Rotor rust

[Camaro427]

If you are going to paint it, then a wire brush or sanding disc will work very well

[2SS 2011]

Originally Posted by spen5151

I have never taken my car to the car wash. Never driven it in salt. I do wash the car with water. I have the same problem with some of my rotors. I also noticed today that some of the pins on the front calipers are rusting also. It looks terrible. When you say stuff that the car wash sprays on the wheels what are you referring to? I am thinking of taking my rotors off to clean the rust off and then paint with hi-temp caliper paint, what do you use to clean the rust off the rotors? Here are some pictures of mine.

Usually they spray some chemical on the wheels to get teh brake dust etc off.. this takes off the coatings on the pins rotor hubs etc.. AND it happens naturally with washing by hand.. I actually replaced my rotors with X drilled/slotted.. the rust gave me an excuse.. and I used High heat 2000@ heat paint...

[spen5151]

Originally Posted by 2SS 2011

Usually they spray some chemical on the wheels to get teh brake dust etc off.. this takes off the coatings on the pins rotor hubs etc.. AND it happens naturally with washing by hand.. I actually replaced my rotors with X drilled/slotted.. the rust gave me an excuse.. and I used High heat 2000@ heat paint...

Would you recommend using the same high heat type of paint for the pins on the calipers as well?

[texfre]

Originally Posted by M3NTA7

Ok, so it may be an easy 'fix', but In my opinion, why should I have to fix something on a brand new vehicle?

I didn't complain about it. I said hey, I've got rust on my rotor hats. They said a lot of people mention that. He said he'd see what he could do for me. I'm glad they could help. They cleaned , prepped and refinished them for me.

Thanks for the entertainment

P.S. - As far as the gas goes, it would have been nice if they had used hi - octane at the dealership. But that's ok, you guys taught me the fuse pull and it worked out great

Agree 100% with you-the rust looks cheap and crappy. You buy this type of vehicle to look nice and the rotor hats make it look cheap. My 11 has not seen rain and it has it and I sure as hell will ask GM to fix it. I looked at several Vette's, used 2 years old, and they had it so it is a GM problem. Glad they fixed it for you.

[GlennP]

I had my wheels off to grease the calipers, had rusty hats & figured I'de hit them with some BBQ paint. About the brake pin rust, if your pins are covered in brake grease like they should be then it wouldnt be a problem

[Wuiquen]

Originally Posted by GlennP

I had my wheels off to grease the calipers, had rusty hats & figured I'de hit them with some BBQ paint. About the brake pin rust, if your pins are covered in brake grease like they should be then it wouldnt be a problem

Looks nice.. i will be doing this soon.. using engine paint. Idk what color yet.. probably black.. i wanted to do orange red like im going to for the calipers but it might be too much. My wheels show a lot of the rotor hats. Like in the back more than half is shown. No way i can have rust..

[bannonm]

Originally Posted by spen5151

I am thinking of taking my rotors off to clean the rust off and then paint with hi-temp caliper paint, what do you use to clean the rust off the rotors? Here are some pictures of mine.

I use Naval Jelly. Takes off the rust fast, no sanding or wire brushing needed. Wait 10 minutes, completely rinse with a hose, towel dry, and then use compressed air to blow the water out inside the veins. Mask it all up and paint. I just finished my front rotors today because I had some rusting starting inside the vanes.

I did my rears last Fall first because they just starting to rust around the hat. Painted them with silver caliper paint and it's held up for 3K miles and 2 HPDE events since.

[Macfolk]

Originally Posted by bannonm

I use Naval Jelly. Takes off the rust fast, no sanding or wire brushing needed. Wait 10 minutes, completely rinse with a hose, towel dry, and then use compressed air to blow the water out inside the veins. Mask it all up and paint. I just finished my front rotors today because I had some rusting starting inside the vanes.

I did my rears last Fall first because they just starting to rust around the hat. Painted them with silver caliper paint and it's held up for 3K miles and 2 HPDE events since.

Did you just jack it up and remove the wheel each time? What paint worked for you? Pics?

This is driving me nuts.

Thanks!

Jason

[bannonm]

Originally Posted by Macfolk

Did you just jack it up and remove the wheel each time? What paint worked for you? Pics?

This is driving me nuts.

Thanks!

Jason

Sorry no pics.

Yes I jacked it up and removed one wheel at a time. You can do both if you want, probably from an efficiency standpoint makes more sense but I was just enjoying time with the car.

Here's a quick rundown of what it takes. I used silver caliper spray paint I bought at Autozone. Nothing special, seems to have held up for 7 months on the rears.

