Brakes. Wave or solid?

[Vineboy]

Hi All,

My WR locks up at the rear wheel alot and currently sports a wave disc. Would going to a solid make much difference?

Is there much difference between a "solid" solid and a drilled solid.

Thanks in advance,

VB

[amtzzero]

I might be wrong, but I believe the "wave" design is to help keep the brakes from overheating.

[TSmithCR250R]

I might be wrong, but I believe the "wave" design is to help keep the brakes from overheating.

+1

and I think they can use less material with the wave so they may be lighter??

My bike has a solid 'slotted' in the back and locks up easily.... I only use the back brake to slide and such so eh....works for me. The front get's more pressure when you're slowing down anyway...

[Lead Head]

Waves, cross drilling or slotting is for keeping the disc cool under hard sustained braking. Whenever you brake there is a weight transfer to the front, the rear end of the bike physically becomes lighter. Something like 70-80% of all your braking is done with the front. So that means it becomes quite easy to lock your rear wheel up.

The only real way to not lock up the back would be to just use less brake pressure.

[joelberg]

The waves look cooler... I went from regular rotors to wave rotors on my 1000 and didn't notice any difference in overheating... of course I had never really experienced much (if any) brake fade in the first place. I use HH sintered pads up front on all my bikes and don't really use much rear brake either. Supposedly they cool more efficiently but I find it hard to believe that they make much of a difference considering that the wave shape isn't really adding much extra surface area to the rotor. Cross drilled and slotted rotors I can see making a bigger difference though.

They cost the same (or did last time I checked) so get what you think is cuter lol. I went with wave rotors for the hell of it.

[mxdude629]

try changing your fluid.

[ghte]

The solids are supposed to not wear out the pads as fast in muddy conditions etc, especially if they are floating discs. The wave and drilling is primarliy for heat dissipation.

[db330]

as said above, the solids are meant for really muddy conditions, and will make little or no difference to brake power,

you could try lowering the brake lever to a more comfortable spot so you won't be so hard on them,

or you could try and stand while breaking (if your not already) this will help with control and should give you more grip

[onefasthonda]

Wave rotor is the best it makes you stop alot faster then the solid rotor.

[lazydog]

I've had both on the same bike... wave or standard is no performance difference. The wave rotor should cause more air turbulance therefore run cooler. If you want a less powerful rear brake then run carbon pads like I do in the rear. Sintered pads in rear are like a light switch and I hate it. Suprised nobody else said this.

[joelberg]

I've had both on the same bike... wave or standard is no performance difference. The wave rotor should cause more air turbulance therefore run cooler. If you want a less powerful rear brake then run carbon pads like I do in the rear. Sintered pads in rear are like a light switch and I hate it. Suprised nobody else said this.

Hehe I said this the other day in another thread too.

[TSmithCR250R]

I've had both on the same bike... wave or standard is no performance difference. The wave rotor should cause more air turbulance therefore run cooler. If you want a less powerful rear brake then run carbon pads like I do in the rear. Sintered pads in rear are like a light switch and I hate it. Suprised nobody else said this.

psh...anyone who's takin Heat Transfer or Fluid Mechanics knows that a Laminar flow is far superior in dissipating heat than a turbulent flow....

[Refresh]

i have waves on one of my bikes and plan to go back to oem or similar design. Main reason is the waves seem to eat brake pads

[hellyhans]

some posts here are complete bull by people who actually have no idea about the difference in brake design.

Full rotors = Advantage:Better braking/PAD friendly good in muddy conditions as the rotor does not fill up with mud thus affecting braking performance.

Disadvantage:They will heat up more...Depends if the brake is being used ALOT.. if its normal riding..you will not notice a difference and will be good to go.

Drilled rotors = Advantage: Best heat dissipation, OK PAD friendly.

Disadvantage:LESS braking power under normal driving conditions, gets better when warmed up.

Full Slotted rotors = Advantage: BEST braking power, as the slots "cut" the pad with each pass, thus always creating an equally flat pad surface touching the disc.

Disadvantage = NOT pad friendly. and bad heat dissipation during extreme conditions.

Slotted+Drilled rotors = Less braking power than full slotted but better heat dissipation.

Waved (galfer) = less braking power than slotted as it cuts the pad,but not equally. primarily used for looks/weight reduction.

All in all.. it depends on what kind of riding you do and what conditions you ride most to choose the right combination of pads/rotors ( soft pads,medium,hard)

[OLHILLBILLY]

Sintered pads in rear are like a light switch and I hate it.

I'm using EBC HH (sintered) pads on my rear brake, maybe that has more to do with my rear brake lock-up than the trials tire does.

Hmmm.

[hm450]

Rear Plain disc is a must for muddy and winter conditions. I use them from a long time on my second wheels set. Superior braking and more miles for your pads

[bergermeister]

Both of my bikes came fitted with OEM waves.

I have since switched BOTH to standard solid / drilled discs.

Verdict, pads last 3 times as long with the solid discs. No noticeable difference in braking performance.

Standard discs last a lot longer too. The waves tend to wear pretty quickly.

Waves look sweet, but I wouldn't use them for any other reason.

Berg

[Cheb44]

Some of you really do need to research a bit more.

A brake pad's maximum grip is generated at the moment of initial bite, and once that initial bite has occurred, the levels of grip tend to fall off in a predictable manner. The reason that the Galfer Wave rotors can produce much more grip and sustain it throughout the entire braking process is that the actual "Waves" in the brake disk are engineered and located in such a way as to constantly provide a new area for the brake pads to "bite" into while the disk is rotating!

Since the brake pads are constantly getting a fresh bite out of the disk as it rotates they are always at the optimum braking point.

They do help with cooling as well but the biggest advantage is stopping power, which is not that noticeable on small bikes like ours. They also do tend to eat brakes a bit more that standard disks.

[nathanslocum]

On 8/2/2010 at 7:22 AM, TSmithCR250R said:

psh...anyone who's takin Heat Transfer or Fluid Mechanics knows that a Laminar flow is far superior in dissipating heat than a turbulent flow....

Just saw this and I know this is old, I don't know if it's a joke, but turbulent is far better at dissipating heat.

[crypto666]

If you are locking up the rear, try grafting a Honda drum brake in place.  Only Honda would put drum brakes on a modern bike.