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I had a warped front left rotor years ago, so I replaced it, and the wheel as well for cosmetic reasons. This was about 14k miles ago. Everything seemed fine for a while, but I'm starting to feel a slight pulse in the braking again. I'm wondering if a caliper that was used with a warped rotor can cause damage to a new rotor. I checked the pads and noticed that one pad is more worn down than the other. Is this significant? The brake fluid changed annually. I want floaters but they're not in my budget yet. I'm assuming that its' not the back disc but I'll check it out.
With one pad worn more than the other it indicates that the caliper piston is not retracting when you release the brake. This could cause excessive heat that would warp the rotor. I suggest rebuilding the caliper when you replace the rotor.
Thanks John, I've taken a closer look at the rotor, it seems to be slightly more worn on the good piston side as well. The rotor is SP/G5 type and relatively new. Do guzzi rotors start off so thin that they can’t be turned?
Thanks- now I have an incentive to get the aftermarket floaters and check my pistons for sticking at regular intervals. The other calipers seem to be okay, they’re all the same age. It's strange that the problem occurred in the same location. I'm suspect that the caliper was damaged by the previous warped rotor. Has this happened to anybody out there?
Raphael, which brake pads have you been using? Reason I ask is, for a while I went to the EBC sintered metallic HH pads on the right front hand only side of my T3, which I believe has the same single piece dished cast iron rotors as your SP I. Did this only on the right front as I was happy with the integrated foot brakes, but not the weak hand only. The HH's provide much, much greater braking power than organic pads-but in time will tend to warp the cast iron discs, which hold up much better when used with organic pads as designed. Took a while, but warped a couple of rotors this way.
Eventually discovered these very nice full floating stainless rotors from EBC, specifically designed for use with the EBC HH pads-don't use any other metallic pads or you void the rotor warranty:
Once worn in, definitely grip better than organic pads on the stock iron rotors. Not quite as good as HH's on the stock rotors-but then, they don't warp, & look way cool. As far as I know available only to replace the front rotors. I don't know of any stainless replacement for the rear rotor. For that reason I used this rotor (obtained from vintagebrakes.com, special ordered from the UK but even so delivered to my door in about 2 weeks for about $240 plus sales tax) on the right front hand only, as going to a different disc/brake combo on left front would tend to upset the front/rear ratio on the foot/integrated-which for me work plenty fine as is anyway. I also personally like the differing left/right discs in front, as to me it calls attention to the integrated brake set up pioneered by Guzzi on these very early bikes.
Also, when getting this put on at MG Classics they replaced the very worn original left front rotor (160k miles) with the much newer & just starting to warp right front I was replacing with the EBC after getting it turned, & it works fine. So per my experience-& as per Guzziology also, these 1 piece dished cast iron rotors can be successfully turned & reused.
Bob, The pads are either stock Brembos or Ferodos, both organic. Yeah, I found the same SS EBC rotors at MG Cycles. I suppose it won't hurt to have the warped rotor turned since I was planning on tossing it. I'll rebuild the caliper and put fresh pads in and find out how long it lasts. The warp has just started, so maybe that will help.
Your EBC rotor looks nice with the Borami (sp?) rim, it give me a bad case of rotor envy, but the new rotors will have to wait. I plan on installing EBC floaters on the left and right. My feeling is that the caliper piston size is not changed so the integral system should not be greatly affected. It'll be a while before I find out.
That picture with the EBC rotor on a Borrani rim comes from someone else. Don't recall whether or not you have seen my T3, but it was converted to Guzzi cast wheels like you have on your SP a long time ago. By changing to the EBC rotor on the front of the integrated side, you will change the intended front to rear braking ratio, no escape. With organic pads you will get less braking in front both absolutely and compared to the rear than the stock cast iron rotor/organic combo. If you go to HH metallic pads you will wind up with more braking in front compared to rear than stock when you use the foot brake, though not hugely more. Since the right front operates by itself you don't get those kinds of issues by changing over there, you just get what you want by how hard you squeeze. Whether or not the change in F/R ratio will have a significant difference real world on the street, esp in less than all out situations is another question. Most people have felt the differences to be not very significant. As long as the rear still breaks traction before the front it probably doesn't matter. If the front is so much stronger than the rear that the front breaks loose first, that would be a not good thing, & is why when I was experimenting with HH pads on the stock rotors I did so on the right front only, never even considered using on the left front. This whole business is discussed in Guzziology, which you should pick up if you haven't already.
I turns out that the rotors on the SP are steel, unlike the cast iron on the T-3. So it looks like I'll have to replace the rotor. I didn't realize that steel rotor can not be turned. I hesitate to put a rigid rotor back on so I'll probably go for a floater on the right front; like yours Bob. And leave the integrated system alone. Lopsided works. :dry:
It's really a lovely looking thing, that EBC rotor, just make sure like I said that you use the EBC HH pads. I like the asymetrical look. Its an attention getter & leads to a conversation about the linked brakes that most non Guzzi folk are surprised to find on a bike this old. One other thing, seems to me at least in my case took somewhat longer than I was used to/expected for the new HH pads to really bed in on the new rotor. Not sure why it took so long, but as time & miles have added up, it just keeps getting better & better. I definitely use the hand brake now a lot more than I used to cause it works so much better than before. Not as strong as the new 4-pots by any means, but certainly better than stock.
