Rotor resurfacing
- Thread starter flipz
- Start date
What's the issue?
Glazed, rusted, or brake pad material build-up? Do it yourself with medium grit sandpaper. If you have a power sander, have at it. Just go over the whole surface evenly on both sides.
Heavily grooved? Warped? Time for new brake rotors. Motorcycle brake rotors are too thin to successfully be machined and have anything left above their minimum thickness.
Even in cars, machining brake rotors is mostly a thing of the past, you just replace them if they are too badly worn or warped.
Glazed, rusted, or brake pad material build-up? Do it yourself with medium grit sandpaper. If you have a power sander, have at it. Just go over the whole surface evenly on both sides.
Heavily grooved? Warped? Time for new brake rotors. Motorcycle brake rotors are too thin to successfully be machined and have anything left above their minimum thickness.
Even in cars, machining brake rotors is mostly a thing of the past, you just replace them if they are too badly worn or warped.
Not always true, rotors have a minimum thickness spec on them, and as long as you have enough meat left you can get it resurfaced.
I needed a brake rotor that is discontinued from Kawasaki, so I bought a used one off Ebay. It was pretty bad but still within spec, and enough meat on it to be machined an still thick enough. So in my case buying a new one was not an option, and even if I could it was $400
I sent it to a guy in the US the does brake resurfacing, Im trying to find his contact info
Not all rotors are created equally (talking car rotors here)
Ive machined quality rotors that lasted me another two - three years with no issue
Ive machined crap rotors that had so much stress in them that the first few hard brakes caused them to warp again. No matter how accurately I dialed up the rotor and no matter how rigid the setup, they come off the machine straight and warp on the car immediately.
Bike rotors are quality material, but they are thin, Id be weary of resurfacing them, removing the glaze and what ever surface contamination could cause them to warp from that process alone.
I have no experience with resurfacing bike rotors, but the suggestion of a palm sander with high grit medium is the best suggestion here.
Ive machined quality rotors that lasted me another two - three years with no issue
Ive machined crap rotors that had so much stress in them that the first few hard brakes caused them to warp again. No matter how accurately I dialed up the rotor and no matter how rigid the setup, they come off the machine straight and warp on the car immediately.
Bike rotors are quality material, but they are thin, Id be weary of resurfacing them, removing the glaze and what ever surface contamination could cause them to warp from that process alone.
I have no experience with resurfacing bike rotors, but the suggestion of a palm sander with high grit medium is the best suggestion here.
The guy I sent it too specializes in motorcycle brake rotor resurfacing and rotor straightening. Before sending it to him he told me that once he gets it, if he thinks its not serviceable he will not touch it
He does not use a grinder or sander, he uses a milling machine and puts the proper cross hatch pattern back into the rotor surface. When you get it back the surface looks exactly like a brand new OEM rotor
j_e_f_f_williams
Well-known member
Without seeing the cross hatch pattern I can only guess but if he uses a milling machine and its cross hatched he probably uses a large radius fly cutter (or face mill) with the rotor on a rotary table (I would also power the rotart table so I don't have to turn by hand). So both the tool doing the cutting and the rotor are turning. But just guessing.
Jeff
Jeff
I have seen a grinding attachment for Bridgeport mill that would produce a finish some what like a blanchard grinder.
AmazingMaybe Ill practice on a junk rotor if I can find one.
That cross hatch pattern tho, cant be from a milling machine, only a Blanchard grinder can do that. Id assume he removes the disc from the top hat when he fixes them.
Very interesting.
I have successfully made brake rotors in the past. (You really want to grind them on a blanchard grinder. The flatter they are the better they work).
You do what you have to do.
I have a mill and a lathe and access to a blanchard grinder and wouldn't entertain that idea again if I could buy a rotor.
You do what you have to do.
I have a mill and a lathe and access to a blanchard grinder and wouldn't entertain that idea again if I could buy a rotor.
Amazing
That cross hatch pattern tho, cant be from a milling machine, only a Blanchard grinder can do that. Id assume he removes the disc from the top hat when he fixes them.
You can ask him, or just check out his site....There is a gallery with pictures of his work also before and after
https://www.truedisk.net/
Basically what Im getting at is he does it properly
You send in this or wrose
you get back this
I was very happy and surprised at how good my rotor came back, it looked brand new from the dealer
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