Ok, so my rotors are starting to rust inside the holes. I have nice clean rims, clean wheel wells, clean lug nuts, and a pretty darn clean car. I need to find a way to get rid of the rust inside the rotor holes and maybe protect them so that they do not rust again. Here's the options I've come up with.


1. Painting. It looks good for a little while, but from my experience with other brakes, after a good thrashing, the rotor paint will start to melt and peel.

2. steel wool or sanding. Works great, but does not last and will remove what's left of the nickel coating allowing the brakes to fully rust over.

3.???? CLR???? Will it work?

4. Obviously WD-40 or penetrating oils are out of the question.

I need either something which can get into the cracks and crannys, remove oxidation and will not harm the painted rims once in a while, or something which can coat the rims once I've removed the oxidation.

Any suggestions?

 

Don't think there is much you can do now. When you buy your next set have them anodized, this will prevent the hat and cross drilled holes from rusting.

 

You can clean them with some sand paper every once in a while or soemthing. Nothing will be permanent though. It happens to them all I think. Thats one reason I went with the dimpled instead of drilled, so its easier to keep clean.

 

seems like there should be some sort of spray you could put on to keep them clean.

 

Try VHT 1500F header paint. Follow the instructions. It won't chip off.

 

^^ That's kinda what I was thinking. I'm more worried about it melting or discoloring. I wasn't too sure about using it because of that. I used caliper paint on my rotors last time. The stuff is supposed to be good until 700F. I have some silver colored 1200F paint here but I wasn't too sure about using it on the rotors. Is this method tried and true? If it is, I won't have a problem beadblasting the crap off of my old rotors, using a scotchbrite pad, painting and throwing them in the oven.

 

I've used it with no problem. You can only get it in FLAT BLACK.

 

I have zinc plated rotors front and rear and there is NO rust whatsoever.

I can see painting the hats, but you want to paint inside the drilled holes? That would be difficult wouldn't it?

 

^^ Mine used to be. Some VHT caliper paint took the zinc coating off. I coated the rotor in soap so that it would be able to be washed off after I sprayed. The VHT caliper paint prepped the surface, destroying the zinc, but it didn't stick to the caliper... oh well, next time I'll know to use the paint on stuff.



I've got some duplicolor high heat ceramic 1200F paint available in aluminum color. That's what I'd really want. Black is alright, but I'd rather go with aluminum.

Think it would work?

 

Just following up.. I painted my rotors about 3 months after this topic and it worked fine. That duplicolor stuff works pretty well. No problems. It's worn off a bit, but it is still there and preventing rust.