DWS964

It has been suggested by several folks to remove the backing plates on the front brakes to help with airflow and cooling for the brakes.
1. Does this really help - any data on rotor temperatures?
2. What is the down-side to leaving them off? They must be there for a reason. This is my daily driver - year round - so it sees all kinds of weather and conditions, in addition to my 4 DE's year.

Thanks guys,
Have Fun, Be Safe

ChaseN

Backing plates (on the backside, along with the spokes of your wheels while in motion in front) keep a lot of road grime/moisture from getting on/between your rotors and pads. I don't feel it would be worth it on a DD. No data, just subjective opinion when comparing the cost of foreign object damage vs. maybe (?) better cooling 4x per year.

EDIT: IIRC I think the foglights in my avatar pic are now the foglights in your avatar pic. Awesome

boxsey911

I think the role of the plates is to deflect large stones that could get thrown up and potentially damage the rotor. However they can't be 100% perfect at doing that because they don't go all the way round.

I took all of mine off because they were corroding to the point that they were going to fall off anyway. Not noticed any ill effects of doing it yet and as you say probably helps a little bit with cooling rotors. It's also saved about half a pound of un-sprung weight.