I noticed today that my front rotors are shiny like polished nickel, but my rear rotors have more of a burned finish. All the surfaces are smooth. There is 15,000 km on the car. Is you 8 like this too?

 

burned color?!?! that shouldn't be right....

 

What do you mean by "burned finish"? The only thing I can think of that could explain the discoloration is that over time a thin layer of pad transfers onto the rotor and makes it a darker colour. On all the cars I've ever seen, the colour is about the same on the front and on the rear, but maybe the RX-8 is different. In any case, if the colour is silver, dark grey or anything in between, it sounds normal to me.

 

As long as it isn't blue hot when you are using your brakes hard, it should be ok

 

Or are you talking about your engine rotors?

 

Stew: Rear engine rotors?

 

Well ... if your rear rotors are heating up more than the fronts, you probably have stuck brakes.

However since you used burned as a descriptor of the color, it's probably because the front brakes do more of the work? Or an inconsistency in the finish. My car's parked waaay out there in the parking lot, so I'm not going to make the trip to check it now ...

 

Well, the usual reason that a car does this is that someone drove around with the emergency brake on, however, there could be other reasons. My rotors are all the same color, but they are kind of old. I have about 35,000 miles on the car. Anyway, no matter what, I doubt if it is a problem. All the best.

 

Well, isn't one in front and one in back?

 

Ah! I thought of that, and expected that response. He did say "rear engine rotors". Plural!

 

Thought for today: In a disc brake, how come the disc thingy isn't called a disc but a rotor?