Review on 🔘 Enhance Your Braking Performance with SHIMANO XT SM-RT86 6-Bolt Disc Brake Rotor (160mm) by Jose Miller

I recently put together a new wheelset for my MTB that was significantly lighter than the original set. I choose Shimano XT because of Shimano's solid reputation, particularly in the XT line, and the lightweight rotors. I am very happy with the design of the blocks: they are light but strong and work well under hard braking. However, I deduct two points for the following reasons. First, the instructions called for a washer to be installed over the bolt assembly. There wasn't a washer in the package (I checked it several times) so I went to the Shimano website and the instructions were the same. Eventually I called Shimano tech support and they told me the manual "apparently" was outdated and the washer was not needed. I spent over 30 minutes with this problem. Second, and more importantly, the flange that connects the bolt assembly to the brake rotor hits the edge of my Avid brake assembly on each pass at each end of the flange (i.e. five times per wheel revolution). I haven't had this problem with other rotors in the past, so I suspect Shimano just didn't do their homework. I ended up having to file the ends of the assembly down to stop the clicking. Wasted about another hour trying to solve this problem. If you are interested in these rotors you now know that shims are not required so you should not have this problem but be aware of backlash issues in your brake assembly.