Because I care more about this:



than this:

 

I'm a bit shocked at the value placed on something as simple as a zinc plated rotor. To the point of "never buying one of their products again"? I'm sure Brembo is far more concerned about supplying a quality product than bling.

The vast majority of oem rotors on any car are unplated and rust. All iron does. The aftermarket thrives in bling. You can get a number of import parts that will work well as rotors but offer the plated protection of zinc coating. The aftermaket has to offer this simply because of market demands like this one. Plated or not however is no true mark of quality (or lack of) on the part of the rotor. It's just zinc plating (or cad) and in many instances will be worn off in a matter of months when exposed to high heat, salts, rain and road grime. (your result may vary)

For years I offered this as an "extra" to the tune of $55 per kit. Some wanted it, some didn't. Nowadays you have to have it just to be in the hunt! When asked the value of zinc plating; "box appeal" is the answer.

 

So you are trying to tell me that Brembo considers their lowest priced rotor, the one referred to as "replacement rotor" to be "bling"

MBE the vast majority of OEM rotors rust but the ones on my MINI did not.

Again, the reason I will never by Brembo again...

Boooo to Brembo for putting out such crap If they put out a rotor as shown above why would I ever trust them again & spend even more of my money on one of their more expensive rotors? I mean all this rust & I didn't even gain any stopping power.

 

No, I'm suggesting that they are more concerned about things like the construction of the rotor, surface finish, parallelism and balance then having a shiney finish on them.

I don't even sell Brembo so I'm not hurt by our discussion. However to say they are crap for having rust means your don't understand the properties of iron. Yes the oem parts are nicely treated to prolong their look. Hats off to BMW suppliers who do that. But that does not make the Brembo rotor you have in any way inferior. Maybe cosmetics.

They can supply you "more expensive" rotors that come plated or you can have them plated yourself. What's to trust or not? Just because the rotor is not shiny and pretty says nothing of it's quality.

You didn't gain any stopping power not because they were plated or not, but because you can't change out a like size part and make any difference in the math used to calculate rotor torque. If I gave you a 8" long 3/8 ratchet with a plastic handle or a 8" long 3/8 ratchet with a plated handle...which one makes more torque? Understanding the reasons for your purchase and why will go a long way. You want more stopping power; buy some better pads and tires.

I just don't think you're going to find a lot of folks agreeing with your postion here. Regardless of the rust.

 

Of COURSE, cosmetics.... what else IS there???

It's an OCD thing, you wouldn't understand...

Testify, bamatt, testify.

 

You said it all right there. Hats off to BMW suppliers for making a rotor the way it should be made. Which futhers my point that Brembo should have made their replacement rotors that way too. The whole point of the thread is to warn non-racing people away from these rotors. I doubt seriously that someone who races would be buying this rotor anyway.

Please don't insult my intelligence, I may not be mechanically inclined but I have a college degree & I do know that iron rusts. I may not be as smart as you think you are your vendor self but I was assuming that sense my OEM rotors did not rust, the Brembos, which were considered an upgrade , would be at least as good or even better than my OEMs. They are not.

As to the inferior issue... The street stopping power I now have with the Brembo rotors & Hawk HPS pads is not as good as the stop I had with OEM pads & rotors. It's close but not as good. I don't know if it is the rotors, the pads, or both so I can't assign blame there. However; I am not impressed. I do not need more stopping power but equal would have been good.

As to no one agreeing with me this isn't a p!ssing contest but... Frankly you don't know of what you speak there & it is quite presumptuous of you to make that statement I have already forewarned one person who had already purchased the Brembos but not installed them so they were able to paint the hats before installation & the whole point of the thread is to forewarn others so they can also prepaint. I personally will never buy Brembo again, others may, but I would have heartily thanked anyone if they had forewarned me before I installed my rotors.

Oh & p.s... I did not want a shiney finish. A non-rusting, flat primered one would have been fine.

 

I have the plain-faced Brembos on the fronts with the Hawk ceramic pads and they work very well for me, Teresa. I really LOVE the ceramic pads. I'm not an OCDetailers like yourself, but I really appreciate the greatly decreased brake dust. I don't mind the Brembo "patina".....but that's just me.

 

My Hawks are not ceramic but they are very low dust which I do appreciate. If I had it to do all over again thought I would go Hawks with OEM rotors & have low dust & no rust
"patina"

 

It is really only recently that auto manufacturers have started plating/coating rotors. Why? Fancy wheels. Used to be that wheel designs were mostly closed, or in most cases, were simple steel wheels with hubcaps. The braking system was used, not seen. As the aftermarket started coming up with new, open wheel designs and the vehicle manufacturers eventually started offering similar wheels from the factory, what was once hidden was now displayed through open spoke wheel designs. Given the way bare cast iron will rust overnight, people buying new cars were concerned about the rusty rotor hats and calipers in their brand new cars. The solution was to plate or paint the exposed hardware. Given the heat levels experienced by braking systems, it does not take too long for the average coating to burn off. These days, a nonmetallic paint-like coating will outlast a typical plated finish by a considerable amount. The reason for this is simple chemistry; the plated finish deteriorates as it protects the underlying steel. The fact that it's in contact with the steel accelerates the process. Zinc and similar metals dont hold up under the high heat of brake rotors. It looks fine when first installed, but will dull considerably in only a few months time depending on how hord they are used. New ceramic and metallized coatings can take this abuse much longer but are far from permanent. The true measure of a rotor's quality is in it's construction and tolerances first and foremost, the coating does nothing to aid in the braking process. In fact, some coatings can cause other issues, such as causing a continued loosening of lugnuts as the coated surface gets 'squeezed' between the wheel flange and hub. Too thick a coating here can be actually hazardous.

