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Vibration while braking - replacement brake rotors


lazyfish

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So last month I bought a 2014 VFR800F that had been sitting for 2 years. After giving it some love it feels pretty fresh again, but now I'm stuck on the last issue. What me and my mechanic initially thought would be solved with new front wheel bearings (which indeed were shot), turns out to be both front brake rotors. One of them is severely out of shape, and the other one isn't exactly straight either.

 

Now I'm looking to replace both brake rotors and a quick search reveals: 300USD for one rotor! Are they made out of diamonds or is it just good old company greed? That's just insane. I'd rather go for second hand ones with decent life left in them, but turns out there are none. Just found one set for a non-ABS bike, which uses a different rotor. Our brake rotors not shared with any other bike, making it basically impossible to find second hand rotors, since there are so few 8th gens around.

 

One alternative I found was EBC, but they're still 210USD, and there are zero reviews to be found. That especially worries me because they claim left and right rotors can be used interchangeably, while Honda maintains different part numbers for the left and right rotor.

 

A local motorcycle brake rotor factory claims they can manufacture a 1:1 copy if I send my brake rotors to them. The price they quote is much cheaper than originals or EBC, only 85USD per rotor. But I'm not sure/convinced their production processes and materials used are at a level comparable to EBC or the original rotors.

 

Am I missing out on anything here? Is there some cheap (magic?) fix I could do to fix the braking vibration? Anyone has a lead on a used set of front rotors for the ABS version VFR800F? I'd rather buy a pair of original used rotors than having to gamble with EBC or a local factory.

P.S. Could anyone confirm the factory thickness of the original rotors? Searching brings up different numbers. Thanks!

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Personally, I've found EBC to be better-performing than OEM.

There's Brembo, but costlier than OEM.

 

Then there's these, no experience with them:

https://www.metalgear.com.au/part-finder/honda/2014/vfr-800-f-abs/

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I have used Chinese rotors in the past with great success.... 5mm thick, stainless steel, machined perfectly flat, have slots to dissipate the heat.  They look much like the EBC's but of course are not EBC.  Never had a problem with them.  Roughly $150-200 per set.

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https://www.ebay.com/itm/264876072461?hash=item3dabd81e0d:g:foMAAOSwyKBfbLkn should work if your dimensions are

 

Outer diameters.........310.0 mm  which they are
Inner diameter...........94.0 mm
Number of holes........5
Thickness...................5.0 mm

 

The stock rotor size is 310mm if you figure out how much it is dished (see  image below 12.5) and hub size (ie se images 94) you probably can get a larger Chinese rotor like a 320  and then you would space out the caliper with radial caliper spacers. The images are below are for reference but should work Radial brake spacers come in 5 10mm etc. For example a rc51 rotors 320mm are the same as a VFR1200 etc. So you would use a 10mm spacer or buy the ones above.  I take no responsibility for any modification.  I would call EBC and tell them you want a oversize rotor and will be using spacers for the caliperes. Make sure you replace all of rotor bolt with new ones and torque them with a torque wrench.  Trust me I found out the hard way. 

s-l1600 (1).jpg

s-l1600.jpg

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You could also try Galfer, Ferodo, SDS, Brembo, Spiegler, etc. 

 

Cyclebrakes.com seems to have a lot. I've never bought from them. 

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22 hours ago, VFR750F3 said:

https://truedisk.net but your in Hong Kong 

I actually found a local shop that claims they could repair brake rotors. But they seem to be more focused on bringing severely damaged rotors back into working condition, rather than fine tuning them to get rid of a vibration. Although the bike 'only' has 10k miles on it, it seems it had quite a rough life and was also used on the track. So I don't think there's that much life left in the original rotors, especially after having them rotated.

 

22 hours ago, raYzerman said:

I have used Chinese rotors in the past with great success.... 5mm thick, stainless steel, machined perfectly flat, have slots to dissipate the heat.  They look much like the EBC's but of course are not EBC.  Never had a problem with them.  Roughly $150-200 per set.

 I guess this could be compared to that local rotor factory quality wise. They would also produce them with 5mm thickness, and incorporate the same floating design as the original one. Coming in at 170USD for a set, that fits right in the 150-200USD price bracket. Sound like the best (cheapest 😁)option so far. 

 

Thanks everybody for the replies.

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I have had countless rotors straightened over the years. Dishing is harder than being warped, but the repair place should know all about it. They're usually really cheap. The GSXR track bike used to bend rotors if they were looked at sideways!

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If its just vibration use emory cloth to clean disc and also clean rotor button see youtube for video if that does not work clean piston on calipers you mite just have a sticking piston and replace pads either way. At what speed are you getting vibration.  If its is like from 10 to stop then its probably a piston stuck from sitting. Start with cheapest first and then work up.

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6 hours ago, VFR750F3 said:

If its just vibration use emory cloth to clean disc and also clean rotor button see youtube for video if that does not work clean piston on calipers you mite just have a sticking piston and replace pads either way. At what speed are you getting vibration.  If its is like from 10 to stop then its probably a piston stuck from sitting. Start with cheapest first and then work up.

I already cleaned the rotors as one of the first things I did to the bike but to no avail. The vibration happens at any speed, but is most noticeable when coming to a stop from high speeds. I actually had a stuck piston on another bike of mine, but this feels completely different.

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Did you measure runout or for any dishing? It will take you about 2 minutes. 

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Have you eliminated the tire being out of round due to it sitting, likely under-inflated for years?  Is the tire balanced?  If you see weights, it could still be out of balance. Some shops will add weight in two places.   It doesn't seem like it should get worse when braking, but it doesn't hurt to check. 

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Thanks everybody for the replies. I've finally found a shop that could straighten out my rotors. They are currently about 4.1mm thick so they still have some life left in them. At 30USD per rotor this seems to be the most cost effective option. 

 

On 1/21/2022 at 1:38 AM, tbzep said:

Have you eliminated the tire being out of round due to it sitting, likely under-inflated for years?  Is the tire balanced?  If you see weights, it could still be out of balance. Some shops will add weight in two places.   It doesn't seem like it should get worse when braking, but it doesn't hurt to check. 

This was in fact an issue. It still had tires from 2016 which were completely bald and dried out. After installing a fresh set of Bridgestone S22s it handles like a dream. Yesterday I took the bike up to 200km/h and there was no abnormal vibration. Besides the braking vibration stopping power is normal. 

 

After the holidays I'll send off the brake rotors and also the right fairing which I cracked because I'm an idiot. All in all really glad I could save this amazing bike from rotting to death.

20220122_154349.jpg

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