Here we go with another how-to!  I was looking at the brake rotor the other day, and decided that something needed to be done with it.   Too plain & with surface rust starting to form.  Here's what I came up with.  Let me know what you think.

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Here's the rotor after removing from the front wheel.  I'm not going to go into the front wheel removal... it's fairly straight-forward.  E-mail me for specifics.  Just take a piece of 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper & remove all surface rust, grease & other gunk.  Doesn't have to be down to shiny metal, just enough to smooth out the surface & clean it up.

 

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This is after about 10-15 minutes with the wet/dry paper.  The side stamped with the minimum thickness of the rotor is the outside in case you forgot to make note of it.

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Now it's time to mask off the areas that you don't want to paint.  Get yourself a roll of real masking tape intended for painting.   It's cheap, and the paint won't "leach" under the edges like generic masking tape will. Go around the whole disk on both sides.

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After you have the outside edges taped, run your thumbnail around the circumference of the rotor to set the tape.  This helps keep the paint from seeping under the edge, and gives you a line to follow for the next step.

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Take a new razor blade, and follow lightly around the edge you just pressed in with your nail.

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Now carefully peel the tape away from the center of the hub.

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Here's the rotor masked & ready to prime & paint.

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I painted the rotor in this mini spray booth.   I hung the rotor with a section of coat hanger through the top of the box.   The wire going through the top I bent into a small "Crank" so I was able to rotate the rotor in the box while I was painting.

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Here's after the primer coat.  Don't skip the primer... It gives the paint something to stick to.

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After the primer dries for about 45 minutes or so, I used a small piece of paper from a brown grocery bag like a piece of sandpaper.   This smoothes out the surface of the primer, and is faster than wet sanding again.

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Now I shot two coats of gloss black, followed by 1 coat of clear & let dry for a few hours.

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After the paint dries for several hours, I painted the slots to match the color scheme of my bike.

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Here's the finished rotor ready to mount on the wheel.  Isn't that purdy?.

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And the rotor back on the wheel, ready for the bike.  Cleaned up the bolts while wheel was off.

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And now the wheel back on the bike.  Really makes a big visual impact on the left side of the bike.

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And the final product.  Total time, about 4-5 hours.  Mostly waiting for paint to dry & such.  This is a fairly easy thing to do, but is time consuming.  Maybe something better left to do in the winter, or a rainy Saturday.  That's it.  Let me know what you think.   ~Oldsarge~

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