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Painting rotors

loopy smurf

loopy smurf

New member
So - I bought new rotors and pads for the wife's van (not a GP...I know...stick with me...), and I would like to avoid having the non-friction areas rust and look like crap. I bought regular type rotors, and not zinc coated or whatever, so I know the non friction surfaces will rust and look like crap within a week of install. I'm thinking of taping off the friction surfaces, and hitting the edges/vanes/center sections with some caliper paint. Will this work, or do I need to do some sort of surface prep before hand (besides just using brake cleaner to get the oils off of them first)? Thanks, guys.
 


No need to tape off, I just scuff up the entire rotor, paint the entire thing with high temp black header paint, and move on.

Drive around the block, all the paint will be gone from every surface that isn't making contact with the pad.

Simple as pie.
 
I thought about doing what blueguy said, but I decided to mask off the rotor instead. Not sure what paint will or can do to the pads.
 


loopy smurf said:
What kind of paint did you use, Bronco Boy?
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Plasti-Kote wheel paint, #620.



loopy smurf said:
And did you use any kind or primer at all, or just brake cleaner then paint?
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I masked off the areas I didn't want to paint, scuffed the areas I did want to paint with a red scotchbrite pad, cleaned with brake-clean, then applied 3 light coats of the wheel paint. This way lasts a year or so; I usually re-paint them when I remove the snow tires and put on the summers.

Snow_Tires_006.JPG
 
Why not spend the money for the specially coated rotors? It just seems like a lot of work to go back and try to do it yourself. There was a video on Youtube somewhere of a guy taping and painting everything...

On mine, even the cooling fins and outer edges of the rotor were coated along with the hub area.
 
Bronco Boy said:
Sounds more expensive than a can of paint and a scotch-brite. :th_biggrin2:
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Most definitely...would have cost me about twice what I spent, honestly, and I just don't have that right now...The stuff I bought is fine stuff, I just want to keep it from looking bad in a few weeks...
 


Don't bother.

Even if you get the heat ****, and clean it and heat cycle it properly, it'll still flake off.

Just buy good rotors next time around.
 
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