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To Cut or Not to Cut

by vanislewrenches on Jul 31 2017, 6:25 PM

So I am what you would consider new school in the fact that I have only been working in the Automotive/Commercial Transport for just under 10 years. What I am often up against is that I work with an old school mechanic that thinks that cutting rotors is the way to properly repair warped or worn rotors. Now before I get some haters chiming in, If the rotors have integral hubs or heaven forbid it's one of those F150 rotors for $300 then by all means try and save it but what I am talking about is cutting a set of front rotors from a 95 Toyota Tercel or Chev Cavalier. For the $25-$35 for a new rotor, you are surely eating up as much shop time and ultimately installing an inferior product if you choose to cut them on the ole brake lathe. Thinning out the rotor material plus the pre-existing rust and corrosion on the fins make over heating more of a concern than ever once you commit to machining rotors. If you are installing new front pads, which I hope you are if you are doing the rotors, servicing the calipers, why would you choose not to replace with new rotors? You increase the risk of overheating causing cracking in the pads and rotors, premature brake wear and failure, all for what? Cuz that how we've done it for years? Sell em the new rotors.

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49 Replies

By achavez5960 Jun 04 2019, 8:32 PM

ON car lathe is the best way to go. No matter the price of the rotors if you save the customer a few dollars they will be back for other repairs.

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By 1amdc206 May 23 2019, 6:17 AM

In order to machine it I'm going to measure the rotor and see if theres enough to machine or if the rotor has parallelism. By all means I would probably replace it if its near the end of its discard limits. New rotors does save time but you have to remember they are paying a bunch of money so if you can do it and save money without having them pay the cost for a new rotor then machine it first because when people come to the dealership they know they emptying there pockets plus if you machine it and it was bad guess who is going to have to deal with a comeback, you are and this time your not getting paid to do something that should of been done the first time which leads to fix it right the first time. However, if you look at places like les schwab when they do a brake job there replacing calipers too it's there policy, so that they avoid comebacks. Some customers look at them as a rip off, but little do they know that there getting the job done to avoid comebacks. OEM rotors and pads usually last a long time anyways.

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By dandbperformance May 08 2019, 7:28 PM

We would much rather just replace the rotors unless the customer is completely insistent on us cutting/resurfacing. Rotors now aren't meant to last as long as they used to unfortunately. I would just make sure that the customer understands that rotors are vented now and they rust from the inside out so cutting/resurfacing will really only speed up the process of needing to replace them. Good luck!

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By goodguysnick Mar 12 2019, 4:08 PM

does any one have an on the car brake lathe. I have the new hunter on the car and can re surface a pair of rotors in 15 min or less on most cars.

depending on the car I can have a brake job done with rotors machined before I can get new rotors. just a thought I think is worth sharing

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By celkins24 Jan 05 2019, 5:26 AM

Replacement is my personal preference, but will take rotor type, condition, cost, and customer satisfaction into consideration.

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By ktony7571 Oct 11 2018, 3:33 PM

If your using oem rotors and they have a decent thickness to them they would be worth saving ! but if your using a second line rotor don't even take the risk might as well replace the rotors

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By bmw_740i Oct 10 2018, 3:24 PM

If your using cheap rotors don't bother just resurface ! If your using good quality rotors and there's some life they maybe worht saving !

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By north peachtree valero Oct 09 2018, 6:24 PM

Always replace, the only rotors I've ever cut were on a 2007 Cadillac Escalade EXT because someone put performance brakes on there with bigger rotors that we couldn't find a replacement for

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By 1986chevyman Aug 24 2018, 8:24 PM

Most of the time we install new rotors. In the end, the brake job will be less likely to come back.

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By ahays000 Aug 23 2018, 5:26 PM

I always replace rotors when cost effective. I have found that hot spots can cause as many issues as warped rotors.

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