Can you buy stainless-steel brake rotors?

[OrangeMustangGt]

just wondering.....my rotors keep rusting up, where the pad dosent contact, and you can easily see it through my rims.....do they make these?

 

[The Green GT]

I know some come with an anti-rust coating.

Not sure how good it works though.

 

[1TallMF]

Lots of good (i.e. expensive) aftermarket rotors have a zinc coating on them, or referred to as "zinc washed". This makes the steel cathodic to the zinc and prevents them from corroding. You may get surface rust on the pad contact area, but that goes away once you start driving. This would be the most economical way to go.

I've never heard of them, but stainless steel rotors probably wouldn't be a good idea, since the chromium that makes the steel "stainless" tends to form a carbide at high temperatures, thus eliminating its ability to passivate the steel, so they'll rust anyways once they heat up a few times. Plus stainless, depending on the type, is quite brittle compared to other alloy steels.

The next step up is ceramic rotors, which, unless you're thinking of hardcore road racing and have a thousand bucks laying around, I wouldn't bother.

 

[Bosko5.0]

ceramic rotor sound nice i guess i gots to go to my swiss bank be back soon.

 

[Therian]

ceramic rotor sound nice i guess i gots to go to my swiss bank be back soon.

They're really really annoying until they warm up...definitely less than perfect for a street car

 

[urban96]

i sprayed mine with some silver high temp paint, holds up pretty well. i do have to respray them like 1-2 times a year to keep them looking mint but its quick and easy to do

 

[69clark]

isn't ss usually very very heavy? Or am I on crack?

 

[bimmertech]

i sprayed mine with some silver high temp paint, holds up pretty well. i do have to respray them like 1-2 times a year to keep them looking mint but its quick and easy to do

 

[mo_dingo]

isn't ss usually very very heavy? Or am I on crack?

It depends on how much chromium they add to the alloy. The chromium is a little lighter than iron, but much heavier than carbon. If they take away carbon and add chromium, it gets heavier, but if the carbon level stays close to the same, and they remove iron to add the chromium, then it will get lighter.

I would guess the difference is negligible until you get into the +100lb range.
Scott

 

[Zero Signal]

My brakes are Adamantium

 

[pleasehelp]

SS rotors? Wouldn't they cost $1000 a pop!?

 

[OrangeMustangGt]

ok, then i'll paint my $25 autozone rotors silver! thanks guys

 

[Killercanary]

I too think you are better off just painting them. I painted mine and they look great.

 

[Therian]

this is what you want

link

obviously you only have to worry about painting the rotor where the caliper doesn't touch it. get some decent grit sand paper and make sure the surface is rough, then use a lighter grade to finish. then spray