Summary:
1. Jack the car up.
2. Remove the wheel.
3. Remove the two caliper bolts (18mm)
4. Slide the caliper away from the rotor and secure it so it is not hanging on the brake line. (use a piece of wire or rope to tie it up to the strut)
5. Remove the torx screw on the face of the rotor hat (this holds the rotor to the wheel hub)
6. Slide the rotor out away from the wheel.
7. Using a small paint brush and liberally apply the Naval Jelly to the rusted areas.
8. Wait about 10 minutes then rinse thoroughly with a hose.
9. Dry the rotor off with a towel.
10. Using an air compressor blow out any water inside the veins (if you don’t have a compressor then just let it air dry.)
11. So the places you want to paint are the face of the hat and the valley, and the outside edges and inside the veins.
12. Begin by using masking tape and completely cover the sides of the rotor where the brake pads ride. It’s OK to tape past the outside and inner edge of the rotor’s face. You’ll notice that the outside edges of the rotors are beveled at a 45 degree angle.
13. Use a single edge razor blade and trim the tape running the blade against the beveled edge leaving the beveled edge exposed. Do this on both sides.
14. Then using the razor blade trim the tape from the valley side of the rotor face. For this, after I trimmed the major portion off I went back and trimmed back about 1/16” around the rotor face. You’ll see what I mean if you look at the rotor faces that the pads don’t contact the face about 1/16” on both edges. On my rotors this was dark colored and a few spots had surface rust.
15. Now go ahead and start painting. Make sure you keep shaking the paint can while using it. The silver tends to spray unevenly if you don’t. Several thin coats worked better than heavy coats.
16. Let the rotor dry for a few hours.
17. Pull off the masking tape and use brake cleaner sprayed onto a paper towel or clean shop rag and wipe any overspray or adhesive from the tape off the rotor faces. Try not to touch them after they are clean. (Don’t get brake cleaner on your new paint or you’ll likely remove the paint.)
18. Now reassemble.
19. Slide the rotor on the wheel hub.
20. Attach the torx screw. (not sure of the torque spec, but it’s not a lot.)
21. Slide the caliper back in place and start the two bolts back in. Since these are TTY you should use new bolts, but several people reuse the old ones and apply blue Locktite. Your choice.
22. Tighten the TTY bolts torque to 44 ft/lbs and 90 degrees more (fronts) and the rears to 30 lb/ft 90 degrees.
23. Put the wheel back and enjoy.

[djamphi555]

Which brands, use these chemicals in their wheels cleaners that removes GM's coating? Up till now I have been able to clean my rims with dish soap and have no rusting issues. But I do have some stubborn spots that I am planning to hit with a wheel cleaner. Thanks.

[Treefrog]

Originally Posted by OVRKILL

Maybe you should have bought a bicycle. Have to side with Meissen here.....you actually took your car to the dealership to clean rust of rotor hats ? You could have hand painted the hats with small brush......3 or 4x with better results!

What are you going to do when it runs out of gas? Not too many full service stations around any more....maybe the dealer should have packaged a small gas can (full of course) for you.

Wow dude.. I really thought you were joking when I was reading this.. I can now tell you were serious which is of course a joke.. lol

Wasting the dealer's time?? lmfao..

[TonyCigar]

I too objected to the rust on the center of the brake rotors so I decided to paint them.
It was best to remove the brake rotors & work on a table.
Used 3 different size wire wheels on hand drills to clean off the rust & brake dust from the center of the rotors. In doing so I discovered that the rotors were not rusted. The rotors have a corrosion resistant coating on them from the factory. It appears that the bare steel wheel bearing hub that passes through the center of the rotor is the culprit. The hub rusts & the rust passes through gaps in the wheel & outward to the section of the rotor that is visible between the spokes of the wheel. In any case, after wire brushing & cleaning with brake cleaner & paper towels / clean rags, I used masking tape to cover the rotor face that the brake pads contact. You can actually make a circle using 1” wide masking tape by folding the tape back every ½” to ¾” to follow the curve of the circle. Used Dupli-Color Engine Enamel paints: DE 1612 gray engine primer, DE 1620 Chevrolet Orange & DE 1636 clear. I think the results speak for themselves.

[TonyCigar]

Painting front & rear brake rotors on my 2010 Camaro 2SS using Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Paint.

[MRGOODWRENCH3]

I just finished up my brake upgrade last night. The rusty rotors were driving me nuts. I got a set of slotted and dimpled rotors from forum sponsor Brake Performance and some stainless lines from Granatelli. I had previously painted the calpiers red but decided to give them a fresh coat of ceramic caliper paint while I had them off. I also cleaned up the rust on the hubs and painted them black to prevent further rusting.
The new rotors are Zinc plated, not painted black.

Here are a few before and after pictures.

FRONT BEFORE:


FRONT AFTER:


REAR BEFORE:


CALIPER AFTER PAINT AND NEW DECAL:





REAR AFTER: