Okay, here's the situation. I took my front rotors off and sent them to this machinest guy I know that also does powder coating. He called me wanting to know if it was okay if he removed one of the rivets that hold the inner part to the outer part. I told him I didn't know but when he told me it looks doable, I told him to go ahead. Well, he was able to get it off, but when he put it back on, it's now a little loose. I told him to just send them back to me and so I've got them here now.
What do you guys think? Can it be fixed? If not, is it safe to put the rotor back on my bike? I took some pictures but I couldn't get a good quality picture (I think it's the lighting in my apartment.)
[image: View Post]KeystoneVFR, on Feb 19 2008, 04:39 PM, said:
Okay, here's the situation. I took my front rotors off and sent them to this machinest guy I know that also does powder coating. He called me wanting to know if it was okay if he removed one of the rivets that hold the inner part to the outer part. I told him I didn't know but when he told me it looks doable, I told him to go ahead. Well, he was able to get it off, but when he put it back on, it's now a little loose. I told him to just send them back to me and so I've got them here now.
What do you guys think? Can it be fixed? If not, is it safe to put the rotor back on my bike? I took some pictures but I couldn't get a good quality picture (I think it's the lighting in my apartment.)
Any help is most appreciated.
I had a 92 kx 250 they were really loose rivets came that way (they tighten them up the year after , what ya might get is rattling. Anyway, I wouldnt have touched those personally, but as long as they hold soundly they should work.
If they bust loose , it will be a saftey issue, if he only removed one of the rivets, I think that limits the failure posibility
They are not supposed to be removed. It has to be a press fit. I dont see how else it would work. It cant be good. The worst would probably be a vibration. Start looking on e-bay.
My gut says don't use it, but I don't know enough to make the call.
EDIT: Wanted to add that, they had to go together in the first place, so even if the solution is complex and involved, there must be one.
For example, there are a couple parts that we press fittings into at my company, where we put water and dry ice into a container, then drop the bushing in for a few minutes to get it to shrink in the cold, then press it into the part. When it warms back up to room temp, it's a really tight fit.
I've seen an old Suzuki with the same "floating" rotors as per the VFR... whose rotors were so loose, this guy (A Frenchman) had all sorts of bits held on with wire... said he hadn't had any dramas for years. I myself didn't like the idea. I've warped a couple of these "floating" rotors (as they are called on the VFR her in Spain) in my time and I've always been warned by rotor-machinists specializing in brake rotors who warned me they couldn't guarantee they'd come out alright, that they tended to overheat once rectified. They never mentioned hving to remove those circular "rivets". This guy should have known the answer to that question himself, unless it was a mate doing you a favour or someone who doesn't work with rotors.
Hmmmm, I would tend to suspect a loose rotor's viability... the Frenchman wasn't concerned.
I third the call on possible vibrations and don't even want to think about it busting completely loose
Since the wheel isn't difficult to remove, I'll probably put it on and check it after each ride (or if it's a long ride, every couple hours.) Keep in mind that 1) it's still on there (it's not like it's missing), 2) it's one of six rivets and the other five are fine, 3) I've got two rotors up front (some bikes have only one), and 4) I seldom have to make a very sudden stop.
This is going to sound retarded, but something that crossed my mind is to use a little JB Weld (between the inner part and the rivet) on the inside part of the disk (i.e the part facing the wheel.)
Post a picture. It will be impossible to determine if this is safe or not without seeing them. It's kinda like asking us if your girlfriend is ugly, how would we know without seeing her?
There are kits that will make some standard rotors into floating rotors. My SV and several GSXRs I work on have rotors that rattle like a baby toy. Any bike with floating rotors will rattle...sounds like a tambourine!
Like I said post a picture so we can see what it is you are dealing with.
you can buy a complete set of replacement gromets! in lots of colors!
from cycle cat.. but their website SUCK!!!!! just call them up.
in the catalog(in my toolbox at work) i believe they were 15 bucks for a set or something like that.
[image: View Post]intrcptrrdr, on Feb 19 2008, 06:33 PM, said:
Post a picture. It will be impossible to determine if this is safe or not without seeing them. It's kinda like asking us if your girlfriend is ugly, how would we know without seeing her?
There are kits that will make some standard rotors into floating rotors. My SV and several GSXRs I work on have rotors that rattle like a baby toy. Any bike with floating rotors will rattle...sounds like a tambourine!
Like I said post a picture so we can see what it is you are dealing with.
I tried taking pictures but I couldn't get good ones because a) the lighting, and B) I would have to zoom in so much, it just wouldn't come out clear. I don't know much about rotors, but I'm gonna say they aren't floating. I say this because, aside from this one rivet, the rest of them are on there pretty tight (no noise, no play, no nothing.)
edit: I just tried taking a couple more pictures and they just don't come out good. And, truth be told, I don't know that you'd be able to tell anyway. It's one of those where you've gotta have in front of you (i.e. in your hands) to see/understand the problem.
How mechanically inclined are you?
Can you tell if it has all of the parts it needs? There may be a washer missing. If the all of the parts are there; It may be that that one rivet isn't seated fully. Would you be comfortable taking that rotor off and trying to re-seat that particuar rivet? Perhaps your powder coater just didn't get it fully on and it needs a bit more 'coaxing'.
If you are uncomfortable doing this yourself, talk to a shop that builds race bikes. They will most likely be able to fix it for you. Don't yet buy a rotor, yours can probably be fixed.
