Marshmallow’s Campfire Insight #2

Replacing Rotors:

Replacing your rotors when it’s recommended is very important. Warped rotors as well as grooves, heat spots, chips. and cracks will ruin new pads and can cause premature wear of the pads along with potentially damaging calipers. Old, corroded rotors can also pose other problems.

Yes, rotors can be resurfaced, but only a finite amount of times. When a rotor is resurfaced the top layer is shaved off until it’s smooth again. Eventually they become too thin and need replacing anyway. Rotors that are heavily grooved, warped, have deep heat spots, or are cracked can’t be resurfaced either.

Most places have stopped the practice of resurfacing rotors due to the lower cost of new rotors, the high cost and time of labor involved, the upkeep of a resurfacing machine, and the fact that many modern rotors are manufactured to be too thin to safely resurface. This is why nowadays it’s very rarely, if ever at all, an option when getting brake estimates.

“Pad slapping” is the term used to refer to replacing pads without rotors. It can be done, though it’s not ideal or recommended. The rotors also have to be in decent condition. However even with decent rotors it’s still possible to have brake noise, pulsing or vibration when braking, accelerated or uneven pad wear, and damage to the brake calipers when pad slapping.

Thanks for reading!

(I accidentally forgot to post this last week…)