Most of you might already know this but for the mechanically inept like me I have been meaning to share this...

I recently had Brembo rotors & Hawk pads installed & I gotta say... I hate Brembo rotors I mean fresh out of the box they have really pretty shiny hats. They will look shiney & new for ooohhh about 1 day, then they will look like this:



That pic was taken a few weeks ago, they look even worse now I can see the rust from a mile away. I am amazed that Brembo would not primer their rotor hats to prevent rusting. Brembo rotors suck aesthetically. To me they don't provide any better stopping power so next time I will just go back to stock rotors which do have primered hats, skip the rust, & save money.

Ahhh well, I just wanted to warn people because the hats can be easily spray painted to avoid this hideous sight before installation. But since I didn't have this tidbit of info, now that mine are installed I am going to have to jack my MINI up, remove 1-2 tires at a time & then paint them by hand . I wish someone had warned me before I paid extra to have the pleasure of looking at this rusty sight every day. Do I sound bitter??? I am

 

same as with pretty much all rotors. nothing you can really do about it. they are pieces of metal after all, exposed to the extremes of elements

 

Not sure if Brembo offer's this but others offer zinc plating for approx $5 per that solves the rusting problem.
Hard to see the hats but they are rust free!
My EBC's are zinc plated:

 

You're fighting a loosing battle against nature and oxidation of iron.

Good thing you do not live on a small island surrounded by salt water.
thumbsup:

All metal will tend to rust - very quickly, unless there is a reason for it not to.

Stock MINI rotors do fairly well. Maybe their painted finish is enough and the temperatures of street driving not too severe.

Aftermarket rotors can be zinc or cadmium plated or otherwise treated or you can paint them but usually you can't easily paint everything that is beginning to rust as in your picture.

I think you are tempted to paint everything except where the brake pad touches the rotor.

I had zimmerman cross drilled that had a finish but the heat of track sessions made that disappear quickly. Rust would be much worse with any rain and any carwash. Usually the same day. Then as things dry out and you drive a bit it evens out so it's mostly rust and a little more uniform looking.

I now have powerslot cryo rotors and those are OK, not shiny like they used to be. Again, any heat from performance driving is going to wear out the finish no matter what you have. I'd say that my finish on the rotors is barely visible and pretty worn off. I'm not all rusted though.

I have painted my calipers and the brake heat literally burns off the paint over time- it's darkly discolored and chips off. So I repaint with three coats, about 3 times so far in 2 years. Then it looks good for awhile.

Aftermarket BBK have finishes that are more durable. If you do mostly street driving then many upgrades will do well with their finish but for track driving the conditions are very harsh. Brake parts don't last.

 

yeah buddy...they are not coated, BUT you can paint them yourself with some caliper paint...problem solved. Just gotta sand off the rust first.

btw, i have a set on my MINI and painted them black about 3 months ago and they still look nice and shiny. Not sure how the paint will take the hottest of temps., but so far so good.

 

See that's not true My stock rotors never rusted. The hats were primer gray & for 2 years all I got was a spec or 2 of rust on the braking surface which went away as soon as I stopped.

Also someone in another thread posted that you should buy cadmium plated or zink plated rotors. They have them & said they are rust-free after 3 years.

The problem could have been alleviated if I had just been told. I could have spray painted them with caliper or some other high temp paint before installation. Would have been problem solved & taken MBE 15 minutes. But Nooooooooo I paid extra for Brembos & now I am left with the daunting task of painting them while they are on the MINI. I am just trying to give others a heads-up to do so if they buy Brembos or actually I suggest just staying away from Brembos

 

Some pics-

JCW brakes. Shows OEM rotor finish new with grey painted hub center area which is pretty durable, just not shiny.


Worn OEM rotors. The grey is still holding up but the rest is rusted.
It's still functional.


PowerSlot Cryo Rotors (new). The cadmium plated finish was OK for street use. Will wear out with heat.
Available at Tirerack.com, outmotoring.com and other vendors.


Slotted and drilled rotors from outmotoring.com
Finished in black by an EDP (Electro-Deposition Paint) process that resists corrosion.

Other rotors/ BBK
http://www.tceperformanceproducts.co...s.pl?record=13
Quote from FAQ-
Q: What about that mil spec plating or zinc wash offered by others? Doesn’t that make the brakes run cooler too?
A: 'Mil Spec plating? Good catchy name. Zinc Wash?...Most plating today is good old Zinc Chromate. This is the same silver finish you see on hardware store bolts. It does nothing for the performance of the kit and will only stay on the rotor where the pads don’t rub it off in the first 20 miles. It is standard on nearly all our kits as well for corrosion protection. Use it where appearance is critical such as show cars. Forget it for those who do track events.

