Car brake rotors and drums

[VicParticipant @vic]

I trimmed the lip off a couple of brake drums many years ago without any difficulty. I’m sure I could make use of some discs but never seem to see scrap stuff like this. I think some garages put stuff like this in a bin and call the scrap man when it’s full. Probably worth a few quid?

[MikeKParticipant @mikek40713]

I see drums and rotors from time to time where I live in the US.  Not often, because few guys work on their own cars anymore.  Usually they’re just left out for trash pickup day and someone will come around the night before and pick it up to get the cash for it at the scrap yard.  Steel and iron isn’t worth much, though…I doubt a drum or rotor would be worth even $1 US.

[Nicholas Farr]

On Nicholas Farr Said:

Hi, brake discs can make useful display stands.

Even ventilated ones can look good.

 

Regards Nick.

Nick, do you know what make and model of car this disc is for? I have often looked for car discs that can be machined down to suit classic motorbikes but they all seem to be eventilated so unsuitable, and the recess in the middle is too large to be machined off and use on a motorbike. That one looks ideal. Would be handy to know what car/model to look for at the auto store.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Hopper, I’m sure it was off a petrol 1982 Vauxhall 1600 five door Hatchback Cavalier that I had back then.

Regards Nick.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Small family MPVs like the Honda Jazz / Toyota Auris (and similar) still use ‘traditional’ single-thickness discs on the rear, usually about 10″ dia, dish dims. look similar to Nicks, might still be a bit big to get a M/C brake out of tho’..

Have you used up all the local manhole covers?

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

A competent man with limited ‘middle’ might consider ‘floating’ discs on a carrier – a cheap purchase of “replacement brake bobbins” for some small hack would show you all you need to know about construction and fixing, provided he decided whether the forces acting on a thin ring of iron were working in the right way?

..it’s too early to think it through in detail..

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Thanks Nick and Diogenes. A couple of good starting points there. The Honda Jazz is a common car here in Oz so will look into that next time I’m at the auto parts store. The Toyota Auris is I suspect sold as a Yaris here. Similar little shopping cart to the Jazz. Not many Vauxhalls in this neck of the woods since the 1960s though.

Yes could make a floating carrier but makes a simple job hard and overkill on an old classic bike. I’ve a couple of old bikes that if I could find a nice disk like that to machine down, I would be done and dusted in an afternoon.

[MikeKParticipant @mikek40713]

My 1986 VW GTI (US version) had factory solid rear rotors.  And my 1991 VW Golf (also US) had factory solid front rotors.

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