing even when new? Hopefully the former and it was simply some brake cleaning by someone that resulted in wearing that away.

Yeah that is what I am thinking as well. I definitely want to do the calipers, but agree that the inside of the rotor would be a distraction in matching red as well. Think the black will look best and I will probably do that this weekend since it is a three day weekend. Not sure if I will have the time to do the calipers now, and want to get the stickers I guess it would be as well. Didn't realize the corvette writing on the calipers was painted on as a bit of it started to smear when I put brake cleaner on them when I was changing the pads. Started rubbing there a bit and the letters started to smear a bit. Stopped as soon as I saw it, but not a huge deal and not noticeable and will be covered in red soon. Speaking of which is there a place that sells the Corvette decals to put back on the calipers, that matches the design on it now? I have the GS Calipers, so they are just like Jughead's and FatsWaller's.


Yeah I was reading up on that as well. Think I will go the black paint route, but may change my mind. Would that last longer, or just give it a different look than a gray or a black paint?


Thanks for the feedback guys.

:iagree::iagree:

I had mine zinc plated locally 12+ years ago. Still look great with no rust.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...05e5e11eae.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...e81eae79cd.jpg

I THINK that ZINC PLATING looks Very Good Very Professional

Bought NEW ...ZINC PLATED ROTORS ...on EBAY for $194 Free Shipping

Heck with painting

Hope these look STUNNING with my Inferno Orange POWDER COATED Calipers