4 Rusted Rotors

[Ron Yu]

My service advisor is telling me that this is a universal feature of all Lucid Airs. Do y’all have rusted rotors too?

I hope Peter Rawlinson sees this post (and pictures)… do you think he would approve?

He was the architect of the Tesla Model S and my 2016 and 2018 Model S vehicles had no such rust. I have 2 Lincoln’s and they have no such rust.

 

[borski]

First of all, please read the guidelines. The tone of your post is inappropriate, and could have been rephrased as a question without the vitriol. Please don't do that again.

As for your question: rotor rust is very common, especially among EVs. The rust is superficial (a thin orange film on the braking surface). It usually goes away as you drive the vehicle for a bit and engage the braking system. The reason it is more common in EVs is because we don't use the brakes nearly as much, so they rust while they remain unused.

Go get on the highway and actually use the brake pedal 5-10 times to slow down, then look at your rotors.

There's no harm in superficial rusting of the rotors.

 

[Ron Yu]

First of all, please read the guidelines. The tone of your post is inappropriate, and could have been rephrased as a question without the vitriol. Please don't do that again.

As for your question: rotor rust is very common, especially among EVs. The rust is superficial (a thin orange film on the braking surface). It usually goes away as you drive the vehicle for a bit and engage the braking system. The reason it is more common in EVs is because we don't use the brakes nearly as much, so they rust while they remain unused.

Go get on the highway and actually use the brake pedal 5-10 times to slow down, then look at your rotors.

There's no harm in superficial rusting of the rotors.

The rust I am referring to is not on the rotor surface. From my pictures you will see that the rust is on the “non caliper contact” points so braking will not remove it.

 

[Ron Yu]

The rust I am referring to is not on the rotor surface. From my pictures you will see that the rust is on the “non caliper contact” points so braking will not remove it.

Hey Borski, I see we at neighbors in Cupertino… we should connect up and share our Lucid love fest! Let me know if you’d like to grab a cup…

 

[Cossa]

Ron, I have the same concerns. Mine isn’t as bad as yours but the rusty hubs are visible with the aero covers removed.

 

[hydbob]

If it's a true concern, have them buffed and painted. This is purely a cosmetic issue.

 

[borski]

Hey Borski, I see we at neighbors in Cupertino… we should connect up and share our Lucid love fest! Let me know if you’d like to grab a cup…

DM me and I’d be happy to.

 

[Ron Yu]

I’ll reach out to connect with you on LinkedIn!

 

[Ron Yu]

If it's a true concern, have them buffed and painted. This is purely a cosmetic issue.

Yes, certainly cosmetic. My motivation is to help Lucid be aware of these misses so they can remedy and protect their luxury brand image. I ran into a Lucid marketer and he said that they are very intentional about understanding customer experience.

 

[Ron Yu]

Ron, I have the same concerns. Mine isn’t as bad as yours but the rusty hubs are visible with the aero covers removed.

Yikes Cosa, thanks for sharing! Back in the day I rotated tires on my own and have never seen that kind of rust. I’ve appealed to my service advisor that this doesn’t bode well for Lucid’s brand image so he is going to investigate more vs. writing it off. It really matters because once I took the aero covers off (I think the car shows great with the open wheels!) now the rust is very noticeable.

 

[Shane_SLC]

My wheels have always had that rust on the inner ring as well. I would have preferred to take the aero caps off permanently, but dealing with the rust and brake dust and dirt was just too much of a hassle for me. In hindsight I should have had my car delivered either 21's and ordered the 19's for the winter. This ring of rust is much less noticeable on the other wheels, IMO.

 

[Shane_SLC]

Yikes Cosa, thanks for sharing! Back in the day I rotated tires on my own and have never seen that kind of rust. I’ve appealed to my service advisor that this doesn’t bode well for Lucid’s brand image so he is going to investigate more vs. writing it off. It really matters because once I took the aero covers off (I think the car shows great with the open wheels!) now the rust is very noticeable.

Also, you've probably noticed the scratched from the aero inserts on the black-finished surface of the wheels. You'd have to have the wheels refinished/repainted if you really want to keep the aero caps off for good. From personal experience I'd recommend just keeping the aero caps on, or ordering a different set of wheels if you really don't like the look. Unfortunately it's extremely difficult to keep the 20's looking good unless you kept the aero caps off since delivery.

