A friend of mine just gave me a rotor out of a blown REW and I was curious if anyone knows what I should use to first clean the corrosion off the rotor and polish it up as a show piece. Do I need a special machine to do this or can I get by with a handheld powertool to clean off the rotor and give it a nice polished look?

 

I have one I cleaned off like that. I started off with a wire wheel on a drill to get all the carbon and rust off, the I used a Mother's Powerball with a random metal polish I had lying around. It doesn't have a mirror finish, but it's really clean and has a nice sheen to it when the light hits.

 

you can soak it in decarburizing cleaner to soften up some of the carbon. Some people like to use oven cleaner as well. After that just start with the wire wheel and go from there.

 

Polishing wheel

 

i used a wire brush wheel, worked great, then i clear coated it, use it as a cup holder in my FD, rarely do i get a cup that doesnt fit in it either.

 

Post pics!

 

Use a brass wire brush initially to really get it clean. then like Stanello, use a polishing wheel.

 

How long did this take to do?!

 

Well after the rotor is cleaned it doesn't take long at all, an hour or so? It's been a while. Those are S4 rotors, so they originally have a smoother face than S5 and later. It'll take a bit longer to do an S5/FD rotor.

 

Did you do this with a purpose in mind or just for fun? I'm thinking about it reducing carbon build-up and potential hot areas that could lead to pre-ignition.

 

I have a local chrome plating facility... Anyone tried that?

 

BTW Stanello, those things look awesome!

 

Yeah that was the idea. I also planned on smoothing the compression bowls as well since the surface on S4 rotors there is pretty rough and most likely to lead to a hotspot. I've since moved and stuck all my FC stuff in storage so it'll be a while before i can give any results.

I also wondered if it would lead to slightly lower oil temps.

 

you need to buy a special polishing machine...they're like $100000

seriously, this question have been asked and it really not specific to cars. you polish steel the pretty much the same way you polish aluminum...google it.

 

yes, i do it for that reason - to keep carbon from sticking and producing flashpoints. i can vouch for the "not-sticking" element, but i don't have any oil temperature data compiled.