Bought the "Arashi" "full floating" China rotors, hrrrmm

[kopfjäger]

An hour after you put them on, you'll just want some more.

[brad black]

Yep ^.

I personally don't care about which side of an imaginary line my parts are manufactured. Not an accurate way to guage quality or value imho.

marzocchi.

[Speeddog]

marzocchi.

[Rudemouthsky]

Hello ladies and germs.

So for $175 I was too curious to not try out a pair. Took less than a week to arrive via DHL express. My initial impressions were positive because of the fast shipping, thoughtful packing, and out of the box the machining quality seemed good and the carriers were perfectly smooth and perfectly anodized;



However, I am a bit disappointed on 2 fronts: for starters, the weight; 3.13 LBS each. I was hoping for a significant reduction over the OE snowflakes.



The second thing is, and if this is the case then I will be filing a complaint with Paypal/eBay; they do not appear to be "full floating" as advertised. There is very little play in the buttons, in fact no radial play at all, any movement (just gentle tugging, no forcing) is side to side as in parallel to the rotor and wheel, rather than along radius of the rotor. Also, I see these wavey circlip/washers here; from what I understand that is only found on a semi floater, the wave is what prevents the movement, yes? no?

Backside of the rotor showing the buttons:



Other things to note; the thickness is 5.67, and although I do not own a dial indicator this spec is true and exact along 18 points. I will certainly check the runout properly if I choose to keep these.

[Rudemouthsky]

Hmm, it appears they are full floating there just isn't as much play as I expected. Of course this could change once they are mounted obviously. The Brembo's have flat circlips and are rock solid with no movement at all.

[Howie]

They are semi floating, the wave washers are springs, just not as heavy as on the Brembos.  Full floating has no springs.  I wouldn't worry about it, it looks like those springs barely enough to keep them from rattling.  You should only have axial play.  I think you did well.

[Rudemouthsky]

I've continued to dick around with em', and they actually have more movement than I realized. When I grasp the rotor by the carrier, and briskly fan them side to side there is a considerable amount of movement. Not sure how I'd go about measuring the precise amount of movement but I'm guessing at least a mm or so. Cursory search of the webz show several Jap bike forums discussing the "wave" washers/springs on their "full" floating rotors. It seems there is some ambiguity in regards to the exact differences between "full" and "semi"....but from my understanding (layman terms) a "semi" floater has barely any discernible play at all. The "semi" floating Brembos I have in front of me (one pair from an 01 M750, another from an 06 M620) are rock solid.

I really like the quality of these just as far as my sense of touch and sight go. The machine marks are consistent and precise, the coating on the edges and the carrier is deep, and the carriers themselves appear to be machined/stamped to a very high quality, better than my OE set. I've been wanting to buy a dial indicator for a minute now, this will be a good excuse to do that.

[oldndumb]

Ditto wot Howie said.

If as close to full floating is what you have to have, there are several threads discussing how to flatten the wave washer springs. Basically, you support the disc and carrier and then beat down the springs with a scientifically sized socket.  

I suggest running them as is until the pads are bedded to them and then put the front on a stand and spin the wheel to verify if there is anything to be gained. No dial indicator, just observe how close to freewheeling it is. I have done this several times and have always been satisfied with the semis. Of course, this meant that I lost one bragging point.  

[koko64]

Mfrs in the PRC can make great stuff if they want to.
I've seen terrible quality and also great quality, it's just finding the right mfr.

[SpikeC]

 Just curious, how fast do you ride? Are you having problems with brake fade or disc warpage?

[Rudemouthsky]

Just curious, how fast do you ride? Are you having problems with brake fade or disc warpage?

I'm pretty slow actually. By fade do you mean the lever going soft? that has happened only once in a panic situation and my wife was on the back...not good . I assumed it was old fluid or air, replaced the fluid and bled the lines after that. My current brakes have been ok, and beyond that one time I have never experienced fade. I don't care for the slight pulsing and I feel the power could come on a bit faster, but I believe the new master will solve that. If I was riding hard enough to be having serious issues with fade I would have ponied up the extra cash for something that is a proven upgrade over OE. The feedback on these amongst other forums has been so positive that I'm expecting them to be at least as good as OE, and treating anything better as a bonus. That and I'm obsessed with inexpensive products from CN...one of my best selling rotary tattoo machines is CN made, and it outperforms and outsells Stigma and Hyper rotaries that cost $5-600 more. So I'm a bit fascinated any time I see something like this and have to try it.