After living this many years and seeing just about anything that can go wrong or brake, I have to admit I've never seen a brake rotor completely come apart. As you can see in the picture, the friction part of the rotor COMPLETELY broke away from the mounting portion of the rotor. When the brakes were applied and the disc squeezed the rotor it had absolutely no braking effect. The outer rotor was stopped but was no longer connected to the wheel. Happened on the Driver's side rear.
?Needs Caulk?
I would guess that coach don't get driven very often. Never seen a rotor that rusted and corroded.
Needs a COMPLETE 4-corner brake job ASAP! Check the pads, rotors, slide pins, and probably wheel bearings plus a (clay based) grease job.
After seeing many "disc rotor failures" on our coaches..it always seems to be the passenger side rear...thoughts ?.
OK, I KNOW this need explanation.
We live on the water front in Fort Myers. Every time we see a half sunk boat, the joke is "NEEDS CAULK". Same when we are in New Mexico and see to totally derelict building-- "NEEDS CAULK".
Sorry, I digress.
I would say it's simply a coincidence...but then again, there IS Gibbs Rule #39.....
Where is the shinny rotor? If the rusty part is the rotor, this brake has not been working for a very long time.
Hmmmmmm.Gibbs Rule ?? please
Sorry, all that rust happened in the rain after the rotor was removed. The coach is used regularly!!
It might be interesting to know where and by whom it was manufactured.
"?Needs Caulk?" Structural caulk, specifically. <grin>
Yes, a nice, shiny rotor left outside in the rain overnight can look like that. Fortunately, when it happened to me it was a rotor that had been replaced with a new one.
Yes, it would be interesting to know who made it. Even more interesting would be to know how many others are on our coaches that haven't failed - yet.
Crown of the road causes more corrosion on passenger side. I would speculate vibration induced by disc irregularities caused by corrosion as displayed by the disc. Would also speculate others are similar. Just weird it was on drivers side? Certainly time for complete brake service and pin inspection and service. They are probably in the same shape. I would recommend adding additional caliper helper springs at this time. Glad no one was hurt.
Scott
Could you provide the reasoning and/or research supporting that statement? Inquiring minds want to know.
The crown is engineered in to move water to the curb consequently all the contamination and oil residue etc concentrates there.
Salt and deiceing chemicals too. Narrow streets also may have mud and dirt that are also slung under the chassis and provide a layer that holds moisture and all the other road junk.
Scott
Thanx. Sounds logical. We seldom use salt and the deicing crap in West TX, but the oilfield trucks often spill/leak caustic chemicals on the roadways, so I guess we would have the same problem.
We had a caliper hang up on corroded/pitted slide pins - would not retract - ruined the pads and rotor. Fortunately, rotor did not fracture. Curb side rear corner, of course. 8)
Rust belt states rely on a thin veneer of sodium or calcium chloride on the roads to ease your ride home when the snow begins. From snow in, to several weeks after snow out the roads are a constant slurry of corrosive salts. When disk brakes became the new normal, some of us voiced the idea that maybe drum brakes were a better choice for winter roads and purchased our winter sacrifice to the salt god appropriately equipped.
The more I look at the two parts that were once one I can't help thinking, pour manufacturing of a questionable design spec.
There doesn't seem to be enough meat/metal to hold it all together, the break pattern on both pieces presents symmetrical. To me this indicates a weakness in the design/manufacturing process. Casting take a lot of attention to control, think Liberty bell and Big Ben, same foundry, same crack.
Or is this the result of an extremely warped rotor ?
IMO
More likely the result of a stuck caliper pressing from one side of the rotor.
Which has happened to a number a folks, particularly if slide pin cleaning/inspection/replacement isn't part of their regular maintenance, and hence the suggestion to do that and add the helper springs.
Yes there have been many examples of stuck calipers but how many rotor failures have there been ?
Most people don't try hard enough.