Brake rotors - what you do to keep them looking good?

[leedriver]

After putting my wheels on a while back its now time for me to do something about my rotors and calipers....

Have any of you guys bought aftermarket rotors that look good, and have stayed that way? I've done quite a bit of searching and there just isn't a lot of options out there.... I was going to go with Powerslots, since they are plated, until reading way into the fine print and seeing that the fronts for 2WD F150's (04-08) aren't coated. I have also been looking at Centric premium rotors, they have the black E-coat on them. I believe these use to be Stop-tech rotors and got bought out.

As for the calipers, I'm sure I can take them off, clean them up good and paint them myself. But I got nothing on rotors..... Any suggestions??

[tdr6874]

what do you mean by looking good????...do you mean the face of the disc itself or the center of the disc where the lugs are and meet the wheel and the outer section that tends to discolor and or get some surface rust. 

if you mean the area that is not swept clean by the pad, you can use a high temp paint for exhaust...POR-15makes a great paint...sometimes its hard to find so i just get it online, a tip on the por-15 a little goes a long way, a pint would easy do all rotors...i used a high temp on exhaust manifolds and its the nuts....

for a little easier find duplicolor makes a good hi temp wheel paint...i would bet it would work

if you settle on painting them, use just enough to cover dont get crazy, i would not want to make them out of balance once up to speed if it gets too thick on one spot.....


link to por-15 products
http://www.por15.com/

[leedriver]

what do you mean by looking good????...do you mean the face of the disc itself or the center of the disc where the lugs are and meet the wheel and the outer section that tends to discolor and or get some surface rust. 

yes, I was referring to the outside ring, and center hub where the wheel mounts up. Mine are pretty rusty now, and I have about 42K miles, so I've debated replacing them....

I was curious if anyone has had good luck with any aftermarket rotors really. Worst case I'll pick some up locally and paint what I can on them before installing them.

[Too Stroked]

I used the POR paint on the hats of all 4 of my rotors and it's great. The problem - unique to F-150's is the undersized brakes. I'm on my 3rd set of pads (all the way around) and still have way too much brake dust for my taste. The dust gets all over everything and you have a rather nasty mess to deal with. On the bright side, nothing with the POR on it has rusted.

[FireFighter]

I did the Duplicolor Caliper paint about 2-3 years ago and it still looks great. I chose black for mine and Mom's Xterra, but then did Red on a 1985 (or was it an 87?) Mazda 323 Hatchback... Looked really sharp...

Anywho, yeah-- its a slick kit to get, and its only 15-20 bucks...

Rotors? You've got me. I'm now listening to the others posting about this...

[M3Chris]

2nd! Paint the center sections of the rotors, then just drive it.. the pads will keep the braking area clean  :thumbsiup:

[attworth]

I second the POR-15 stuff. It's excellent. And like tdr said - a little goes a LONG way. POR-15 is also supposed to prevent future rusting, although with brake dust eating at it I'm not sure how it'll react.

[Too Stroked]

I've had the POR-15 on the front & rear rotor hats on the truck for 2 years and on the rotor hats (front) and brake drums (rear) of my Scion for about a year and a half. Not a speck of rust yet - and I'm driving in a fairly severe environment with heat, salt, snow, brake dust and about everything else one could throw at it. Amazing stuff.