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  • Are SRAM rotors too thin?
  • TrailriderJim
    Free Member

    It may just be me, but I seem to warp SRAM Guide rotors more easily than Shimano’s I’ve been used to for years. They seem too thin to stand up to much abuse. What alternative, stronger/thicker rotors are better?

    orangespyderman
    Full Member

    I’ve had no issues on SRAM rotors (200 front / 180 rear) on my alpine trips with Guide RSC brakes and either SRAM sintered or Uber Race Matrix pads. They have at time got very hot, but never warped. Something else happening on your setup? Piston stuck and pad dragging?

    I probably could damage them if I was really trying but just riding haven’t seen an issue personally.

    Hob-Nob
    Free Member

    A rotor is pretty much a rotor when it comes to thickness (other than the silly vented things that Hope did a few years ago.

    Run Shimano on one bike & Sram on the other & I can’t tell the difference 🙂

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    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    Pinched from Bikerader, where it had been pinched from somewhere else. Magura start thicker but all others are much of a muchness. Using thicker rotors is likely to give you pad rub.

    Sram rotors seem expensive – their flat plate are as much as floating from other manufacturers but one Roter is pretty much like any other in use except for Shimano XT have an ally core with a steel wear layer (or those fancy vented hopes)

    Magura’s minimum recommended rotor thickness is 1.7mm. At that thickness, Magura recommends replacing them for several reasons, one being reduced heat stability. Stefan Pahl, Magura’s product manager for its bicycle division says, “In the past we had the rotor thickness limit at 1.7mm. With the Storm and Storm SL rotors we even have increased that limit to 1.8mm (which is also laser printed on the rotor, on one of its spokes).” So you can wear the rotors down by 0.2mm down from 2.0mm. The reason for the high recommended thickness is not only heat stability, but also structural stability and reduced squealing.

    For Hope’s 140mm diameter and 160mm diameter floating discs, the minimum recommended rotor thickness is 1.4mm (they are 1.60mm +0.05mm when new). For all the rest of Hope’s discs, floating or plain, minimum thickness is 1.5mm (they are 1.80mm +0.05mm when new).

    Hayes rotors start out life at 1.75mm to 1.78mm thick, depending on rotor diameter. Hayes’s minimum thickness call out is 1.52mm and is marked on all Hayes rotors.

    Shimano rotors are made 1.8mm thick and should be replaced when the thickness has been reduced to 1.5mm. Since 2010, the 1.5mm minimum recommended rotor thickness has been printed on Shimano rotors.

    [..] , SRAM/Avid rotors seem to begin life at 1.85mm thickness, tech advice to replace at 1.5

    timbog160
    Full Member

    Why not go back to Shimano if you found those ok? Do you mean warping ie due to heat or bending due to, well, being bent by something. I use Sram centreline discs and have never really had a problem but I do treat them carefully when removing wheels etc. Alternatively just get a parktool or similar disc straightening tool if they only need the odd tweak.

    geex
    Free Member

    ALL mtb rotors are too thin.

    simondbarnes
    Full Member

    ALL mtb rotors are too thin.

    Agreed. Brakes should be redesigned to accommodate thicker rotors.

    nickdavies
    Full Member

    Are you using guides or Shimano / other brakes?

    bigyan
    Free Member

    I would say Sram rotors are more bendy than Shimano (based on straightening them in the workshop).

    Fit a set of SLX if you prefer them, they are noticeably stiffer than centerline to deflect sideways.

    dc1988
    Full Member

    I don’t know if it means anything but the vast majority of professional DH riders on SRAM don’t use Centreline rotors which I find interesting

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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