Another idea is to order whatever rotors of your choice and if they don't come finished then do zinc plating or some sort of finish before installing as bamatt has suggested. Personally I don't think that painting the rotor will stop all the rust and corrosion but it might help for awhile and under street use conditions.

Probably a lost cause if you live near the beach/ocean or in a heavy snow belt area. In that case the BBKs with top notch finishes might hold up better.

Just be careful that when considering BBKs that your wheels need to clear the larger calipers. Some of the smaller upgrade brake kits will fit smaller wheels too. Sometimes spacers help up front.

 

I am good with the OEM non-shiney center. I mean it isn't pretty but you just don't notice it as it blends in & stays rust free. That's what I will go back to next time

 

My Wilwoods rust around the aluminum hub - you can see the line. The rust on the rotor surface was from a fresh wash, so it went away right after the brakes were applied.

The cad plated rotors do stay nice for much longer. My new rear power slot rotors look great.

 

--Minihune are you still running thos cryo-rotors from the first time I met you? Wow those things last forever huh? I'm impressed.

~pyratio

 

Yup,

My Ferodo DS2500 pads and Powerslot rotors are still the same ones I've had for some time. Got enough pad thickness and no problems with the rotors. The finish isn't very shiny but it's not totally rusted out.

Autocross doesn't wear the brakes that much and I don't really wear brakes on my various cars for daily commutes.

We closed the track last April so any significant track use was in 2005. I did lapping at HRP in mid Feb and in early April 2006.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Brembos. I sprayed mine semi-flat black before I installed them this past weekend. They look really nice!

 

You mean brakes aren't supposed to rust? As long as they stop the car, I don't care.

 

YAY!! Glad you could be spared the hideousness

How could you not care unless you have wheels that cover your rotors? I could see the rust with my OEM wheels & now I have really nice aftermarket wheels & seeing a rusty rotor behind them ruins the look.

 

I would assume the Brembos refered to above are not the precision machined, Zinc plated, sport model pictured below; yes? Please don't lump all Brembo rotors in the same category.

 

Uhhh please look at the posted picture of the rotors in discussion before you ...
I still say boooo for Brembos & after my experience I will never ever ever
buy another set manufactured by them regardless of what tier they are from & I
will spew my negativity about them whenever I get the chance

 

Yup. The take home message is nice aftermarket wheels are great and if their design allows an easy peak behind the wheel to the brakes then that becomes very visible.

Stock brakes are fine and some do hold up against the rust depending on where you live and how much time has passed.

Upgraded brakes offer many solutions, some with better results than others.

Just be aware and careful about what you are getting. While a nice finish is initially good looking, your own driving conditions may wear down the finish due to heat and eventually look pretty worn.

These pictures are pretty helpful to see some of the various rotor options and finishes.

 

Unfortunately you could see my rust thru my stock wheels too. But... I have learned a very valuable lesson
from all of this. I will never put another set of rotors on the MINI without doing my research 1st

 

WOW! I was thinking of getting Brembo's through Dinan. I wonder if they do anything extra to keep the finish? Does the JCW brake kit have this problem, too?

 

Tatoo... the Brembos I got were what is called "replacement rotors". I think they are the cheapest ones. As has been pointed out, they have different grades of rotors & very possibly some that will not rust. If the hats are not treated on the ones you want you can easily spray paint them yourself before installation to help alleviate the rust

 

Hi temp manifold/engine paint will last on calipers fairly reliably (maybe not the discs). Must be similar to what JCW is using on their red calipers as the paint is bright red as ever after a lot of abs modulated hi-speed braking.

 

Every 20,000 miles, I have needed a new set of stock pads AND rotors. I switched to JCW brakes (all pads different, all rotors different, only front calipers different). I'll be interested to see if the JCW rotors actually last longer than the pads.

 

Wouldn't it be easier to just take the rotors off to paint? Doesn't take more than a few minutes each.

 

Powerslot and ATE rotors come with a silver metallic/ceramic coating that holds up reasonably well. I have a set of Stoptech rotors that are coated with a black finish that has held up decently for a bit over a year, at least around the hubs. Zinc and cadmium/zinc dichromate plated rotors tend to hold up less well than the ceramic or painted rotors simply because the electroplated metal is sacrificial in nature; it 'corrodes' instead of allowing the base metal steel to rust.

 

Yeah it probably would be if I were mechanically inclined but since I'm not & the mechanic charged almost $300 to install them w/pads I really don't wanna pay that much moolah again to get em off for painting. What would have been easy is if I knew how crappy rusty these rotors were before installing them so I could have painted them 1st