Preventing rotor rust

Thought I'd ask this here, since most of you are obsessed with aesthetics I'm doing full brake jobs on my 911 and 944 soon, and I hear the rotors rust up pretty quick. They're not cross-drilled, slotted, nothing fancy - just plain rotors. Is there much I can do to prevent future rusting? How do you keep yours so clean?

Drive your car more often.

Are you worried about the actual disc or the rotor hub rusting? Factory OE rotor hubs do not rust, the discs will if you don't drive for a while but that disappears the first instant you apply the brakes.

Drive, drive, drive...

As others said, just drive. Surface rust is fairly common and will disappear shortly after you start driving...

Izzy, I think Jason struck on what you are looking for, not the rotor itself but the hub or hat. The OE on the 996 does not seem to rust: however, they always did on my 944. I think that you can buy them painted and you can have them powder coated when new. If you are talking about the actual rotors then driving the car and putting it away with dry rotors is the only thing I can think of that will keep the rust off.

The "hats" rust pretty regularly and the only remedy that I know of is to have them repainted. It is a DIY and there are several threads on here that will tell you how. I've done mine and it's pretty easy. Put the car up on stands, wheels off, mask, sand, paint (engine block, barbecue grill, or other paint that tolerates high temps will do).

The 911s rotors crapped out pretty quick, the rotor up till the hub was rusted while the car was garaged for the past year (should be a sin). I have seen zinc-coated Zimmerman rotors for almost all the 911s that do not rust, but this is not how I bought them. So painting what amounts to the whole rotor minus the actual contact points of the brake pad is my best bet? I cringe when I think of it turning out like the DIY ricecars on the road, even silver.

dmgcfg & Izzy, I'm curious if you two have seen actual genuine factory OE brake disc hubs rust or were the rotors aftermarket (i.e. Zimmermann)? I've had extremely good luck over the years driving through the salt and snow of New England and Canadian winters without experiencing any rust on OE rotors.

Zimmerman were all I could get for my carrera. It might be a good idea to check and see whats on the car currently but I suspect they're Zimmermans as well.

rust on rotors is a problem..my P is always garaged, but the one day it was at the dealer..and they left it outside (and of course it rained!!)...I walked into their parking lot and the first thing I noticed was the rust on the rotors....what a horrible sight!!! but like everybody before me stated: Drive and it will go away.....

You should clean up old rotors and sand the non contacted areas with 320. Then spray paint with a simular to new light grey heat / engine paint. You can rub off the pad contact point with laquer thinner. Then if you wash the rotors regularly ( 2 to 3 weeks) with fantastic or simple green or 409, and blow off and dry the whole thing with air , they will stay very nice. There will nearly be no rust ever forming. Washing the whole brake system off every couple weeks keeps the calipers and rotors looking nearly new all the time. And keeps the sand and dirt and dust off everything. And keeps the dust from building up around the pads and rotors. You would also wash the wheels and they will stay like new inside and out as well.

PCCB

You're ealier vehicles are different compared to ours..... Our rotors come from the factory with painted hats....... -Eli