Well I would try heating the whole thing up in an oven or somthing to get the thing to expand and get a tight fit. Worse case senero you get a new one?
Thanks, guys. There's a pretty big mc salvage yard not far from me that has some. He said they put all their rotors on a special machine to ensure it's straight before they put it in their inventory. He assured me it's straight and doesn't have a lot of miles. How did I get so lucky? For those of you that don't know, the 5th and 6th gen. VFR's and the ('99-'02) CBR600F4 use the same rotors. I checked on ronayers.com to see if they have the same part # and they do. Anyway, the salvage yard wants $100 for it (and I wouldn't have to pay for shipping because I can just go pick it up.)
100 bucks sounds good. They shoud be around 250 each new I guess... I got a whole second-hand front wheel with discs and tyre (1000 km left on the tread) with only 10,000 km on the wheel (and thus discs), for 250 euros (think 250 USD because over here 250 Euros is like 250 USD for you guys over there)...
By the way, they're called floating discs, as opposed to fixed ones that don't have the ring-rivets... we don't mean it floats literally, I mean, we're not calling it a floating disc because it's loose... that type of disc is called that way!!!
Buy the one at the wreckers, see if you can fix yours and sell it to the wrecker... (and did you hit up the guy who stuffed it up in the first place??)
I have two front rotors from my old 5th gen VFR (I think compatible with your 6th gen). I took them off because I think one of them is slightly warped, but never measured for runout, so I don't know for sure which one (or if both are warped). I've heard you can get them straightened for ~$50 or so? Anyway, since you know someone with the equipment to measure runout, this might be a good deal for you.
Anyway, PM me if you are interested and I'll give them to you cheap, since the condition is slightly suspect and i have no use for them anymore.
Nils
==edit==
and, by the way, these rotors only have like 9000 miles on them. They are still thick.
[image: View Post]Auspa�ol, on Feb 19 2008, 06:14 PM, said:
I've seen an old Suzuki with the same "floating" rotors as per the VFR... whose rotors were so loose, this guy (A Frenchman) had all sorts of bits held on with wire... said he hadn't had any dramas for years.
:goofy:
A lot of the "race only" rotors have lots of slop in them. You should be able to play with it enough to see if there is enough play inbetween the two parts of the rotor and rivet to see if there is a chance of it coming apart. The rivet should only see a rotational load when in use, so as long as there is no way for it to fall out it should be fine.
[image: View Post]KeystoneVFR, on Feb 19 2008, 03:39 PM, said:
Okay, here's the situation. I took my front rotors off and sent them to this machinest guy I know that also does powder coating. He called me wanting to know if it was okay if he removed one of the rivets that hold the inner part to the outer part. I told him I didn't know but when he told me it looks doable, I told him to go ahead. Well, he was able to get it off, but when he put it back on, it's now a little loose. I told him to just send them back to me and so I've got them here now.
What do you guys think? Can it be fixed? If not, is it safe to put the rotor back on my bike? I took some pictures but I couldn't get a good quality picture (I think it's the lighting in my apartment.)
Any help is most appreciated.
Do not use those brakes! If they let go and explode or jam your front wheel, you are dead, We do not recomend that kind of outcome. Riding around with questionable items like that, is the equivalent of flying a plane with a loose prop.
Remember safety first.
[image: View Post]bipedal, on Feb 20 2008, 11:23 AM, said:
[image: View Post]KeystoneVFR, on Feb 19 2008, 03:39 PM, said:
Okay, here's the situation. I took my front rotors off and sent them to this machinest guy I know that also does powder coating. He called me wanting to know if it was okay if he removed one of the rivets that hold the inner part to the outer part. I told him I didn't know but when he told me it looks doable, I told him to go ahead. Well, he was able to get it off, but when he put it back on, it's now a little loose. I told him to just send them back to me and so I've got them here now.
What do you guys think? Can it be fixed? If not, is it safe to put the rotor back on my bike? I took some pictures but I couldn't get a good quality picture (I think it's the lighting in my apartment.)
Any help is most appreciated.
Do not use those brakes! If they let go and explode or jam your front wheel, you are dead, We do not recomend that kind of outcome. Riding around with questionable items like that, is the equivalent of flying a plane with a loose prop.
Remember safety first.
2 brand new rotors from Honda = $500.00, you can probably find a good set, used, for 1/2 off.
Peace of mind = Priceless.
You machinest friend should pay for at least the one that he ruined. :goofy:
[image: View Post]bipedal, on Feb 20 2008, 01:23 PM, said:
[image: View Post]KeystoneVFR, on Feb 19 2008, 03:39 PM, said:
Okay, here's the situation. I took my front rotors off and sent them to this machinest guy I know that also does powder coating. He called me wanting to know if it was okay if he removed one of the rivets that hold the inner part to the outer part. I told him I didn't know but when he told me it looks doable, I told him to go ahead. Well, he was able to get it off, but when he put it back on, it's now a little loose. I told him to just send them back to me and so I've got them here now.
What do you guys think? Can it be fixed? If not, is it safe to put the rotor back on my bike? I took some pictures but I couldn't get a good quality picture (I think it's the lighting in my apartment.)
Any help is most appreciated.
Do not use those brakes! If they let go and explode or jam your front wheel, you are dead, We do not recomend that kind of outcome. Riding around with questionable items like that, is the equivalent of flying a plane with a loose prop.
Remember safety first.
:goofy: Talking to a bud of mine last night, even it they don't explode or jam, they could sheer off. Get those used ones, roll on.
End of thread · 20 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 3 Nov 2012