I keep reading things from both sides of the fence, but is cutting rotors history or is it still worth it to do on these trucks?

My old car (Honda Accord 2000), they always just replaced the entire rotor, which was more expensive, but definatly made me feel better in the long run.

 

IMO, its worth turning rotors IF you can do it without cutting a lot of material out. The trouble with cutitng them is you make them thinner and they tend to warp more easily. If it's a simple brake job and you're cutting them to just make 'em smooth, then I'd say you're gtg. If they have lots of rust or or delaminating like they do here in the great northeast, then you may have to cut so much that they end up too thin, or marginal at best.

 

and everyone now a days (dealers, stores) is always going to error on the side of being more safe than not....

 

By law, you can only turn them so far - and some rotors are so thin to begin with they cannot be legally turned even once.

 

Yes, that is true. They have a minimum machine thickness. it requires a mircometer to measure it

 

I've had mine cut a few times because the rest of the rotor was decent. I've noticed sometimes the middles where the venting is deteriorates so ya, get new ones. Sometimes they look good, so I cut them. The cost is not really much more to replace vs cut so it's up to you.

 

I've heard lots of stories about the low quality of the stock rotors, so it does not seem worth it to turn them and make them even more likely to warp.

Plus if you are doing your own brake work, it is much easier to order the new rotors (if needed) in advance. When they arrive, do your brake job and be driving your truck within hours. Beats borrowing a car, taking the rotors in to be turned, picking them back up and then finishing the brake job another day.

 

Plus if you are doing your own brake work, it is much easier to order the new rotors (if needed) in advance. When they arrive, do your brake job and be driving your truck within hours. Beats borrowing a car, taking the rotors in to be turned, picking them back up and then finishing the brake job another day.[/QUOTE]

YEP

 

Keep in mind that on the new body style, 04-present, they have to be truned with the bearing still in place. Not many machines can do that. I replaced my rotors at 44,000 due to bearing failure.

 

Aye.. We use an on-car lathe to do them. Makes it nice. no fighting with removing rusted rotors.

 

My local auto parts store used to pick up and deliver as a courtesy. That made it nice.

 

need to replace front rotors on my F-150 S/Cab 2 wd 5.4 2000, any suggestions on stock type rotors from the Autozone or DAP brands, both about same price. Plan on using the cer. pads for dust.

 

I've only had my truck for a couple months, but from experience, the aftermarket rotors are thinner than the Ford ones. Admittedly they are substantially cheaper so that is something you would have to decide. I've seen a lot of posts on here praising the Carquest Blue pads. I can't speak from experience bc I haven't used them yet, but I plan on using them when the time comes.

 

Aftermarkets thinner was not my experience. I used raybestos on my 2005 4x2 and they were noticably beefier than the originals.

 

I was meaning from the local parts store here in the sticks. I dont have any experiance with the more well-known brands like Ray etc..:o