I thought I would pass on a tip that I use on the disk brake wheel hub to keep it in aesthetically nice looking. As you may have noticed, when your car is new, the wheel hub probably had a nice looking metal finish. Over time, the outer flange of the wheel hub may have a bit of corrosion on it or its general appearance declines. With our open spoke wheels, this can be unsightly. You can always paint the hubs. But this requires careful cleaning, maybe priming and masking. The results can be very good, but a pain to do the job. I have found a product by Wurth called SBS Brake Treatment. The product description states that it is a metalizing treatment designed to prevent brake noise. The company suggests spraying the product directly on the brake disks. My brakes do not make noise, so I have not done that. But the product does an excellent job of preventing rust and corrosion on exposed metal parts. In addition, it applies a nice satin finish of metalized coating on exposed metal that lasts about a year or so. For my car, I removed the wheels and used brake cleaner solution to cleanse the surface of loose contaminates and oil. I then mask off the brake calipers and sprayed the Wurth Brake Treatment directly on the wheel hub. The results are outstanding and there is no drying time required. The metalized coating adheres quickly and there is minimal over spray. I only masked off the caliper. Rotated the wheel hub and sprayed the surface. Any spray on the disk rotors I just ignored. Put the wheels back on and I am good to go. No unsightly wheel hub poking through the open spoke wheels. Regards, Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very cool tip -- thanks! Pretty corny video, but demonstrates the spray in use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXwpuZKfhs
Wow, no idea such a thing existed! Thanks! Hopefully greasing the back of the pads is enough for squeaks, but I understand the hub flange treatment. FWIW, the hub mating surface, as well as the wheels, seem to build up with crud over time. I've had great success stripping it off with 3M roloc wheel hub cleaning disc kits, cleaning w/ solvent, then a thin coating of anti-sieze to prevent galling.
Oh those two geniuses have me sold ... I think I'd have to see some real testing before I'd spray it on the braking surfaces. If you have pad material build up, a typical issue, this fixes that how? And have they done actual braking performance tests once this "stuff" is on the rotor wear surfaces? I could see putting it on the hub portions once they're completely free of dirt and corossion.
If it was any brand but Wurth, I'd be skeptical, but my experience has been that they make GREAT products (though clearly not great videos!). I don't know if I would use it in the capacity shown in video, but it seems perfect as Steve used it on his 360. I used to have a Porsche Carrera 4 that would get surface rust on the hubs if it was humid out, so this looks like it would be a perfect solution for that. It seems like it kind of works like spray-on aluminum plating (this is just a guess on my part based upon the OP's feedback and the video). It must be durable and extremely heat tolerant if they recommend spraying it directly on rotors.
I checked the chemical data sheet on the product ... powdered aluminum 3% by weight. Some solvent, primarily toluene and naphtha. A binding agent, titanium tetrabutanolate (we all are familiar with that, are we not?) and then some propellant. I believe the theory of this is the that on iron disk rotors, the powdered aluminum gets into the pores and helps stop squeaking brakes. I did not spray the rotors, only used the stuff on the wheel hubs ... but what little spray got on the rotors I did not worry about. Someone on the other forum asked if there was a caution about spraying on CCM brake rotors. The answer is that there is no statement about rotor material at all. I would not spray directly on CCM rotors. But, if a bit of spray got on the rotors as a consequence of spraying on the wheel hub, probably no big deal. Steve
I just bought two cans of Wurth SBS Brake Treatment from these fine folks in Modesto, CA ... Goodspeed Motoring - Car Detailing and Restoration Supplies | Car Care Products Cost $10.99 per can plus shipping. Steve
Würth zinc spray is an alternative too. I wish i painted the side edges too in addition to the center.
I don't think it would be as good. Wurth zinc spray requires minimum of 20 minutes drying time and is designed to touch up damaged galvanized metal. Probably fine as long as you don't get on the brake rotors, but the cost is about the same so probably better to go with the product that Wurth endorses for brakes. Steve
Anyone who would judge a car by how anal the owner is in keeping the brake rotors clean needs their head examined (hint: not optically examined.) However, if you really want the problem to go away use 2-piece rotors with anodized aluminum hats.
Thanks for posting this site. I went to the Wurth home site and they had a three can min. and it was approx. $42 plus shipping. I also used to use the Zinc spray but always masked off the pad surface area which was a real pain. I was told many years ago that the zinc spray was what the European mfg. used on new rotor hats. It was a perfect match so I didn't question it. This stuff looks like a much better alternative.
There is only one issue that I have found with this stuff. It only lasts 6 to 12 months or so. Since it is not a paint, the aluminum powder can rub off through car washing, etc. If you are really aggressive with washing, it will wash away slowly and you have to re-apply. Regards, Steve
For those who want a more long term solution in this area here are some pics of freshening the hats using POR15 products. 1. Clean/scrub hat with scotch brite pad and POR15 metal ready solution 2. Keep area wet with POR15 metal ready as directed (1/2 hr) 3. Rinse with water 4. When dry apply POR15 heat resistant paint of your color choice with small foam brush Recently done rotor on my mondial. Excess paint and streaks of the cleaning solution on face of rotor will clean up via brake pads (AKA no masking needed). Pic with red caliper is from my 348 after two years Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks like a really good solution. POR15 usually makes great stuff and brush application is a lot easier than spray for the rotor hats unless you have the rotors off the car. I was a bit concerned about the term heat "resistant", but I looked up the specs and it claims to be good up to 1400 F. On some cars, the rotor hats get a lot of surface rust. I don't care so much about the color of the hats, but rusty is never a good look.
I think what Mitch Alsup is saying is that if you bought your Ferrari to drive as Enzo Ferrari intended, who cares how pretty your brake disc hubs look.
