**Any Idea`s for Plating New Rotors??

[Synapse]

Hello all-



I just bought 4 new drilled & slotted Baer Eradispeed rotors for the "bling" factor on my ZR-1. They have been zinc washed from the factory but I think a heavier plating, zinc/silver cadmium, may give beter prolonged protection as well as a silver shinny appearence?



Anyone know what the best plating would be for a chrom/silver shine & best rust prevention? I`m sure the concours level cars have done something on this level. My rotors are new & I thought before installation this would be the time to have it done. Thanks for any coments/ideas/references.... :woot2:

[BoxsterCharlie]

There was a guy here who did a cadmium plate on his rotors (Mercedes, I think), and it looked amazing. The whole rotor was plated, but it quickly wore off the swept surfaces and still looked great...in particular the normally dull "hats" area of the rotor.

[BoxsterCharlie]

Member name is MBZ 500e and check out a couple photos here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mbz_500e/my_photos



There was also a thread about it, but it seems to have lost all the detail photos.

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29839&highlight=cadmium

[Synapse]

Hey Boxster....



Thanks for those posts, you gave me allot of info there. I sent MBZ 55E an e-mail to see how things are holding up with his rotors. I`m just glad to see someone else do it and see what finish they decided on-helps me decide. I did read that the Cad finish is suppose to hold up longer though, well who knows...



Thanks again, really appreciate your time & reply! :xyxthumbs

[Accumulator]

Noting that I`m not taking the time to review those old threads :o Didn`t he have `em done in electroless nickel instad of cad?



I`ve considered having mine done in either of those, but ended up getting the M3`s rotors done in zinc. The place (my mechanic sent `em out) did such a lousy job that I`m debating having them redone, so "buyer beware".



I`ve been putting off having new rotors for the S8 done as I can`t decide which way to go...

[audicoupej]

Eastwood sells something that adds a zinc coating too. I`m thinking of trying it out. I replaced my front rotors a few months ago and they aren`t bad yet but will be after the winter. You could always paint the surfaces that are not swept. It`s cheaper and you know it was done to your standards.

[Accumulator]

Heh heh, noting that I`m a big Eastwood supporter, I bet the DIY painting would work out a lot better than the DIY plating ;) Considering that the pros messed up my rotors it must not be all that simple. Painting on the other hand *is* pretty simple and easy to do well. I bet caliper/drum paint would be the best choice...

[audicoupej]

Considering that the pros messed up my rotors it must not be all that simple.



Good point Accumulator. Painting it is then (for me anyways).

[Synapse]

Noting that I`m not taking the time to review those old threads :o Didn`t he have `em done in electroless nickel instad of cad?



I`ve considered having mine done in either of those, but ended up getting the M3`s rotors done in zinc. The place (my mechanic sent `em out) did such a lousy job that I`m debating having them redone, so "buyer beware".



I`ve been putting off having new rotors for the S8 done as I can`t decide which way to go...



His were electroless Ni coated. From my reading to date, the best protection would be a Zinc-alloy eg. ZiNi or ZiFe with a hexavalent chromate top finish. Yea... now just try to find someplace that will do that, only two plating services available in MT and neither do Zinc period. I understand the zinc must be top coated to prevent "white" rusting.



Anyone know a good zinc-alloy plater, please chime in..... :think:

[MBZ 500E]

Bob,



Just got your PM. Unfortunately I don`t own the MBZ anymore so to be honest I`m not sure how they`re holding up. When I began searching into various types of plating nearly all said that the Nickel plate would hold up better than CAD plating.



Zinc plating may be better but I believe you would be hard pressed to find anyone who does that anymore. I guess there were some major environmental issues with the zinc plating process. If you ever look in older German engines you`ll see many parts were zinc plated for protection, held up well and looked nice.



When it comes time to change my 928 rotors I will have them Nickel plated, I was happy with the results.



Good luck with whichever direction you go and definitely post before/after pics and how they wear with time.

[Bbasso]

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=134&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C389%2C400%2C407&KickerID=49&KICKER



I hope the link works, But to be honest... If you drive the car hard the temps will kill any coating you put on, the best thing I have found so far is your basic hi-temp paint, make sure you wire brush the area that will be painted very very well to remove all debri and wipe with prep before painting. I have more then 40k+ miles on mine and the paint is still there and shinny.

[Accumulator]

MBZ 500E- Hey, stranger :D seems like I haven`t seen you on here for a while. Hope all is well with you and that you`re enjoying that 928..sometimes I still think about mine.



Bbasso- I`d wondered about the heat issue...I haven`t tracked any of my cars in ages but the S8 does get its brakes really hot.

[Dominus]

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=134&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C389%2C400%2C407&KickerID=49&KICKER



I hope the link works, But to be honest... If you drive the car hard the temps will kill any coating you put on, the best thing I have found so far is your basic hi-temp paint, make sure you wire brush the area that will be painted very very well to remove all debri and wipe with prep before painting. I have more then 40k+ miles on mine and the paint is still there and shinny.



I was also wondering why you would want to coat brake rotors when it`s just going to wear off through normal use. If you want to do something that will help the life of your brake rotors, send them in to get cryo treated.

[Accumulator]

I was also wondering why you would want to coat brake rotors when it`s just going to wear off through normal use. If you want to do something that will help the life of your brake rotors, send them in to get cryo treated.



The plating/painting is purely a cosmetic concern. I`ve had cryoed rotors on a number of my cars for functional reasons, but on *all* my vehicles the rusty appearance of an unplated/unpainted rotor, especially after some hard winters, really bugs me. It`s starting to bug me so much that I`m gonna do something about it one of these days...thought I was handling it with the zinc plating my mechanic sent them out for (in addition to the cryo job), but the crappy plating job isn`t close to good enough.



The plating/painting will only wear off the swept surfaces, there`s still a lot of area left that`ll look better if it`s not rusty ;)

[Dominus]

The plating/painting is purely a cosmetic concern. I`ve had cryoed rotors on a number of my cars for functional reasons, but on *all* my vehicles the rusty appearance of an unplated/unpainted rotor, especially after some hard winters, really bugs me. It`s starting to bug me so much that I`m gonna do something about it one of these days...thought I was handling it with the zinc plating my mechanic sent them out for (in addition to the cryo job), but the crappy plating job isn`t close to good enough.



The plating/painting will only wear off the swept surfaces, there`s still a lot of area left that`ll look better if it`s not rusty ;)



Gotcha. It definitely will look good in the slots and drilled areas. Rusty rotors kinda of bug me also. The stock rotors on my rex rust as soon as there is any moisture. Even high humidity will start them rusting.