Gary_in_NJ wrote on 05/20/20 at 12:42:37:Tocsik wrote on 05/20/20 at 08:31:45:
How much roughness would you guys tolerate in your front rotor?
It's like, totally groovy, man. Not rough, but kinda like a vinyl album, but deeper.
Rode it to work on back roads this morning to be gentle on the new pads and it fells much better, but concerned about the grooves and overall thinness of the rotor.
Had time to do a little reading and saw posts from a few years back where several high profile members here said to keep going with it unless it feels warped. I don't feel any pulsing.
If your rotor has grooves, it's time for replacement because:
1. It will corrode inside the grooves,
2. You have less surface area for the pads to bite into, which means longer stopping
Actually, the opposite is true
3. You will wear out the pads faster
Initially, yes, but the pads will polish the rough stuff down pretty quick,
4. Eventually the pads will "grab" onto the rotor and will not let go. This will produce heat that will cause the caliper to fail. When that happens you will not have a front brake.
Maybe on some race applications,, but not even a remote possibility on this bike
Why not just do the job correct and replace the rotor.
IDK ,, everything has wear limits, safety requirements,, and the front brake is The single most safety feature..
A series of hard braking moments and a dash through a wet spot in the street, quenching that rotor,, that is the recipe for a warp.. at what wear point is it likely to crack? I have no idea..
There's some really smart guys here, maybe someone knows enough about metals to Splain us something..
The grooves from letting it go too long are concentric, once the pads are cut to fit in the grooves, you have more braking surface area.
The best brakes on anything I had was 78 Gran Prix , I let the pads cut deep, like , everyone said replace them, I bought cheap pads, and they polished the rotors,, then put good ones on..
Didn't take too long for the pads to adopt the contours,, and, boy , that thing stopped,, the Michelins didn't hurt.
But, that's a car, cast iron, not a bike,, and you're well below the wear limit it seems.. You probably should be shopping around, I would, but I would not park my bike over it.
You have a disk
That's a pattern
No idea what material to use
But I wonder what having a water jet cutter ..