Floating Rotors...
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 6,590
Likes: 444
From: Ohio
IMO, I think they dissipate heat faster. I haven't warped a rotor in ten years, and I use my fronts only at least 80% of the time, and I ride hard.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,502
Likes: 0
From: North East Illinois
I was going to say the can float to adjust to change ex temperature to remain in a more optimum position. Did not sound very good so went to Google:
Standard brake rotors are cast in a single piece which bolts directly to the wheel or drive plate. If the mounting surface of your wheel or drive plate isn't perfectly flat, you'll get vibration at speed. Floating rotors are typically cast in two pieces - the rotor and the carrier. The carrier is bolted to the wheel and the rotor is attached to the carrier using float buttons. The other method of floating a brake rotor is to have the rotor bolted directly to the wheel itself without a carrier, but the bolts have float buttons built into them.
These buttons allow the brake rotor some freedom to move laterally, but restrict the angular and rotational movement as if they were bolted directly to the wheel. This slight lateral motion (which can be less than 0.03mm) is just enough to prevent vibration in the brake system. As the calipers are mounted solidly, any warping or misalignment in the wheel or brake rotor mounting face can be compensated for because the rotor will "float" laterally on the float buttons. This side-to-side vibration is separated from the carrier by the float buttons themselves, so none of the resulting motion is transferred into the suspension or steering. Clever eh?
I think is says the same thing that I was saying.
Standard brake rotors are cast in a single piece which bolts directly to the wheel or drive plate. If the mounting surface of your wheel or drive plate isn't perfectly flat, you'll get vibration at speed. Floating rotors are typically cast in two pieces - the rotor and the carrier. The carrier is bolted to the wheel and the rotor is attached to the carrier using float buttons. The other method of floating a brake rotor is to have the rotor bolted directly to the wheel itself without a carrier, but the bolts have float buttons built into them.
These buttons allow the brake rotor some freedom to move laterally, but restrict the angular and rotational movement as if they were bolted directly to the wheel. This slight lateral motion (which can be less than 0.03mm) is just enough to prevent vibration in the brake system. As the calipers are mounted solidly, any warping or misalignment in the wheel or brake rotor mounting face can be compensated for because the rotor will "float" laterally on the float buttons. This side-to-side vibration is separated from the carrier by the float buttons themselves, so none of the resulting motion is transferred into the suspension or steering. Clever eh?
I think is says the same thing that I was saying.
Novice
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
You said it correctly both times.... HOWEVER>> the HD rotor is a semi-floater. Thats what the curved "spokes" do. they can be flexed a bit by hand, so they do about the same. They can also be straightened, if they get warped by using a screwdriver to tweak it back into lateral specs.
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