Hi, I need help with anyone who perhaps can tell me if whatever I am doing is wrong or not.I have a motorcycle, it‘s front wheel left hand side disc brake(rotor) is bent, right hand side is good so it would be a silly thing to go ahead and replace both disc brakes - left and right sides. Now, would it be wise to get a NEW BETTER left hand disc brake/brake pads to go with my ‘LESS NEW‘, SLIGHTLY MORE WORN right hand disc brake/pads?Will this cause any instability? Warping or brake discs? etc.? ANY knowledge is helpful and welcome. Thanks,
on a car it would cause problems, but on a bike with a 6inch wide axle it would make no difference. I would however fit the same type ie a new genuine part to go with a genuine old part. Brake discs are often cheaper from genuine parts over EBC or similar.
You're playing around with your own life. Discs should be fitted as matched pairs and when you fit new discs, you also fit new pads. If you swap pads over, you're introducing pads to a disc with different wear patterns on it when compared to the pads. Neither will therefore work correctly - decreasing your braking performance and increasing local temperatures (therefore also increasing the chances of warping the other rotor as well). Also, while I'm at it, if you find yourself having to brake while cornering, then the outside disc/caliper assembly does more work than the inside one. If you're turning left and your right brake is shot, then your braking efficiency will be impaired. Do not mess about with braking systems and do not assume it'll be okay 'cos it won't. If you can't afford OEM parts, then get pattern parts - but apply the same mods to both sides of the wheel.
So long as the rotor is the same part as the one it's replacing, wear will make no difference. Each caliper compensates for wear independently of the other. Make sure to use new brake pads, though: The wear pattern on the old pads will not match the new rotor, and lack of full contact will result in poor braking, and could also lead to another warped rotor from local overheating where it DOES make contact
