1 Why floating rotors? Mon 07 Jan 2019, 09:55
duck
Life time member
My assumption of why floating rotors are better used to be that it's because it lets the rotors "float" or move around and that would help them somehow get better friction with the brake pads in the caliper.
Then last year I installed some front EBC floating rotors on my K100 and it kind of bothered me that despite being called floating there didn't seem to be any appreciable movement between the carriers and rotors like there is on the front discs of my 4V Ks.
So I did some poking around to find out what the real purpose of floating rotors is. I found that my assumption was wrong and that the actual purpose of "floating" rotors is that as brakes heat up during braking the different metals of the carrier and rotor expand at different rates and the bobbins in "floating" rotors accommodate this difference to keep the rotors and carriers from stressing each other which can cause distortion or warping.
Then last year I installed some front EBC floating rotors on my K100 and it kind of bothered me that despite being called floating there didn't seem to be any appreciable movement between the carriers and rotors like there is on the front discs of my 4V Ks.
So I did some poking around to find out what the real purpose of floating rotors is. I found that my assumption was wrong and that the actual purpose of "floating" rotors is that as brakes heat up during braking the different metals of the carrier and rotor expand at different rates and the bobbins in "floating" rotors accommodate this difference to keep the rotors and carriers from stressing each other which can cause distortion or warping.
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Current stable:
86 Custom K100 (standard fairing, K75 Belly pan, Ceramic chromed engine covers, paralever)
K75 Frankenbrick (Paralever, K11 front end, hybrid ABS, K1100RS fairing, radial tires)
86 K75C Turbo w/ paralever
94 K1100RS
93 K1100LT
91 K1
93 K75S (K11 front end)
91 K75S (K1 front end)
14 Yamaha WR250R
98 Taxi Cab K1200RS
14 K1600GT