[Closed] Is a rotor just a rotor?

Yes but some -HOPE- floating rotors foul some calipers - AVIDS iirc

Pretty much. Some of the rivets on floating rotors can foul the caliper but plain steel ones are fairly universal.

My bike came with Hayes rotors and M785 calipers. They didn't match up right so the manufacturer sent me some Shimano rotors to swap them over.

Yeah as above,

Hope [u]floaters[/u] can foul the mounting tabs on Shimano calipers, they can still easily be fitted though but will require five minutes with a file to the tabs, they're made from very soft metal so very quick and easy to do.

You might not want to do this if your brakes are still under warranty.

Ta all

Shimano freeza rotors should disaster heat more quickly but if heat build up is not an issue then that is moot.

I don't think all rotors are the same thickness so check compatibility.

And some are marked resin pads only. Whether that matters I don't know, as I recall opinion varies last time it came up.

Some older avids were 5mm increments.

IIRC Forumla rotors are slightly narrower but not enough to not make them cross compatible.

I'm running some old Avid rotors with Shimano slx brakes with no issues

Yes Hope floaters can foul the caliper a bit.

I would recommend a couple of washers between mount and caliper rather than filing off the bit the fastens the braking surface onto the bit attached to the wheel though..

The quality does vary as well, not sure if it has much real world effect but I thought I could tell the difference between budget rotors which were quite thin and flimsy and the shimano/hope/Magyar equivalents. They certainly feel much better quality when fitting.

the depth of the braking surface can vary quite a lot - makes me wonder if some deep pads might wear the "spokes" of a shallow rotor

not sure that it really matters though

[quote=chrishc777 opined]Yes Hope floaters can foul the caliper a bit.
I would recommend a couple of washers between mount and caliper rather than filing off the bit the fastens the braking surface onto the bit attached to the wheel though..

Pretty sure they meant the caliper and not the rotor as that is what I filed

Usually no issue. Floating Hopes as above. Occasionally you'll find the brake track and pad surface don't fully coincide. It's apparent after a ride or two when you can see the scuffed area. Personally I'd spacer the caliper mount or consider a new rotor as appropriate in that case. There are super lightweight rotors that may not take hard use (see melted Ashima Air pics) . Shimano only tag their cheapest rotors 'resin only' and they will wear very quickly if used with non resin pads although it's not like they'll catch fire. They're just cheaper grade rotors for town riding etc.

brake track can vary between brands / models of rotors

often brake system designed around 4-pot caliper have longer, less tall brake pads, and the rotor brake track is shallower to mate properly with that design.

you may see wear grooves when running 4-pot caliper on taller rotors, or wear on the "spokes" (connecting brake track to spider) if the other way around i.e. 2 pot on shallower track rotor

you can mix and match rotors between brands quite happily as long as you can mount the caliper in the correct place (rotor diameter and angle of caliper radius relative to frame/fork)

I always found Hayes to have the best rotors in terms of lateral trueness, and Avid (i.e. Tektro) the worst "out of the box". Cannot say the same about Hayes brakes 😉

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Shimano's are generally very good as are Hope.

as another poster mentioned, watch out for "resin pad only" rotors designed for use on budget bikes with resin pads. Have seen a rider ruin the rotor within 1 ride by installing sintered pads.

Ah true now you mention it I had to file the caliper to make the rivets fit and add washers to stop the top of the rotor fouling the top of the caliper