Hey guys this is a stupid question but i have to ask because i am not certain of the answer myself.

My friend was doing some work to his car and had the front breaks apart. Planning to replace some lines and so forth. Anyway his father-in-law was over to borrow a tool from the garage and moved some parts on him. Besides being pissed he is now not certain what rotor was on what side... we can pretty much figure which is which based on the scratches on the rotors but it made me think if there is a reason why you could not put a rotor off the left side on the right and the opposite. Given that both are wore equally and the pads similar that is.

I would figure that you cant as the rotors have had heat applied to them (while breaking) and if you were to apply heat in the opposite rotation that it could cause stress cracking or some form of distortion.

I might be totally out to lunch but just wondering.

Regards

I don't see why it would be a problem with stock style rotors. Performance rotors with directional "vanes" have a right and wrong side, but otherwise, about the only reason I would try to keep them on their respective side is so that you can attribute unusual wear patterns to a particular side while diagnosing brake problems. If they've been swapped, you might end up blaming the wrong side.



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I don't see an issue either. Unless they had some strange wear patterns or something like Geeky said. Reversing the rotation of the pad to rotor contact wouldn't change the way it heat cycles.

good to know. They are regular pads and rotors so there should be no issue with it then if they are put on opposite sides.

I just didn't know and wanted to ask. One of those things that if you think too much about it becomes complicated!

Thanks again guys.

James Cahill wrote:I don't see an issue either. Unless they had some strange wear patterns or something like Geeky said. Reversing the rotation of the pad to rotor contact wouldn't change the way it heat cycles.

actually is can and yess i have the ASE and NEW YOURK STATE INSPECTORS LISCENS to back it up if you a directional grooving on a rotor from braking (not gas slots) and you reverse the rotor right to left it will cause hot gases to build beteen the rotor and pad and that will cause sever brake fade the best thing to do if you cannot remember which side is which is have them cut and a non directional finish put on the braking surface


THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE, i have already died once and im still here so lets just leave it on the track

I don't see how grooving would cause gas build up. The grooving is parrallel to both the pad and the rotor. Maybe if the pad and rotor both had the peak of the groove in contact, but even then, its still parrallel. And I seriously doubt severe brake fade on the street from a gas build up of this sort. I've seen guys actually rotate rotors (just like tires) on race cars with no problems. I'm not going to call you a liar, but I don't think its as extreme as you make it out to be. I will agree with you that if its to the point of grooving, it should be resurfaced (replacing is probably cheaper, at only $15ea for the cheapo rotors).