 

[borski]

View attachment 18051
My wheels have always had that rust on the inner ring as well. I would have preferred to take the aero caps off permanently, but dealing with the rust and brake dust and dirt was just too much of a hassle for me. In hindsight I should have had my car delivered either 21's and ordered the 19's for the winter. This ring of rust is much less noticeable on the other wheels, IMO.

There are cleaners you can use to wipe that off, too.

Brake Buster Total Wheel Cleaner

Safely removes accumulated brake dust, oil, dirt, stains and light corrosion from premium quality wheels without damaging the delicate surface. Brake Buster is a unique cleaning gel that adheres to the wheel surface and penetrates the dirt deposits to clean them away. Brake Buster deposits a...

psdetailproducts.com

TUGA Devil Special Wheel Cleaner 1L (34oz)

TUGA Devil Special® is an acid-free, phosphate free, highly efficient wheel cleaner which easily removes baked on brake dust and a variety of heavy contaminants.

www.carpro-us.com

CARPRO IronX 500ml (17oz)

CarPro Iron X (500ml) is a highly effective, acid-free and pH balanced decontamination product safe for use on most automotive surfaces!

www.carpro-us.com

Adam's Wheel Cleaner

Adam's Wheel Cleaner is the best wheel cleaner you will ever use; it cleans wheels while dissolving brake dust. The color changing formula of Adam's Wheel Cleaner lets you know its working. Plus, it doesn't smell as bad as some other wheel cleaner out there!

adamspolishes.com

Those are for wheels. Most are also safe for paint, in case there is brake dust or contaminants in your paint, but read the instructions.

Then there are the *real* brake cleaners:

https://www.crcindustries.com/brakleen-174-pro-series-brake-parts-cleaner-non-flammable-29-wt-oz/ (this one causes cancer and Parkinson’s, for real, but is by far the best one. wear gloves and VOC mask and eye protection if you use it, and use it sparingly; you also cannot buy this in CA)

https://www.crcindustries.com/brakleen-174-brake-parts-cleaner-scaqmd-1171-compliant-14-wt-oz/ (this is the non-chlorinated much safer version; doesn’t work quite as well but also doesn’t kill you, so YMMV)

 

[hmp10]

I'm a little confused by these posts. In the 20 years I've owned homes in south Florida, I've never had a car that didn't accumulate rust on the brake rotors, and quickly, too, when sitting after a rain or car wash. Sometimes the rotors would bind to the point that you felt and heard a dull pop as the rotors broke free when you started to move. Unless you have carbon fiber discs, you're dealing with cast iron here, folks. It rusts.

 

[Shane_SLC]

There are cleaners you can use to wipe that off, too.

Brake Buster Total Wheel Cleaner

Safely removes accumulated brake dust, oil, dirt, stains and light corrosion from premium quality wheels without damaging the delicate surface. Brake Buster is a unique cleaning gel that adheres to the wheel surface and penetrates the dirt deposits to clean them away. Brake Buster deposits a...

psdetailproducts.com

TUGA Devil Special Wheel Cleaner 1L (34oz)

TUGA Devil Special® is an acid-free, phosphate free, highly efficient wheel cleaner which easily removes baked on brake dust and a variety of heavy contaminants.

www.carpro-us.com

CARPRO IronX 500ml (17oz)

CarPro Iron X (500ml) is a highly effective, acid-free and pH balanced decontamination product safe for use on most automotive surfaces!

www.carpro-us.com

Adam's Wheel Cleaner

Adam's Wheel Cleaner is the best wheel cleaner you will ever use; it cleans wheels while dissolving brake dust. The color changing formula of Adam's Wheel Cleaner lets you know its working. Plus, it doesn't smell as bad as some other wheel cleaner out there!

adamspolishes.com

Those are for wheels. Most are also safe for paint, in case there is brake dust or contaminants in your paint, but read the instructions.

