Can one sand the corrosion of the tip of ones rotor without losing important contact with the distributor contacts. Not that I would actually do this, it's for a friend. :o

One Could, But Should One?
 

First, nice name (my son's name is also Hunter)! :)

Depends upon what kind of car, the amount of corrosion, the age of the original distributor cap, and how aggressive one is in doing so. But Sanding? Heavens no! :rolleyes:

The first suggestion I would have would be to use CLR and an old toothbrush to remove the primary corrosion, then use either an eraser used for removing ink, and/or an emery board to buff it up. You should, I'm sorry, your friend should, do the rotor as well. But be careful with the contact for the ignition coil, most are made of carbon, not brass or copper.

TTFN...

Unless there is material loss (change of shape - larger gap)I wouldn't worry about what the rotor tip or distributor contacts look like. Believe me the electricity doesn't.

The problems with caps and rotors include severely burned contacts (causing larger gaps), carbon tracking (which provides lower resistant spark paths), and in the case of rotors; high voltage shorts to ground through the rotor shaft.