SabrToothSqrl

So, I blacked out my rims w/plasti dip.

and, in this photo you can kind of see how the rusted brakes stick out like a sore thumb...

I'll take a better pic when I get a chance...

anyway. can I paint the ENTIRE rotor? I've seen many people paint all the parts that the pads don't hit, and that makes sense, but won't the pads just eat through nearly any paint within a few stops? Obviously I'll have to be careful, and may only do the rears first to see how this works...

but the plan would be 1. remove rear wheels 2. remove rear rotors, 3. clean rotor rust
4. paint with high temp gloss black spray paint... the whole thing. no masking. all of it.

reinstall

drive carefully lol

but right now the rotor 'top hat' looks awful and rusted... as would the underside of my Tahoe + Jeep if I didn't consume 2-4 cans of ACE Rust stop black and just paint... everything!

why doesn't anyone paint the underside?! in PA... stuff RUSTS!

anyway, since it's only my own life here, any good reason to NOT paint the whole rotor and just let the pads remove the actual braking surfaces?

in2pro

My 2 cents *yes but I would do it with a sacrificial set of pads, I would be concerned the paint may bond with the pad decreasing its efficiency and or causing the pads to stick....

73shark

My thoughts also. If the pads would scrub the paint off, they would probably have to be replaced as their friction surface would be so contaminated that they would no longer function properly.

JCUMV

Why not just mask it off and paint everything but the rotor surface? I've got this same thing on my 2006 Acura TL and have wanted to do this for years. I'm subscribing, so let us know how it turns out. Thanks!

73shark

You could probably cut some masking rings out of cardboard to lay over the rotors and keep 90% of the paint off of the scrub surface.

SabrToothSqrl

disc brakes are fairly self cleaning, I often drive my Jeep through mud up to the door-sills, so the brakes are in mud/water/muck/grass, and after a few miles it has no effect on them...

so why would some paint?

I can't paint them until the spring, I've tried painting metal in the cold before.. it does NOT work, the spray paint just gets bubbly and lumpy...

I know it's just me being lazy, but it would be a lot easier to paint the whole rotor than masking off so much of it...

I obviously don't want to crash because of it, but I'd think the heat and pressure would quickly remove anything between a metal pad and metal rotor...


I wish I had painted the rotors / calibers when it was brand new... next time I guess...

in2pro

When driving anything that hits the rotor and pad is usually still wet and very pliable and has not had time to dry or cure... you will be priming and painting with the intent to let it fully cure prior to assembly and use....
The fact that you are putting something on the friction surface with the intent of it bonding is the crux of the whole endever....
I like 73shark's idea of mitigating it with a 90% tape off ...

SabrToothSqrl

looks like, for the sake of safety, I shall be taping them off...

thank you for the input! I promise to never try to be lazy again.

Since I'm painting 'used' rotors, it will be rather easy to identify what needs painted...

If it makes any difference, I also only plan to paint the outside facing parts... the inside... no one sees. lol

in2pro

I wish I would have had the forethought to paint my rotor hubs when I replaced my rotors when I did my brake job, they were nice and shiny and no rust... now I would have to sand to get down to reasonably bare metal again to get a good prime and top coat...

And I agree with painting only the seen part, yeah sure there is that purest part of me that wants to done complete but there is that practical part of really? no one is ever going to see it except the wheel and alignment guy and who ever does the oil change... and none of them count

73shark

You might get away with painting the swept surface if you had ceramic pads but any other type of pad is probably going to soak up some of the paint as it scrubs it off which would modify its friction coefficient.