Can anyone explain what is a mirror polished. is this a chemical process or something that can be done at home..I am installing a HD thunder star chrome rim on my bike and was considering putting mirror polished rotors instead of chrome

 

Upgrade to HD "floating" chrome rotors and forget polished stock rotors.

 

You can polish out your stock rotors or any other stainless rotor with about 5 bucks worth of sandpaper. I use an attachment that fits in my drill.

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The chrome floating rotor is easier to clean and is a pretty good rotor for the money.

 

I think I read that the 08's have "semi-floating" rotors. What's thethe difference between floating, semi-floating and non-floating rotors anyways? Is it that significant?

 

I polished mine with an orbital sander and some wet dry sandpaper. Turned out great. Here is an old thread on it.
https://www.hdforums.com/m_1291967/tm.htm

 

floating rotors are used on performance bikes... the outer part of the rotor, where the pads contact, are isolated from the carrrier so there less pulsation among other things.

the stock HD rotors are Stainless, and can be polished easily with the finer grades of sandpaper.

If you had an orbital sander and some 1500 paper they'd clean up real nice.

If I had to replace my rotors due to wear or accident damage, I would go with floating ones no questions asked. Otherwise I'd hit them with sandpaper starting with 600 and going to 2000 with intermediate cuts in between.. Just remember the pads need a certain surface finish on the rotors to work. try to avoid polishing the swept area and concentrate on the rest.

 

You can polish the entire rotor and the brakes will still work fine. (aftermarket rotors come fully polished) If you use Kevlar pads after polishing, the rotors will develop a nice satin sheen, instead of that near galling look that the OEM pads leave.


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I'd like to take a stab at polishing mine. Should I remove them fromt he bike first?

 

If I had to replace my rotors due to wear or accident damage, I would go with floating ones no questions asked.

Same here, and plan to do just that as they have been ordered thru Zanotti. Stock ones are not worn or damaged, but am upgrading my '07 FLH's brakes { the last year before Brembo's} with Hawg Halters caliper kits and H/D floaters . Went this way in the past and it has always been a big improvement on my past bikes over factory binders.