Here’s what machining at my day job looks like.

[RandyM]

Depending on the car, rotors are so inexpensive now that you can buy a couple for what you are charging to do one.

 

[D.sebens]

Depending on the car, rotors are so inexpensive now that you can buy a couple for what you are charging to do one.

At my dealership the brake job labor costs the same with either replacement or machining. The labor rate is discounted so it remains competitive with jiffy lube type places. Ford rotors tend to cost about $60-90 a piece for most vehicles. They cost more on the F150 and up

 

[Jake M]

What cars are you working on that still have rotors thick enough to turn? I gave up on turning drums and rotors nearly 20 years ago. Both were so thin from the factory there wasn’t enough to turn if they had more than a deep scratch

The machines now sit in a friends auto museum.

There are few if any thin enough to turn with a brake job. They are more often turned when brand new to match them to a hub, so that sh(o)tty hubs and sh(o)tty rotors can have a reasonable life span before they start to pulsate. (which in and of it's self is not from warped rotors. I don't care what the internet said, the internet is wrong.).

Depending on the car, rotors are so inexpensive now that you can buy a couple for what you are charging to do one.

You're not fixing the rotor. The rotor is where you're taking up the tolerance for the rest of the car.

 

[Jake M]

Holy brake fluid Batman!

Here in Vermont, that's just Tuesday. Probably Wendsday and Friday as well. Monday and Thursday are typically for exhaust and rockers.

Those rotors may have "symptoms", I can't measure them and they do have a whole other side that we can't see, but that "patina" on the visible side- There's no symptom from that. They work normally that way. They do have to go away of course, because the onset has come and trouble will follow, but they're not as "on the edge" as they look like. At least not in that regard.

We just skip the panic, dust over the state's inspection manual's poor description of rust that no one can agree on (on the inspection mechanic's side, the inspection station's side, the DMV field officer's side, or the DMV's administration's side. That's always nice.). There's too much headache in that. Although I could flunk those for the pitting and nobody would argue over those in the picture (Even though the brake dyno says they work fine that way). We just flunk 'em for thickness when they look like that, it's clear, definitive, quantified, and so nobody gets bent out of shape (much).

 

[MikeWi]

speaking of drilled rotors, I switched to slotted/drilled rotors when I was driving thru Pittsburgh. Steep hills, stop and go traffic, hard braking etc. warped two sets of rotors, switching to the S/D rotors stopped that, and actually has a big affect on wet braking. Probably a better quality in the first place, but I'm sold.