UFO brakes?

[Brett Dikeman]

UFO brakes are called that because the shape of the support for the rotor.

Basically, the caliper sits inside, and grips a ring-shaped rotor; the
rotor is spot welded to a support, which sort of looks like a jello mould
or bunt cake pan(more accurate, because the center is hollow.)  The
support bolts between the hub and wheel like any other rotor
assembly(well, save the addition of a set screw that holds the rotor to
the hub.)

The advantage to this design is that the rotor "ring" can be very large;
the caliper doesn't have to get between the rotor and the inside of the
wheel.  It allows for a huge rotor(comparatively) under 15 inch wheels.

The problem is that the design is prone to warp; there were complaints
from a lot of US drivers about the ystem and G60 calipers were
retrofitted(resulting in vehicles that were seriously underbraked.)

Brett

On Mon, 8 Oct 2001, Michael Gough wrote:

> Hey list,
> I've heard this refrence a bunch of times, and now I want to know what UFO
> brakes are. How are they different from "normal" brakes. Can anyone shed
> some light on this?
> Thanks
> Mike
>