Interesting photo. It's pretty easy to see where the wave rotors are concentrating their heat. I don't recall having seen any spectacular hotspots like that on my stock R1 rotors last time I turned mine blue.

"Turning rotors blue since '82."

 

LOL Reminds me of when I smoked down my rear rotor pretty good while braking hard after racing somebody. Smoke coming off it and it turned a brilliant shade of blue.

 

You know, I have stock lines and rotors and have never had a problem stuffing someone on the brakes before...

nice pic though :thumbup

 

Oh I love my brakes Muahahah

 

It's time to sand blast those rotors. I can see pad build up, and keeping it there will not be good for your disks or pads. How many miles do you have on those rotors?

 

Mr Garcia, Could You help us out as to what is indicating pad build up and what would You recommend as to how often the rotors should be sand or bead blasted? Thanks For Your Input . . .

Ps . . .Knee Hush up, with Your Super Human lean angles etc. . . the rest of us mere mortals are just scraping the surface here . . . Grinz

 

When your rotor blades look like they have a fine grey sand on the surface, it is time to blast them. I would also recommend that you blast your rotors after every race, every trackday to every other, and if you are on the street, about every 6 months or so. I sand my rotors everytime I service my chain. Its a nice way to remember that you should do it. A clean rotor will run much much cooler, and produce much more friction along with extending the life of you brake pads.

 

:bow . . .Great Stuff, Thanks . . .

 

When your rotor blades look like they have a fine grey sand on the surface, it is time to blast them. I would also recommend that you blast your rotors after every race, every trackday to every other, and if you are on the street, about every 6 months or so. I sand my rotors everytime I service my chain. Its a nice way to remember that you should do it. A clean rotor will run much much cooler, and produce much more friction along with extending the life of you brake pads.

what do you use for the actual sanding process.
I've always used a little brake clean with a good clean scotch brite pad.....

but i would be interested tyo heazr your opinion.......

 

Brake cleaner can leave residue, or even contaminate brake pads, the only thing brake cleaner is good for is clean bare calipers, or cleaning oil stains on the drive way. Use 220 grit wet/dry sand paper on the rotors, circle motion on both sides with water, and wipe clean with a damp cloth. This will take care of the build up, and ensure that your pads come in great contact with the rotors, and not built up material.

 

Brake cleaner can leave residue, or even contaminate brake pads, the only thing brake cleaner is good for is clean bare calipers, or cleaning oil stains on the drive way. Use 220 grit wet/dry sand paper on the rotors, circle motion on both sides with water, and wipe clean with a damp cloth. This will take care of the build up, and ensure that your pads come in great contact with the rotors, and not built up material.

Actually i meant contact cleaner, not brake clean. The same stuff i use to preclean electrical connections before applying dielectric grease....
my bad.
do you use a block with the sand paper or do you just do it by hand? I was thinking a block would be better, but then again, i'm not the expert here.:sneaky

 

...you know you brake hard when your front tire life is shorter than your rear...

:fact

...sorry,no pics.

 

Soap and water while you sand is all you need. No cleaners are recommended at all. As far as using a block or doing it by hand... either will be fine. The block will enable you to do more at a single time, but I wouldn't worry about using it to prevent "dishing" or anything. Hand = easy , block = easier

 

Soap and water while you sand is all you need. No cleaners are recommended at all. As far as using a block or doing it by hand... either will be fine. The block will enable you to do more at a single time, but I wouldn't worry about using it to prevent "dishing" or anything. Hand = easy , block = easier

Thank you.

 

fading

You know, I have stock lines and rotors and have never had a problem stuffing someone on the brakes before...

nice pic though :thumbup

well I never thought I would ride hard enough to the stock stuff to SUCK, but let me tell ya, They are not made for the track. I road "WILLOW springs BIG TRACK" on Aug 1 for the first time, (been on the streets a few times) and had a blast, I used Bridgestones 002, type 4 front & back, and had no prob until late in the day on the tires, they just got oily, I think (im no expert) so I think that is why they wanted to brake loose in turn 2 & 3, but they held fine in the fast turn 7-9, I'm sure I was going about 150mph in this turn, because I took the tape off my speedo and went thru turn 2 @ 130mph, and this turn is slower then the last 3 turns, "but the brakes (topic of the story) did not do as well, I have braided bf goodrich lines, and they worked well, until I got them really hot, you know when you get to turn one and your going about 170mph you need to brake hard as hell, so I was noticing that the brakes were getting mushy, kinda just sliding instead of actually hard brake contact like they would when they weren't blazing hot. So I guess it is time to change to a racing compound for the pads.
Does any one have any suggestions. Oh by the way I don't know how fast I was going around the track, but I was smoking everyone in the middle group, and the oily other group to play in was the race group, so I think it is time to move up.

Have fun and ride safe & smart.:yesnod

 

I have race pads and Goodridge braided lines, I can stop very well.. never seen blue b4 like that...

great pics..

 

Goodridge brake pads? I have never seen them, nor do I believe they even exist! GR makes brake lines and fittings only. If so, where the heck did you get them!?!

 

typo I meant my lines. sorry mate...

 

Soap and water while you sand is all you need. No cleaners are recommended at all. As far as using a block or doing it by hand... either will be fine. The block will enable you to do more at a single time, but I wouldn't worry about using it to prevent "dishing" or anything. Hand = easy , block = easier

Question on rotor prep.


I'm a former auto mechanic and after I would turn the car's rotors on the lathe, I would use my die grinder with about an 80 grit pad to cross-hatch the rotors.

This did two things:

1) Took away the spiral effects of the lathe

2) It also removed a lot of the remaining material left over from when machining the rotors.

Is this an acceptable practice if used with control to prep bike rotors (OEM or aftermarket) when changing pads or other work?

 

You can't turn OEM rotors, or even most aftermarket rotors. You need to disk grind them. If you want to do a nice major maintenece job on them, just have them beed blasted. This is the best thing for them and will give you the best results. EVERY top level AMA racer does this because it works. Just tape the buttons and carriers to protect them, and have at it on the blades of the disk.

 

Thanks for the answer. I know you can't turn motorcycle rotors, and should've clarified that I was inquiring more upon using the die grinder to prep the rotor. I did it on my Seca, and the brakes seem to be better doing that than trying to sand them by hand.

A lot of us don't have access to a bead/sandblaster, and a die grinder approach of resurfacing the rotor might be a more viable option.

 

Sergio,

I guess I need to get a set for my R1.

BTW I think my other set on the Warrior needs some 'help'. I put some 7000 miles on them in the last 6 weeks - as part of our trip to Stardays in Virginia and now I get a strong pulsating feeling when I hit the front brake. As you can imagine we put thousands of freeway miles on it but I did run them hard at the Gap, Blueridge Prkwy and other places.

Oliver

 

They probably need a good sandblasting. Too much pad build up can cause a feeling of high and low spots on the rotors. 7000miles huh? damn, that is some serious riding!

 

I've got a set of new Galfer wave rotors to mount, and I need to know how I should prep them prior to mounting them.

 

You don't prep them at all.... you might want to get new pads though....