Cleaning new rotors

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Someone correct me because I know not what I speak of....engine rebuilders use soapy water to wash engine blocks because (I am told) that it actually cleans the metal better than solvents.


After a cylinder is rehoned with a flex hone or rigid hone a scrub with soapy water and a nylon bristle brush is preferable to cleaning with solvents. This is because small bits of the abrasive material can be lodged inside the bottom of the newly honed scratches. A scrub with hot soapy water dislodges these particles better than a solvent. This needs to be then dried and then followed up with a protecting oil (WD-40, etc) to prevent flash rusting, which will start almost immediately.

With a new brake rotor, brake cleaner should be fine.

 

[1 FMF]

given the way car brakes work, any small bits of material in the pores of the rotor is not going to matter.
the goal is to remove any oil preservative on the rotor that will contaminate the brake pads that cause them to glaze and smoke.
I always felt carb cleaner left some oil residue, so I would not use that as the last step, if you have lots of it then i don't see a problem using that to get the majority of oil off the rotor first, but then follow up with a blast of brakeclean which will dry without a residue or wash with soap & water to remove any remaining oily residue.
What I would be careful of is using water then installing the rotors wet, because they will rust to the wheel hub and make for a hard time removing them in the future. i recommend using some kind of oil or rust preventer on the inside part that contacts the wheel hub to prevent this, just be careful and don't use too much that it splatters to the brake pad contact area, nor the inside drum if it's a hat rotor with a parking brake shoe inside.

 

[SteveSRT8]

And due to the way car brakes work, virtually anything on the rotor or pad will quickly burn off!