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[ptnlinda]

Have my new 2015 Limited and have changed most of the bolts that show to Stainless. Looking at the Front Rotors and am thinking about polishing them rather than buying the Harley Polished ones. Has anyone polished there own rotors? Are there any problems I may encounter? I have my own buffing wheels etc so will take the rotors off to do them.
Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

[sadunbar]

For what it's worth...  If you want to look at your rotors and not use them to stop your bike, polish them.  If you need them to stop your bike, don't polish them...  Some things are meant to shine, other things not so much... 

If you decide to take them off and polish them anyway, take care to remove all the locking adhesive from your wheel threads and rotor fasteners, and use the proper adhesive when reinstalling the fasteners.  Or better yet, use new fasteners (that will have proper adhesive pre-applied to them)...

[grc]

With the brake rotors that had a center carrier that attached at the hub, it was easy to have a nice chrome center section for appearance while maintaining a regular braking surface.  With the rotors that no longer have that center carrier and only have the outer ring, I think I'd just leave them alone.  When it comes to stopping a nearly 1000 pound motorcycle, I want the best coefficient of friction I can get.  We already start out with a less efficient material, stainless steel, for appearance reasons.

Btw, if you stay with the metallic brake pads it won't take long to mess up all that work anyway.

JMHO - Jerry

[ptnlinda]

Thanks for the input guys. No I wasn't really interested in polishing the edge of the rotor that comes in contact with the Pads just the rest of it which I know will be fiddly but think the end result will be worth it. Still tossing the idea around.

[Eqcons]

Have my new 2015 Limited and have changed most of the bolts that show to Stainless. Looking at the Front Rotors and am thinking about polishing them rather than buying the Harley Polished ones. Has anyone polished there own rotors? Are there any problems I may encounter? I have my own buffing wheels etc so will take the rotors off to do them.
Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

Yup, easy job, cheap polishing kit off eBay, about an hour's work, and replace with HD's chrome bolts. You need three kits though, as they have 5 in a kit, and ours are 7 bolt rotors.

[ptnlinda]

Yup, easy job, cheap polishing kit off eBay, about an hour's work, and replace with HD's chrome bolts. You need three kits though, as they have 5 in a kit, and ours are 7 bolt rotors.

Thanks for the input Eqcons. Yours look great and I will definitely go ahead and do mine now. Thanks for the tip with the bolts, I was actually going to get the Stainless equivalent but both Alloy Boltz & Diamond Engineering are saying they won't have stock till the new year.
Thanks again.

[Eqcons]

Thanks for the input Eqcons. Yours look great and I will definitely go ahead and do mine now. Thanks for the tip with the bolts, I was actually going to get the Stainless equivalent but both Alloy Boltz & Diamond Engineering are saying they won't have stock till the new year.
Thanks again.

The bolts on these rotors are very unusual - definitely not a stock item, so I'd be surprised if you could get stainless ones (otherwise I'd have looked for them!) 

[ptnlinda]

The bolts on these rotors are very unusual - definitely not a stock item, so I'd be surprised if you could get stainless ones (otherwise I'd have looked for them!)

Yes have checked it out with Alloy Boltz and they are available just not in stock till next year. The person I spoke to actually has a CVO with these rotors so they definitely fit.
Talking about the bolts did you have any trouble getting out the original bolts so you could polish the Rotors, any tricks or problems I should be aware of. In the past I have usually used an impact driver to break the seal of the factory fitted bolts.
What about the machining lines on the rotors what grade sanding discs/paper did you use to get rid of those or did you find the buffing wheels did the job?
Thanks again.

[Eqcons]

Yes have checked it out with Alloy Boltz and they are available just not in stock till next year. The person I spoke to actually has a CVO with these rotors so they definitely fit.
Talking about the bolts did you have any trouble getting out the original bolts so you could polish the Rotors, any tricks or problems I should be aware of. In the past I have usually used an impact driver to break the seal of the factory fitted bolts.
What about the machining lines on the rotors what grade sanding discs/paper did you use to get rid of those or did you find the buffing wheels did the job?
Thanks again.

I never have problems getting rotor bolts out, they aren't that tight, no complications in doing this at all, and certainly no impact driver required! No sanding, just coarse compound followed by fine.

[ltank]

Years ago I told my son to wax paint and everything shiny. Went for a Ride and could not stop! He waxed the Rotors!

[Eqcons]

Years ago I told my son to wax paint and everything shiny. Went for a Ride and could not stop! He waxed the Rotors!

 

[Eqcons]

Another tip for a bit of easy chrome..... the cheap, ill-fitting plastic plugs on the swingarm pivot bolt holes - the old chrome ones fitted up to (I think) 2009 fit perfectly, and cost just a few $.

[ptnlinda]

I never have problems getting rotor bolts out, they aren't that tight, no complications in doing this at all, and certainly no impact driver required! No sanding, just coarse compound followed by fine.

Thanks again Eqcons, really appreciate your interest and comments. Will let you know how I go. Going on holidays tonight so won't get round to doing it for a few weeks.

[Eqcons]

Thanks again Eqcons, really appreciate your interest and comments. Will let you know how I go. Going on holidays tonight so won't get round to doing it for a few weeks.

Off somewhere nice?

[ptnlinda]

Off somewhere nice?

Off to Sydney for the week, Climbing the Harbour Bridge, Doing a Cirque du Soleil show and just general sightseeing shopping etc. Getting on a red eye in 2hours at 12.30am and arrive 6.15am.