Brake rotor turning is a waste

I wouldn't trust O'Reilly's or AutoZone to turn my rotors. They can't even test a battery correctly.

 

Exactly! Done with them. I just feel that little bit of a pull sometimes to try and keep what I have instead of just throwing away and replacing. But with brakes I’m over it now.

 

I've never seen a rotor machined on the vehicle. Not sure what the advantage would be to even attempting that. A brake lathe and a front spindle do the same thing in terms of rotating the rotor on a fixed shaft. Sounds like a scam to me.

As for cost ? That has charged over the years. If the rotors are expensive to start with and only exhibit a slight bit of run out, it is still cheaper to turn them.
HOWEVER, generally speaking in today's world, it is cheaper to just replace them. Labor costs for turning rotors and the cost of new rotors are getting closer to each other. Considering that you can spend a considerable amount of time turning bad rotors and still end up throwing them away in the end,.... it is often safer economically to just replace them to start with.

I'm not opposed to turning expensive rotors to remove a slight bit of run out, but badly warped rotors should be discarded immediately and cheap rotors probably shouldn't be turned at all.

Some rotors are just made from better steel alloy than others and don't warp as easily. So that's another factor.

For the record, I found the rotors made in Canada were better than the ones made in Mexico.

 

@Petrol I have had a car with warped hubs. When I put new rotors on it, I had a vibration when braking that was not there before. So the car had the rotors turned on the vehicle and it had the smoothest braking after wards. Even driving like the teenage asshole I was the vibration never came back. It's not a scam.

 

I just experienced the opposite- always bought new rotors and thought I’d give a turn a try, for a change. I’ve been wasting money, will turn from now on.

Edit:
To clarify, my turning was done by a highly experienced professional

 

How do you know that turning them on a lathe instead of turning them on the vehicle wouldn't produce the SAME result ?

Not much Control in that experiment.

If it cost more to turn them on the vehicle as compared to turning them on a lathe, I'm going to stick with my analysis that turning them on the vehicle is a scam. If turning them on the vehicle was the same cost as turning them on a lathe, then I will say that it is just a more complicated method the achieve the same result.

 

I have experience with turning rotors on the car and off the car on a separate machine. Also first hand experience with warped hubs and having new rotors and rotors turned on the car back to back.

If you need them turned on the car, it's the only way. New rotors will not work because when you torque down the lug the rotors will match the wrapped hubs.

It is easier to turn them on the car than take them off and mount them so another machine that is on the other side of the shop.

 

Anytime I have OEM rotors I try to have them turned because I know they are likely better than what I could buy to replace them, and I haven't had any issues with this until recently. This last time I had them turned by Oreilly's and I couldn't even leave the driveway they were so messed up. Took them back and they were too thin to be corrected so they gave me some new rotors (Im sure the cheapest they had) to replace them. Now, 7k miles in I think one of the front rotors overheated and now I get a nice shake once they warm up. Now I don't like the idea of having them turned OR replaced so I haven't decided what Ill do next

 

Does anyone ever feel like paying the service provider to just let YOU use their tools and show long them how to do their job for them?

I went to Chipotle yesterday and the kids totally botched my burrito. Since I go there weekly at the same location I didn’t raise the issue, but they fucked it up. Similiar to fixing my cars because I don’t trust the competency levels of the mechanics in northern NJ (partially due to pressure to get it fixed even if it’s not fixed environment imposed on the technicians), I’d rather just make the burrito myself...

 

If you have warped HUBS, why not just fix that problem ?

Seriously, turning rotors on the vehicle does the SAME thing as turning them on a lathe. If the hubs are warped and therefore warping the rotors when the rotors are attached to the hubs.......FIX THE DAMN HUBS !

Let's get down to brass tacks here, the rotor needs to be true for the best performance. If we start chasing our tails trying to fix a chain of problems, we're never going to stop chasing our tails.

If the hubs are warped - fix the hubs.
If the rotors are warped - fix the rotors.
It's not that tough folks.

I've been playing with vehicles for many, many years. You can use money to accomplish just about anything. Use that money wisely and you will have money left over. It's YOUR choice what to do with your money.

 

I have...back in the mid to late 80s at Honda dealerships. Front end elevated - front tires off and a machine turning the wheels with a "stone" cutter to smooth out the surface. Traditional lathe cutting was forbidden at that time. According to Honda dealers in this era, "stone" lathe was the only way to go; else warped rotors. The thing would spin and spin and...

 

and then what?

 

And when done, the rotors were smooth...at least according to Honda dealers way back when. The process worked out ok as far as I was concerned, but yes, I did seem strange as I had never seen this before.

 

Turning rotors is a 20th century exercise.

 

You are right. I'm not trying to argue with you. Just expressing that there are reasons for turning the rotors on the car. It is not a scam by any means.

 

If they try to justify a higher labor rate for that same work,.........it's a scam. sorry.

 

I can not speak for other shops. How we quote it is.....
1.5hr or pads, cleaning and paste
2.0hr for pads, rotors, cleaning and paste
2.5 for pads, cleaning, paste and machine 2 rotors
But that is my dealership.

 

The question would be:
"What is the labor rate to turn the rotors on a lathe verses the labor rate to turn the rotors on the vehicle? "

 

I have brand new rotors turned, I have bought rotors for my 80 direct from Toyota and they were warped. so now they all get turned from napa before anything happens.

 

Do the proper bedding in procedure or you will have issues with your rotors