expensive rotors

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I just spent $263 at RA for pads and rotors for pickup. Nothing fancy, Akebono pads and Wagner coated rotors. And of course RA crazy shipping charges. Seems like a lot.

So with smaller vehicles you can get good rotors for $35 to $40 if I remember.

But with $100 rotors for my pickup it would seem turning the rotors might be reasonable even if if costs $20. Not worth it on a $35 to $40 rotor but worth it on a $100 rotor.

Not sure anyone turns rotors even if you wanted to pay $20/rotor.

From a world waste perspective, buying a rotor that weighs 20 lbs and tossing it when it weighs 19.95 lbs seems a waste. I assume the rotors are melted down for new iron/steel.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
I assume the rotors are melted down for new iron/steel.


Around here cast iron is 10 cents a pound the last time I checked, so you would get $4 back on a pair.
 
Id hope the rotors are reclaimed and recycled. Id assume they are.

Its the nature of the beast for the vehicle you buy. HD capability comes with HD cost. As even the "lower end" half ton versions become more capable, this trend will just continue.

And it does for cars too - look how much faster and capable a run of the mill car is these days compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Its just that all the parts are smaller.

I think youre spot on with turning, but there are downsides to that too. I dont fully understand it, but it seems that vehicles are more sensitive to runout and irregularities these days. And a run of the mill shop wont have the same size/weight/stiffness lathe and other machines that a factory will. Im not fully up on it, but it seems like some vehicles need on-car turning, so that the runout and hub matching can remain the same. But I guess that's even harder/more expensive to do right, and probably worse on a giant rotor.

If you can find someone to do a quality job, and the vehicle isnt sensitive to it, and they arent overly rusted, reusing rotors seems a good idea.
 
Steel and Iron are the most recycled materials in the world. Having said that, significant percentage of the scrap metal generated in North America gets exported to India, Vietnam, Turkey for these countries to make new steel & iron products for their internal use and export back to North America.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
I assume the rotors are melted down for new iron/steel.

If you put them in the trash, they probably go to a landfill. I'm not sure if regular trash gets separated in all cases. Around here, I'd put them next to my trash cans the day before trash pick-up and the folks that collect scrap metal would get them.
 
Rotors for my Pilot were considerably more expensive than ones for my other cars. Like JHZR2 said, just the nature of the beast.
 
The fronts of my Ram are getting rusty, this company (brakemotive.com) had a nearly unbelievable price on 2 front zinc plated, drilled/slotted rotors, with a set of ceramic pads, even a bottle of brake fluid, for under $120 TOTAL in their eBay store. I'm going to try them on the Ram 3500 in my sig, I already have a set on the front of the xB which still look brand new after almost 3 years!
 
It's hard to turn a rotor "true" off-car - and not everyone follows a set SOP when they machine a rotor or maintain the lathe as intended by the manufacturer.

I drop off rotors at the local recycling center - and there's still a pipe plant not far from me.
 
^ It's not hard at all. Places have been doing it for decades. Is it as precise? Maybe not but good enough to get a few dozen more miles out of them. Problem is, most rotors these days don't have enough material left by the time they need it but if you're just doing it to refresh them and they didn't really need it, replacement cost determines if it's worthwhile, and the slight hassle of finding a place and making the trip there to wait for them to do it or else drop off and come back later.
 
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I use to have a local shop that was owned by a pretty cool dude, he would cut rotors for my friends and I for 8 bucks each. That went well for years until a new guy moved in and now charges 40 bucks each, which is almost the cost of an average rotor. That tells me he doesent want to cut rotors and is why I bought a used lathe or CR a couple years back. Time and labor involved cutting a rotor vs buying new online sometimes doesent make sense.
 
Originally Posted by 1978elcamino
That tells me he doesent want to cut rotors


I've seen the same thing.
Today's auto parts retail model is min wage drones slinging third world manufactured parts across the counter.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Doesn't Pep Boys still cut them at a reasonable price?

$14.99/rotor.
 
Be glad you don't have anything with Brembos where one rotor can be over $300, or anything AMG where one rotor can be over $800, or anything ceramic where one rotor can be over $5,000.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
I just spent $263 at RA for pads and rotors for pickup. Nothing fancy, Akebono pads and Wagner coated rotors. And of course RA crazy shipping charges. Seems like a lot.
-snip-
From a world waste perspective, buying a rotor that weighs 20 lbs and tossing it when it weighs 19.95 lbs seems a waste. I assume the rotors are melted down for new iron/steel.


More like 12.95 lb since they rust
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
The fronts of my Ram are getting rusty, this company (brakemotive.com) had a nearly unbelievable price on 2 front zinc plated, drilled/slotted rotors, with a set of ceramic pads, even a bottle of brake fluid, for under $120 TOTAL in their eBay store. I'm going to try them on the Ram 3500 in my sig, I already have a set on the front of the xB which still look brand new after almost 3 years!


When the zinc coating over the braking surface of the rotor wears off does it gum up the pads? Seems other companies are careful to not coat the braking surface.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
I just spent $263 at RA for pads and rotors for pickup. Nothing fancy, Akebono pads and Wagner coated rotors. And of course RA crazy shipping charges. Seems like a lot.




Fronts, or all the way around?
 
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