so i'm looking at getting some new brake rotors (and pads)... Brembo crossdrilled/slotted. unfortuntely for me, i can't afford the Berillium coated ones that won't rust away. is there anything i can use to coat them myself? if i were to, for example, have them powder coated (i might be able to have this done really cheap/free) would it be kosher to coat the whole thing and just expect the coating to grind off from where the pads make contact leaving just the contact surface exposed and the rest corrosion resistant? i would use my old pads to grind the coating off them put the new ones on. is this possible? is there anything else i could do/try without killing myself or ruing a new set of rotors/pads? sorry if this seems really stupid to you guys, but i've never dealt with brakes before.

 

Do not coat your brake rotors with anything!

If you dont like rust then drive it a lot

Seriously, other than the coating offered by the manufacturer ( which incidentally will wear off, and is only to ensure the rotors dont rust while on the shelf), there is nothing you can put on a rotor face to stop this that I know of

 

Hi-temp paint can be used to slow down the rusting. I used to use some giant cardboard "washers" to mask the swept area, but the pads will wipe off the paint so I guess it doesn't matter that much. I would use the old pads to do the initial wipe though -- it seems like it could be bad to have a punch of paint all mashed into the pad.

Many rotors come with a little oil on them to keep from rusting. Mazda seems to spray the OEM rotors with gray paint to keep the rust away while on the shelf. Both of these seem to wear off very quickly and you'll have rust in no time.

Zinc or Cadmium coatings are better than the paint method. They cost money, but don't take up any of your time and should last a lot longer. And it looks better, too. I like the silver zinc better than the gold cad, but that is just personal preference -- they are both a higher quality finish than my spray paint method.

-Max

 

If it's going to be a show car, then you can chrome plate them and have the car trailered to the events, but if it's a daily driver or weekend car, I would not recommend painting or plating it with anything...

 

Zinc or cadmium plating works decent. It will wear off on the face where the pad contacts, but at least the hubs will stay shiny.

 

Zinc or cadmium plating works decent. It will wear off on the face where the pad contacts, but at least the hubs will stay shiny.

 

Zinc or cadmium plating works decent. It will wear off on the face where the pad contacts, but at least the hubs will stay shiny.