[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by JRitt

Happy Holidays guys!:happy0180:
I woke up, grabbed some coffee, pushed aside my visions of sugar plums, and gave a quick scan of this thread. On the topic of road salt & corrosion. You have to realize that the calipers are not the only piece a performance brake system that can be potentially damaged by road salt. ANY aluminum part can be a potential issue. The most common area for corrosion due to adverse conditions is actually the disc hats.

Why? Think about it a second. A 2-piece aluminum hat is sandwiched to an iron disc with hardware. Although the fitment is tight, there is plenty of room for salt and debris to get between the aluminum hat and the disc. Once that salt gets into the little gaps, it starts to eat the aluminum, whether it is anodized or not. Anodizing certainly increases the protection tremendously, but the salt will stilll do a number on discs if it is left to gnaw away at them. While I was at my last job, we had some issues in that area, particularly on Audi's. The Audi guys tend to drive their AWD cars all year in adverse conditions, so it makes sense that is where the problem crops up. Do a search on 'hat corrosion' and you'll probably find something. The salt works it's way in around the attachment points. The aluminum gets brittle, and starts to flake and crack in that area, causing a failure.

The reality is that any aftermarket system with a 2-piece disc is going to be equally open to corrosion issues in that area. That is the most vulnerable area for these issues, and where most people would run into problems.

Why don't many OEM cars come from the factory with a two-piece disc...even high end sports cars? Cost is obviously an issue, but corrosion, noise, vibration, and harshness are the others.

Don't forget about the aluminum caliper bracket in any aftermarket system as well. A bunch of caked on road salt is not going to do a caliper bracket any good. That's one reason why most factory Brembo's and AP's are lug mount. In other words, they bolt directly to the upright and eliminate the aluminum adapter bracket.

And how would you feel if a customer painted their rotor hats (which they would have to first disassemble?) and/or caliper in seeking corrosion resistance? Sigh, someone buy me a winter beater and storage space for my BRZ.