Why They Don't Turn Rotors Anymore 

I want to thank you for giving a shit about other people. Thats the thing humans lack today

Honestly, I would take "Old School" as a compliment.. Old school people actually cared about helping people, and the have pride about the work they do!

I'm way older school than you, and I still turn rotors, and drums. The cost to my customers is lowered, and my profit is increased, by using equipment that was paid off decades ago. I typically charge $12.50 per rotor & $10.00 per drum. It takes me about 5 minutes to place a rotor on the lathe, check it's run out, and set the anti-vibration band or pucks, and start the lathe. While the lathe is running, I'm doing other jobs, so the time of the cut is irrelevant. When the cut is finished it takes about 2 minutes to check the thickness, again, and put a non-directional swirl finish on the rotor. In addition, I use my brake lathe for other machining operations, like turning automatic transmissions drums, and other large parts. It is just quicker to set up than a regular turning lathe and does just as good a job. Since I always ran all hours of the day and night, I could crank out a brake job over night, and was not worried about having a jobber being open. It also helps when a new rotor has excess runout. Probably from improper storage, and the supplier is closed. Tim

I was born in 1957, I'm proud to be old school. Thanks for the old school video, you taught me a few things.

Thank you for explaining this issue. I suspected as much. I grew up in the 80's when they still turned rotors. Be well!

I am 76 yrs old, old school mechanics rebuild EVERYTHING when I was in auto shop in high school. So that's what I did until auto manufacturers made so you couldn't! Now days machanics are all just part changers. Part Changer was a dirty word for mechanics in the old days.

Keep up the videos of hidden knowledge! Now days the young people call it “gatekeeping” but in my experience they don’t want to learn. Anyways there seems to be a lack of people replacing the old timers retiring from the work force so videos like these are gold imo!

On vehicle brake lathes have taken over this type. I always wanted to have my own brake lathe too. Thanks for not saying warped.

Great information as always Rick- Thank you for sharing!

I have some fancy slotted rotors I got for race track driving. After some track weekends, those rotors would chatter. My local shop had an old timer who would resurface them for $20 each. They were like new each time. Well worth the price given the high cost of fancy rotors. Slotted are supposed to not be resurfaced, but he had no problem doing it. I don't know whether the problem was uneven brake deposits or warping. I eventually found that slotted just were no good for my car, at least not worth the trouble and cost. Cheap rotors work really well on a light track car like a Miata. Definitely a worthwhile tool if rotors are more expensive or unavailable.

Rich, Like you I grew up putting points in with a screwdriver and a pair of plyers. Then rebuilding carburetors. Then putting in clutches. No front wheel drive back then. Duel point distributors could be a challenge. Those were the good old days. 1955 Ken

I've done hundreds on that very machine. That Ammco is fantastic! Years ago we charged $10-15 per.😊😊😊

I would rather machine a factory rotor than install new China metal . In the last year, I've found 3 brand new rotors out of the box that were undersized.

Your totally right on why they won't turn rotors too much anymore, its money on up sell in there cash register, 25.00 for car rotors to turn one, trucks are 35.00 @too turn one rotor. That price was good as of 12/31/2022. They can be turned but as you say it's money for up sell.

NAPA says "Old School" right on the awning outside. They don't turn rotors. Only O'Reily's does.

He is absolutely correct. I brought a Ammco used also. There has been more than enough to machine even on aftermarket rotors D ecent new rotors are not that cheap, at least 80 bucks each. I have 4 cars this machine paid for it self in a year and a half !

No one wants to do this anymore. But the problem I am experiencing now is the quality of so called brand new parts. I buy brand new rotors and drums and they are warped right out of the box. I return them in exchange for more of the same. It's just ridiculous. I was looking right at the brake lathe in the back room of the parts store but the parts guy behind the counter told me he doesn't know how to resurface rotors and drums. I'm thinking to myself............what a waste of space this guy is taking up. Now my car is sitting on jacks waiting on set of drums and rotors. I need to get myself a brake lathe too. Parts quality and skilled labor has gone away. I'm 65 years old and still work on all of my own cars. I don't want anyone touching them.

I just picked up an accu-turn with all the attachments for 350$

Good video. The last shop I was at they used on the car brake lathe and only would replace a rotors if there it was below minimum spec.

