Howard, you almost lost me with the race track/frozen lake comparison until I got your point: polished rotors will provide the "frozen lake" surface for the pads to grab and the unpolished rotors will provide the "race track" surface for the pads to grab.

 

Yeppeer's

 

but if you stay with the stock H/D pads they wear in and your back to stock brake rotors with everything polished but the braking surface . I could see where the polished rotor friendly pads may not work as well but thats as far as im gonna go with that .

 

I guess I'd believe the diminishing braking theory if shade tree mechanics with sanders or Chinese factory workers were the only ones polishing rotors, but it's hard to believe big name companies, like Russell, would offer a braking product that was dangerous or didn't work well, since after all their line of business is brakes.

 

I polished my rotors, and now they squeel. Even with the new Lyndall pads.Maybe they'll stop eventually. I just put the pads on recently.

 

Maybe try a much better performance brake manufacturer who does not cater to the nipple ring crowd. Any great rotor manufacture will not offer a polished rotor as it is beneath acceptable standards. Russell is not among them and their equipment is equal to the products sold by KC International for the $40 range including mirror polished.

n8dc said the solution. Use sintered pads to cut off the polished part so the pads can apply friction. If you can not see the scenario between a smooth lake and a high friction track than by all means polished rotors are for you. I am sorry to have interjected with useless drivel.

 

Your rotors, your choice. Makes no difference at all to me.

 

I have the polished Stainless Floating Rotors and Organic Pads fr. KC Int'l and can lock up the front. They will chatter sometimes when the rotors are centering but IMO work better than the cheap HD Rotors that are made where?

 

I polished mine and think they look a whole lot better than stock. It's easy to do yourself and you WILL like the results. I stayed with stock pads and, as was mentioned, they "wore in" in short order. In the meantime I noticed no practical effect on braking.

 

Say it ain't so....Everybody knows that a VW micro-bus slides farther across a frozen pond in the middle of a race course when it's brake rotors glisten in the sun....Braking has to be effected.