Just replaced brand new rear rotors three days ago. I didn't use OEM this time. They are expensive, instead, I used the Brembo blank rotors and thought they must have very good quality.

But, after just three days, they start to rust. Any idea what I should do? Even the OEM rotor doesn't rust this fast.

 

the rotor itself, or the hub?!

if its the face of the rotor, dont worry about it...as as soon as you drive and stop, the pad will wipe it clean!

if its the hub, you can spray paint it black with high temp. resistant paint

 

It's the hub and edge, I will post some pictures. Maybe I should paint it. But really nor sure how long it can last.

 

^ words of wisdom +1

 

it last a long time as there is no moving parts to rub the paint off.

 

What he said ^^

Moisture builds up on the rotor face and starts to rust, it happens, once you drive it again it'll wipe them clean again.

Only way of stopping the rust is getting something like the Brakemotive package, they're coated in zinc and do no rust.

 

The zinc protective coating prevents rusting, but in no time, they will start rusting

 

Don't get hung up on the Brembo name as they make some inexpensive rotors. Best bet is to purchase rotors with the hat coated.

 

Believe I heard somewhere that the Brembo blanks are probably made out of the same factory as cheapo-AutoZone blanks.. which isn't surprising.

 

Aww man

 

Here are the pictures, just after three days, one storm in the weekend.

Brembo rotors seem to be a joke for me. Even thinking of getting a pair of new rotors.

Shall I just paint the hub and edge or get a new pair of better ones? Confused, or just leave as is

 

Uh....Obviously cast iron is going rust. Duh. All uncoated rotors will rust. It doesn't mean they are crap quality. Racing rotors rust. Expensive, cheap, etc... all rust. It's high quality iron. If you didn't want rust, you should have bought coated rotors. Brembo doesn't make zinc coated blank rotors. They only coat their overpriced slotted/drilled stuff. Centric Premium rotors have a black e-coating on all non-friction surfaces and cost about half as much as Brembo blanks. Centric FTW!

 

It's completely normal, especially if it's rained.

 

or, you could just simply paint the hub black.....

 

Oh....man,
I thought the Zinc Coating can last a long time.
Then I guess I will stay away from Brakemotive.

Any other brands recommendations?

 

Yeah, that's an option. Do you think I should paint it black or silver?

I guess silver matches the rim color.

Also, anyway to paint it without taking the rotor off?

 

I have heard people complaining that Centric also rust pretty quickly

 

If you're that worried about an uncoated brake rotor rusting, you can always go for a 2 piece rotor with an anodized aluminum center hat. The braking surface, vents, and edges are still going to rust, but at least the hat won't. They're not cheap.

The rust in no way indicates the brakes quality, it just indicates you have bare cast iron exposed to air and moisture. Coatings and paint will definitely slow this process, but it will still occur. A quick spray with high temp paint on cheap rotors usually looks good for at least 6 months. If you store your car outside, get a lot of rain, or live in an area that salts the roads, expect no more than a year before the rotors look terrible. If you baby the car they might be fine until they need to be replaced.

You sound like a good candidate for cheap rotors and a rattle can of high temp black. It's fairly effective. Worst case, is you can pull the rotors every 6 months and repaint them. It's not very hard to do. Don't paint a rotor with it on the car.

 

All I did was jack my car up.
remove wheels.
and painted "hat" right on the car.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Yeah, I don't feel like replacing the new brembo rotors anyway.
This is what I bought, I guess I will just paint the hub and leave it.


Still, quite lazy to take the rotor off, that's probably why I just choose the caliper paint kit with the brush option instead of spraying. Don't know how well it's gonna be, what do you think?

 

May I know what paint did you use? Spray or just brush?

 

spray paint.
very basic "high heat paint"

 

^^^ that rust is on the "hat" as well as the unused rotor surface....

as Justin said, dont worry about the rust....just spray the "hat" to your color preference with a high heat paint and call it a day

while at it, also paint your calipers...

 

Great, will do it over the next few days and keep you guys updated.

Was also thinking of putting the rear caliper cover (RDX one). So not sure whether need really to paint the caliper. Maybe I'll just leave the caliper as is with the RDX cover on it.

 

^^^ now you are improvising

 

Haha, yeah, have been thinking of getting that RDX caliper cover for a long time. Just fixed the two seized rear calipers with new rotors and pads (the pads are almost gone within less than a year). Now it's about time

 

If you only care about the hat, you can do it on the car, but you might want to brush it on to avoid overspray. Any 'high heat' stuff works fine. I sprayed high heat matte black over semi-rusted rotors with literally zero prep before and it looked fine for quite a while.

When I got my TL, the rear brakes were close to new but quite rusted. I pulled the rotor and spray painted the whole thing, front and back. I made some attempts to miss the friction areas, but a few brake slams and riding the handbrake at speed cleaned them right up. Now theres a perfect line and all areas that aren't in contact with pads are coated. It's been a few months and it still looks great.

 

^ i did spray mine down with brake cleaner, although it didnt really need it.

i also did mask off a little bit, and was super careful about overspray.

 

My brakemotive's are holding up. Pad on pass front is dusting a little more than the rest. But no rust.

 

eh, my Brembo blanks purchased from an Acura dealer dont look like that, even after 1 year. Granted, they're not completely rust-free but the hub looks fine on the front rotors.

edit: nvm, you are talking of your rears. Mine are the ones that came with the car so not sure what brand they are.

 

Yours looks pretty good, yeah, I guess I will just brush paint it and leave it. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

I think the OEM acura rotor has some type of coating on it. The one I got doesn't have any coating. That might explain it. Yeah, I guess I will just paint the hub and it at least will help.

Next time will get better rotors

 

How long have you had it for?

 

I bought aftermarket myself. I have no rust yet been using them for ab three months. I recomend Eline slotted rotors zinc plated ofc.

those are inexpensive and preatty good build quality rotors.

 

Brakemotive rotors are the shit

 

^^^ care to elaborate....

 

Some updates here.

Finally got a chance to paint the rear rotor hub and the edge. I was quite a bit lazy and didn't take the rotor off.

Used the black caliper paint with a brush.

Since my rim is not the black typeS rim. The black color looks OK, not quite matching the silver rim color. Should have used the silver one.

Not sure whether I did a good job but at least after a day it looks not bad with brake pads wiping off unnecessary paints on the rotor. Much better than the previous rust looking.

Thanks a lot for everyone's input

 

^^^ that came out pretty good

 

I did my front hubs, rear hubs and rear calipers using the G2 caliper painting kit for the same reasons as the OP. It looks very durable and came out really glossy. VHT caliper paint is OK too but doesn't look as durable as the G2 kit (~$37 shipped on ebay).