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Re: Brake Rotors

To: "Spontelli, Ramon" <rs11@elsegundoca.ncr.com>
Subject: Re: Brake Rotors
From: rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu (Bob Palmer)
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 97 14:19:40 PDT
Ramon,

Just a thought about what may have caused your rotor to bust: Suppose your 
wheel bearing was a little loose.  Now you clamp the binders on hard and hit 
a bump, or turn, or otherwise apply a lateral force.  Instead of the wheel 
bearings taking the load, the rotor will take the load, causing it to break 
(not brake).  Sound plausible?  You should torque your wheel bearings to 
about 14 ft-lbs if I remember correctly.  In any case, you shouldn't be able 
to feel any play in the wheel when it is adjusted correctly.  They do have a 
tendency to get loose over time; especially when the bearings are first 
installed.

Bob

>Just when you think you can live with the flakey ball joints, fulcrum
>pins, reverse-Ackerman, twist-o-flex front crossmember and stuff, here
>comes another.   At the CalClub autocross Saturday night, we busted a
>brake rotor on my second run.  Damnedest thing I ever saw.  It broke all
>the way around the mounting area, leaving the rotor part to free-wheel,
>with the mounting part still attached to the hub.
>
>Although it made a gosh-awful noise, there was no other damage.  It
>burred the corner on one of the dust-sheild mounting bolts, and scraped
>a bit of paint off the inside of the shield itself, but no damage other
>than the busted rotor.  And, since the rotor itself remained intact, the
>braking loss was limited to the one front wheel--no loss of fluid or
>anything, 'cause the rotor kept the pads in place.
>
>Damnedest thing I ever saw!
>
>Ramon
>
>


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