Zinc the Rotors...

[Jason Hirsch]

I just spent 4+ hours smashing, drilling, grinding, flaming, soaking, lubricating, and otherwise swearing at the first of 4 rotors I need to replace on my Kia. The hubs were completely rusted in place. No amount of sledging would move it; ended up drilling out the bolts holding it in place... then grinding in some corner cuts until I was through the rotor. At that point I could chisel and inject liquid wrench... and reheat. That whole process there took about an hour after everything else.

So after this (And as I clean up the disaster mess on my driveway), what about attaching a thin zinc from roof flashing between the rotor and hub? There's already a bit of a gap in there, and the zinc should slow down or sacrifice for the rest.

I oddly couldn't find anyone that had done that. Which is troublesome since there's no way I could have that original idea.

Suggestions? I'm going to bed.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

1) It's steel on steel, innit? Wouldn't putting a different kind of metal in there cause more rust with the electro-whatever? (<---- Not a scientist.)
2) The calipers bolt to the hub, not the rotor, so shimming the rotor would cause the caliper alignment to be off. At the very least it would cause some irregular pad wear. I'm not familiar with Kias in general or yours in particular, but on the Hondas I've worked on, the tolerances were too tight for that. The Ford designs I remember seemed a little looser and more forgiving, but it's been a while.
3) There shouldn't be a gap... the inside of the rotor and the flat part of the hub should be pretty much flush. See this guide, ctrl-f for "contact area"
4) That link also has your solution - spreading some anti-seize on the contact/flat part of the wheel hub before you put the rotor on.

 

[mizzou]

anti seize compound brah

 

[Yuriman]

Last time I replaced my rotors, I bought ones with an aluminum-zinc electroplating. They were only around $20 each.

 

[Fenixgoon]

anti seize compound brah

this.

 

[nakedfrog]

Do those rotors not have the holes in them for driving in a bolt to pop them free? I had to make use of those to get the rotors off my Subaru. Obviously a bit late for all the work you put in getting the rotors off this time...