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In the middle of a rotor change. New rotors are not marked. Old rotors marked lf and rf but appear to have been put on the wrong sides (new owner of car). I know it sounds stupid and that I should just match the vanes on the new rotors to where the old ones SHOULD have been, but want to get this right.....so..
Looking at the rotor from the top how should the cooling vanes look?
If the vanes are angled, the vanes as viewed from the top should point towards the rear of the car. If they are in fact angled, it seems strange that they are not marked. The boxes would have had different part numbers and the label should have been marked for left or right.
Rotors with vanes that are straight can be installed on any corner. Linky
The direction of air through vented discs is from back-center out radially through the vents on the perimeter of the disc. The vanes/vents should point towards the back - not front. Their function is to allow the hot air to be slung outwards, not to "scoop" air in and force it toward the center. Sometimes, manufacturers and aftermarket companies will use the same rotor for both sides resulting in one side pointing towards the front. I've seen OEM setups that have that configuration and that does not appear to be detrimental to braking performance, although, technically one side is reversed.
For what it's worth, the original rotors on mine were mounted correctly on the front, but were reversed on the rear. If I hadn't changed to drilled and slotted I would never have known it. Guess someone wanted to go on a coffee break at Bowling Green that day.
Baer was the first ones I thought of when I saw this thread. They are VERY specific about rotation due to their internal vane design.
I have their Eradispeed plus + rotors (or Eradispeed "plus 2" if you prefer) installed.