Self-excited vibrations are a severe problem in many technical applications. In many cases they are caused by friction as for example in disk and drum brakes, clutches, saws and paper calenders. The goal to suppress self-excited vibrations can be reached by active and passive techniques, the latter ones being preferable due to the lower costs. Among design engineers it is known that breaking the symmetries of structures is sometimes helpful to avoid self-excited vibrations. This has been verified from an analytical point of view in a recent paper. The goal of the present paper is to use this analytical insight for a systematic structural optimization of rotors in frictional contact. The first system investigated is a simple discrete model of a rotor in frictional contact. As a continuous example a rotating beam in frictional contact is considered and optimized with respect to its bending stiffness. Finally a brake disk is optimized giving some attention to the feasibility of the modifications for the production process.