To make a rotor look decent, simply shoot a little bit of high-heat paint on the hat areas with the wheel removed. No need to mask the braking surface from overspray, this will be scrubbed off to just the right point by the pads. Avoid spraying where the wheel contacts the rotor. Hint: for front rotors (on front drive cars at least) idle the engine in gear to make the rotors spin, then shoot the rotor hat area at a 45 degree angle about 6 inches away. You will end up with a nice, even finish. Knock the pad back on non-driven rotors and spin them by hand for the same result.

 

Thanks for the great advice, o Greatbear!

 

Rusty Rotor it's that the name of a group?

 

I think you are on to something here!

"Big Mini and the Rusty Rotors".

 

So... Oh Greatone, what do you recommend for removing the existing rust off my rotor hats
(without removing them from the MINI) before I paint them


with a special guest appearance by bamatt

 

Howbout "Rusty Rotor and the Bama *******"!

Sandpaper would work fine, the rust is not severe. Yet.

 

How bout the Rusty Rotors featuring the Bama Ta-tas

How coarse a sand paper & do you think my rust would be considered severe? It looks severe but I know looks can be deceiving. The rotors have been on since March & the rusting began on day 2 or 3.

 

How 'bout Rusty Rotors and the Bama Rama Ta-tas!

 

Nope the group was Rusty Rotor & the Rooters, a Tex Mex Punk band from Opp Al. There manager was Brembo Rotor who's claim to fame was he was named after a brake company, that was really something special in Opp during the 60's.

I believe Rusty and the Rotors are still around doing Holiday Inn bars in Northeast Alabama they claim to have once opens for Alabama but nobody really believes that to be true.

 

If I ever see them on stage I am going to BOOOO them

 

A fine grit (gritties? ) will do fine, from looking at the pictures.

 

Hats off to Todd at TCE for producing rotors that still look like this after 10,000 miles Sorry for the size of the picture but I wanted everyone to get a good look at Todd's Stuff.




Bill

 

Could you not crop & or resize that pic a bit. I think everyone would get your point at even 25% of that size. Now the thread is very hard to read & post in because of that ginormous image

edited for a nevermind: Thanks for the new auto image resizing feature Mark. Works great

 

Hey, it's kind of a nice picture once it's smaller!

OK, some comments. You got the Brembo rotors, they don't have a resistant finish. You could keep them and do something or replace them with OEM MINI rotors.

By the way, if you remove the Brembo rotors and they are off the car you can easily work on them like you mentioned and after they are treated/painted then you could sell them ready to use.

Many MINI clubs have Do it Yourself parties and removing and replacing rotors is a basic event activity, you might ask around. So then labor would be free (for the fun of it and the learning experience).

Whenever I see rust (the enemy) I pull out my trusty bottle of...
Drumroll please:

Naval Jelly!
http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-81756.../dp/B0007TQW5G
$3.69 for 8 ounce bottle (lasts pretty long).
Brush or spray on, wash off rust with cloth
Replaces sanding and scraping
Suggested Applications: Iron and steel surfaces on cars.

I think I learned about it by removing rust from an old bike I left outdoors. Maybe I was painting the frame or something and it was rusted over a large area.

This stuff helps to reduce the rust then you can very lightly sand and repaint or even finish it off with a little Wheel wax but not on the rotor that hits the brake pads.

I'm not quite sure about why your brakes aren't working better than stock brakes after your upgrades. Rotors don't really make that much difference if they are essential stock sized. Pads make a big difference. Brake fluid can be upgraded, brake lines can help. Some owners find caliper stiffeners help. You can look at your brake fluid and check to see if it needs replacing.
If brake fluid gets old or contaminated by moisture it won't function as well. If air gets in your brake line that would be bad- you can bleed the brakes to eliminate air (another good DIY MINI club activity).

I've learned that rust is my "friend"
Well at least when you are no farther than about 20 miles from the salty ocean in any direction, then it's harder to hide from rust (the chemical process).

 

Before I swapped over to StopTechs, I was using the Brembo "Sport Slotted Rotors". Came with a nice zinc plating that looked great even after 25K miles.
Jim

 

Thanks for the Naval Jelly suggestion minihune. I may give that a try when I start my rust removal/painting project

 

Sorry to hear about your experience with the Brembo's. I have the brembo's myself with the Less-brake dust emiting Mintex pads, and they must have at least 5k mikles on them by now. I love em, but like someone stated, maybe yours didnt get zinc coated?