sc354

I have brand new rotors (as you may all know), especially r10apple would know, anyhow I'm wondering how long the surface of your rotors stay shiny? Shiny in the sense that it looks as if no brakes pads have been applied once to its surface?

any idea how long they should stay real shiny?

Severin

Uh, don't step on the brakes and keep the car in very low humidity and they'll stay shiny for a long time...

The first trip you take will make them look visibly different; so will the first rain storm.

sc354

that would be the problem then. When I came out of the dealership yesterday, it was absolutely teaming with rain. When I got home, I looked at my rotors, and to my surprise they weren't as shiny as I thought they would be....

Now that you mentioned it, I'm sure it's due to the rain.

dee diddy

yeah it's from getting wet. they always have a coating of rust on them after i wash my car. disappears after the 1st drive. maybe different brake pads would preserve the shine longer?

sc354

that's what I was thinking. Is it bad to get soap on the rotors? I have a pressure washer, which you attach a separate piece to, and that sprays out the soap. However I always get the soap on the rotors... after scrubbing the car with a brush, I rinse the whole care down. However during this time (15 or so min), the soap has time to go into the rotor.

Is this bad for it???

Black-n-Tan

just make sure you let them cool before spraying them to prevent warping

shimbo519

scrub ur car with a brush!? uhhhhh what kind of brush are u using? ur gonna end up with a whole lotta swirl marks...

@cUr@-TL

yeah man that's not good!


@cUr@-TL

njtls

rotors arent meant to stay shiny...not ours atleast

sc354

ummm no brush??? it's meant to clean cars...it's one of those with very soft bristles...and you're supposed to hook it up to the end of the pressure washer and clean the car while water comes out of it, however I find too much water comes out, causing me to rinse the car instead of clean it. Any ideas on how to get the swirl marks out??? Funny you should mention it, I have tons of swirls marks on my car...any fix for this???

is there a product I can buy, and once I clean the car apply this and remove the swirl marks???

Alexxx

Your rotors will only look like this out of the box:

The best you'll get is this after use:

And I consider this very good quality, after 4000 miles of humidity and heat and rain. But I will be taking them off for the winter.

njtls

dude...its thta brush...even the softest brush will scratch your paint...STOP IT....your ruining your paint...rough towels will even scratchg paint...you just got to be careful

dee diddy

i'd consider the rotors as still being cool when i back the car out of the garage and into the driveway. maybe from now on when i plan on washing my car, i should leave the car in the driveway the nite before eh? :p
but i'm sure the rust will form again once i spray em. gotta live with it.

dee diddy

and sc354, throw that brush out and grab a washmitt. my dad uses those brushes that hook up to your hose. those are for lazy people who spend 5mins quickly scrubbing with just plain water and letting the car air dry.

sc354

help me out here boys...what exactly should I be using to clean the car...

okay so here's what i should be doing? correct me if i'm wrong please

1) Turn the pressure on medium power, in order to blast off all the crap (bird crap, mud, etc...)
2) at the same time, wet the car completely
3) Attach soap dispenser and cover the car top to bottom with soap
4) use a mit to clean the entire car up and down
5) once car is soapy, rinse it using the pressure washer on minimum power
6) dry car completely with chamois
7) Apply maguire's 3 stage cleaner, polish and wax
8) use Scratch X to remove all scratches unable to be removed by the polish and wax
9) shine tires and rims
10) Watch people idolize you and your car!!!

does this sound about right? Feel free to add stuff in that I missed.

fsttyms1

flip 7 and 8 around.
and when washing start from the top and work your way down! never bottom up

sc354

okay I'll do that...btw I have a question sort of off topic. Those rotors that he showed in the picture, does the slotted strcitly cosmetic or does it actually help with the heat???

I can see how cross drilled would keep cool since there's holes through it, but if there's just an imprint of a line, how does that help with heat dissapation?

Alexxx

It does help, I notice the difference even with stock pads. Crossdrilled rotors are a gamble, they tend to crack. Do a search and you'll find more on that.

Vicman17

There's nothing you can do with the stock rotors. They rust on the surface even after a humid night on the parking lot. You're worried about the surface, what about the parts that the pads don't touch, they have a "caked-on" layer of rust. Maybe the type of metal they used is not adaptable to 4 seasons.

IMO, if you want to keep the stock rotors looking decent, maybe paint them once a year, or get aftermarket rotors that doesn't rust too much. I don't believe they have stainless steel rotors for cars yet.

As for the wash, just use a low pressure setting on the surface, you only need to use med or high on the wheel wells when they get really dirty. I heard of some TLs that have the bumper paint peel off. So just be careful with the power washer, you only need it when the car gets really dirty.

I use an older mitt for the bottom part of the car (below the trim line) and I never use this mitt on the top part. I have a newer lamb's wool mitt for the top. An old sponge works well with the rims and tires. After you soap, rinse with a regular hose gun, then remove the nozzle and run the water at a low setting for a "spot-free" rinse and let the water sheath off before you dry. The less spots, the better.

You'll get rust on the rotor surfaces again after you dry, just take it out for a drive.