All,
I want to thank you for all the advice. My initial inquiry was to get a feel for weather or not rotors are not as durable as they once were and that I was/was not getting a sales pitch vs. a true need. I’ve since gone to a few other (non-dealer) shops in the area (D.C. burbs) and prices actually are same or higher with the same story. I’m not in a position to do this my self but will certainly check into alternative parts. Again, many thanks.
Thanks for your info. Some day, if the stars align, I’ll build a kit or buy a turn-key replicobra. Love the looks of the 427 but 289s are none too shabby.
I Hesitate To Tell You This, But I Was Wrong.
I got the feeling that people couldn’t believe that I could get rotors turned for $10. Since it’s been a few months since I had any done, I got thinking maybe that’s an old price. Sometimes my days turn to months, and my months to years.
So when I just now was talking to the guy (owner) from that shop about a car that belongs to a relative in need of exhaust work, I asked about rotors. “Gary, how much do you get to turn rotors if I bring them in?” Gary said, “About six bucks, I guess.”
So I stand corrected. I can get rotors machined beautifully for $6 each, not $10. They probably actually went up. The $10 I remember was probably for the pair. Now it’s $12!
P.S. You definitely wouldn’t believe the local salvage yard parts prices.
The most common price is “Go ahead and take it. Bring me in some metal one of these days.”
America, what a country!
If the rotor surfaces is scored, either resurface it or replace it. Otherwise, just put new pads on. I do the work myself, and rotors are so cheap (~$40 each) that replacement is cost effective. Besides, if I remove them for resurfacing, I lose the use of the car for one day at least.
I checked also,for my 2004 F-150 2wd (which does need brakes at 75K first time)Factory rotors $390.00 each Motorcraft rotors $235.00 pads $110.00 $125.00.Dealer will not turn loose rotors. Several auto parts stores $15.00-$20.00 rotor turns,high end rotors $160.00 China stuff $76.00
I stumbled on a local garage in Lowell Mass who turns rotors for $7.50/each.
This happened when they stopped making brake pads with asbestos. Today’s cheap pads are metallic and today’s expensive pads are ceramic. They aren’t as soft as the old asbestos pads were. That has led to more rotor wear.
I fight the trend and don’t resurface my rotors every time I replace the pads. I wait until they are warped. I turn the rotors twice, once when they are new and once more when they are warped. After they warp a second time, I start again with new ones.
I worked for garages who had the policy to turn brand new rotors (right out of the box,justification was "damage durning storage and shipping)I never was sold on it.
With BMW we never turn rotors,some techs don’t know how to use a brake lathe (quite a problem when they move on) specs are given for turning,some people say BMW rotors are “composite” and can’t be turned,they didn’t look any different to me. We always installed the BMW rotors fresh out of the box no turning,with no problems,I make this comment in comparison to yours stating you turn your rotors when new.
In addition no "pad bedding’ was ever needed. My keyboard batteries are dying
The last time I bought a rotor at an auto parts store, it had a rough surface that needed to be resurfaced before it was mounted.
It would have had to be pretty rough for me to give up rotor thickness on my brand new rotor to the brake lathe. I would have experminted with some kind of air drill or die grinder to put a non-directional swirll on the rotor.
JMHO here, but if a real automotive garage (independent or dealer) will turn a rotor for 7 bucks, 10 bucks, or whatever there has to be something going on that will allow this to be done.
A. Either the owner of the shop who is not turning wrenches is doing this as a good will gesture.
B. The owner of the shop is making the difference up somewhere else.
Consider this, using a dealer as an example. If a mechanic only gets a fraction of that, call it 10 bucks, then someone explain to me how a mechanic is going to earn a living getting a small percentage of that 10 dollars? The tech would get 3 bucks and if the rotor was hastily turned without too many cuts that means the tech is making 6 bucks an hour at most. (allowing a half an hour for machining.)
And anyone who has machined rotors knows that last cut should be done on slow speed with a chatterband. That last cut is also agonizingly slow.
And if I got a rotor out of box that needed machining it would be returned immediately for one that didn’t.
Rough out of the box could mean one slipped through the cracks at the factory or a customer has pulled a fast one on the auto parts house.