Well guys... Had dreaded "brembo brake rotor warp"

Read tons of threads about this and decided to try straightening them myself. After all if it doesnt work i gotta buy new ones anyway. Set up my trusty dial indicator for zero and tested to see how bad they were. Righty wasnt bad at only 5 thou out but lefty was 13 thou out. Beleive me when i say i could feel a very slight vibration at speed without touching brake lever. With brakes applied lots of pulsating lever. Well i started to work my way around the rotor gradually tweaking rotor in or out with an 8 inch credent wrench (does NoT take much!!!). 10 minutes later i only have 1 thou of run out on both rotors. Amazing. Off for a ride... Smooth as a babys bum. Im sure they will warp again but i'll tell ya... If i have to do this process every oil change it sure seems better than spending big bucks on rotors that nobody will guarantee against warping. Not for everybody but give it a whirl if your rotors are "wobbly"
Cheers

 

Wait, so you took a crescent wrench and "bended" the rotor back into spec? That sounds interesting...

 

Floating rotors. Problem solved. And you get better braking and less heat.

 

It works and you can almost do it by hand when its that close. well worth doing

 

Agreed. Surprised how easy it was and how well it worked.

 

interesting....i have a bit of a shimmy when my brake is applied. tell me more about your "dial indicator". sorry, not a wrencher or mechanical tech so can you tell me more about it, what it does and how to use it? i know....sound like a dumb a$$ but i guess its how i learn.

 

A dial indicator is a precision instrument for measuring lateral or radial runout. It is a gauge with a post protruding from one side that slides in and out that will in turn move a needle on the gauge indicating how much variance there is in what is being measured.

In measuring rotor lateral runout, the gauge must be fixed to a stationary point such as the front fork. The peg on the gauge is then touched to the rotor and the rotor is turned while watching the movement of the needle on the gauge. As the rotor turns, it will move in and out (depending on the amount of runout) and the gauge needle will move back and forth. Typically anything over 3 thousandths (.003) will be perceptible to the rider.

Hope that helps...

 

cool.....thanks for the explinatoin. i might have to look into that to "adjust" my rotors. starting to feel it when i break. other than a little annoying, no problem braking.

 

Did you use anything between the jaws of the Crescent wrench and the surface of the rotor to keep from scarring/marring?

 

Not limited to touring models either, in fact - the rotors aren't Brembo, I think they are by Sumitomo - a Japanese brake manufacturer but as mentioned, they float so therefore can move, not really warped. They are actually semi floaters, a true floating rotor rattles around and moves all the time which is what they are supposed to do but people wouldn't accept that on a road bike.