Then there are the *real* brake cleaners:

https://www.crcindustries.com/brakleen-174-pro-series-brake-parts-cleaner-non-flammable-29-wt-oz/ (this one causes cancer and Parkinson’s, for real, but is by far the best one. wear gloves and VOC mask and eye protection if you use it, and use it sparingly; you also cannot buy this in CA)

https://www.crcindustries.com/brakleen-174-brake-parts-cleaner-scaqmd-1171-compliant-14-wt-oz/ (this is the non-chlorinated much safer version; doesn’t work quite as well but also doesn’t kill you, so YMMV)

Great suggestions! I personally used KochChemie Magic Wheel Cleaner and the stronger Brakleen formula without much success, but that was with the wheel still on. If I had pulled the wheels off entirely and worked at it I probably could have gotten everything rust-free, although I'm worried I would have been doing this more often than I'd like. Sadly, the sections I had repainted to cover up the aero insert scratches were already looking like crap anyways, as the paint was starting to peel up in spots along the barrel, so I just decided to give up and throw the aero inserts back in for good. Next time I will avoid wheels with aero inserts if at all possible.

 

[hydbob]

Great suggestions! I personally used KochChemie Magic Wheel Cleaner and the stronger Brakleen formula without much success, but that was with the wheel still on. If I had pulled the wheels off entirely and worked at it I probably could have gotten everything rust-free, although I'm worried I would have been doing this more often than I'd like. Sadly, the sections I had repainted to cover up the aero insert scratches were already looking like crap anyways, as the paint was starting to peel up in spots along the barrel, so I just decided to give up and throw the aero inserts back in for good. Next time I will avoid wheels with aero inserts if at all possible.

What paint did you use?

 

[Shane_SLC]

What paint did you use?

I paid some local wheel refinishing guys to do it so I'm not sure.

 

[hydbob]

I paid some local wheel refinishing guys to do it so I'm not sure.

It's entirely probable that they didn't use the high temp paint, I'd try that again if you cared that much.

 

[Shane_SLC]

It's entirely probable that they didn't use the high temp paint, I'd try that again if you cared that much.

Idk, I feel like I've wasted enough money on this set of wheels already. Maybe I'll think about ordering a set of 21's on summer tires and then keep my 20's for winter. I do love the look of the 21's...

 

[Ron Yu]

There are cleaners you can use to wipe that off, too.

Brake Buster Total Wheel Cleaner

Safely removes accumulated brake dust, oil, dirt, stains and light corrosion from premium quality wheels without damaging the delicate surface. Brake Buster is a unique cleaning gel that adheres to the wheel surface and penetrates the dirt deposits to clean them away. Brake Buster deposits a...

psdetailproducts.com

TUGA Devil Special Wheel Cleaner 1L (34oz)

TUGA Devil Special® is an acid-free, phosphate free, highly efficient wheel cleaner which easily removes baked on brake dust and a variety of heavy contaminants.

www.carpro-us.com

CARPRO IronX 500ml (17oz)

CarPro Iron X (500ml) is a highly effective, acid-free and pH balanced decontamination product safe for use on most automotive surfaces!

www.carpro-us.com

Adam's Wheel Cleaner

Adam's Wheel Cleaner is the best wheel cleaner you will ever use; it cleans wheels while dissolving brake dust. The color changing formula of Adam's Wheel Cleaner lets you know its working. Plus, it doesn't smell as bad as some other wheel cleaner out there!

adamspolishes.com

Those are for wheels. Most are also safe for paint, in case there is brake dust or contaminants in your paint, but read the instructions.

Then there are the *real* brake cleaners:

https://www.crcindustries.com/brakleen-174-pro-series-brake-parts-cleaner-non-flammable-29-wt-oz/ (this one causes cancer and Parkinson’s, for real, but is by far the best one. wear gloves and VOC mask and eye protection if you use it, and use it sparingly; you also cannot buy this in CA)

https://www.crcindustries.com/brakleen-174-brake-parts-cleaner-scaqmd-1171-compliant-14-wt-oz/ (this is the non-chlorinated much safer version; doesn’t work quite as well but also doesn’t kill you, so YMMV)

Oh wow you guys are triggering my car detailing OCD!

First I use Gyeon Iron Wheel Cleaner on the rotors and then BrakeBuster on the wheels/ rims. The problem is I can’t get even a toothbrush in and around the rotor cap/ hub to scrub out all the rust.

Great comments about the 20” wheel design not favorable for rust prone rotors (non brake pad contact points). I hope Lucid fixes this down the road by going with different parts suppliers.

And yes because of my OCD, I have noticed the scratches left by the aero covers. From 4 feet away those blemishes are not too noticeable (unlike the rust) so I try not to look. LOL!