You guys who've been doing this for a while have got to have seen this before. I'm looking at the rear axles; specifically the brake discs and the pressure fitting pieces you can see from the outside of the wheels. The Wide 5 discs I have are aluminum with the press-fitted steel centers; the castle nut grows out of the steel part, while the aluminum holds onto the wheel.
I painted the steel parts orange when I first put them on the car, and for a long time now, there's been a slow streak of grease centrifugally making its way out of a hairline crack where the aluminum and steel meet.
I'm guessing that's not normal, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. I've never seen it before, and I'm thinking in the back of my mind that it might not be a bad idea to replace the brake discs before I have some kind of catastrophe.
It's winter. It's a daylong project and some overtime money for parts. If y'all have seen this before, I'd like to know what the ideal solution is -- or whether it's the nature of the beast and I shouldn't worry. In the picture, taken the day I put them on, the orange extends to the edge of the steel center, and the aluminum is unpainted. The crack is faintly irregular.
I've been driving on the streaky grease leaks for about 5K miles or so. There has been significantly less leakage since the rear axle seals were put in in September, and I'm overall not up in arms about it. The backing plates needed a slight adjustment at that time, and the problem hasn't worsened since. Had I not painted the centers, I might not have noticed the cracks -- I'll get a current picture the next time I'm in front of the car.
I'm open to suggestions and speculation. These are my first Wide 5s.
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