The mark up from a shop for a rotor is closer to the amount of 50-70 dollars, don't forget that shop discounts are significant. Turning them we only charged 20. The biggest thing was is that it's simply easier to slap a brand new one on there and it's significantly quicker. As a shop unless the customer is tight on money and you can't possibly get more from them , you're not going to try and get 'less' money from them for 'more' of your time. You are a business after all. besides , people aren't getting smarter and training someone new to use the lathe was never fun.

I still turn some rotors, mostly truck rotors because I can buy the cheap white box rotors for cars for $20 to $30 . Replacing cheaper rotors makes sense to me because this keeps the full mass of the rotor to dissipate heat better. Also as the fins in front rotors get rusted they don't dissipate heat as well as the new rotors will and may cause them to warp during the life of that brake job.

One day these parts changing mechanics are going to miss our “Old School” wisdom!

I bought a second hand FMC John Bean 600 / Snap-On brake lathe for my own personal use. I may actually start doing some brake jobs for others since I also have a drive on car lift. I am old school all the way since 1982 when I got my first car. It was a 1968 Pontiac Tempest custom with a 400 Judge engine. Wish I still had that car. But to be honest my current 600+ HP truck would blow that 400 HP car away.......

Back in the day😊 Around my neck of the woods most part store would turn the for free if you bought the pads from them.

When It comes to small passenger vehicles, it it far more cost efficient to buy a brand new rotor than it is to pay to have a rotor machined. It doesn't make any sense considering you are still paying for a rotor + machining versus just machining, but you really can't compete with salaries for 4 years old children overseas.

Just hit the like & subscribe. Just wanted to say I still and always have turned Rotors fairly often and most recently featured a set of 4 Drums for a walk in customer on my channel about 2 weeks ago . I also have my trusty German Shepard by my side w/me daily .

This may be true for small shops but for big dealerships they actually recommend resurfacing because it cost just a little more.

I would love to have one of these machines, I just lack the room to have it

Well everything you said but also rotors are so cheap now that it's not a bad idea to just replace it. Especially when buying in a package deal with pads.

In the immortal words of the poet group Slipknot, "New does not mean best." Lol

Meh, the real reason this has gone away is the same reason no one rebuilds shit like alternators anymore, once you factor in the added labor costs you're barely saving any money for a refurbished parts that's worse then new and with an inferior warranty. Labor costs have risen as the costs of new or factory refurbished parts has dropped, you can buy an aftermarket rotor for common passenger vehicles like sedans or crossovers for cheap as hell. As an experiment I went and looked on Advanced auto for Ford Taurus brake rotors they had super cheapo ones for 30 fucking bucks and pretty cheap ones for 45, and that's retail, shops can often knock a bit off that. The going labor rates now for most shops now is well over 100 bucks, IIRC it's like 135 at mine. 15 minutes per rotor on an off car lathe is optimistic, so basically for common rotors that are just machined hunks of steel there are really damn near no savings to be had, and the more expensive ones can't be machined anyway, and before anyone starts moaning how those are "cheap Chinesium" or whatever, I'm going to be brutally honest here... they maybe cheap, but they're also coming from a factory that does nothing but turn out tens of thousands of brake rotors a week, if not a day. They're specialists and even if they might be shitty compared to a fancy OEM rotor they're still pretty much guaran -fucking-teed to be better then whatever your amateur ass can turn out on some beat up decades old lathe in the back of shop that was probably last serviced a decade ago. And that's also why they're almost certain to have a way better warranty attached as well, and customers tend to be happier and less likely to be bitch when you just use new parts even if they cost literally like 20 or 30 bucks more. It is a matter of economics IMO, but not the kinds many guys claim.

I still teach my high school Auto students how to use this machine. Even brand new car rotors have a minimum thickness or a throwaway thickness stamped in to them. Common sense dictates how far you go.

As long as the rotors are half a mm bigger than the minimum thickness specified after machining they will be fine.

With a rotor that has had a whole set of modern ceramic pads burnt off it, I rarely can turn them down for less than a total wear plus grind loss of 1.5 mm.......0.75 mm per face. I replace 99.5% of the time. Yes, I have a lathe. No, I don't use it often.

$35 a rotor at Les Schwab Tires

I wish I could find someone to turn my rotors.

i am not from USA and i searched rotors they are like 80$ or something and it have 2 year warranty too ,,while labor is expensive why would anyone would waste money for trying cleaning , resurfacing & balancing it while you can get them replaced with nearly the same money or close unless they cant find their parts 😉

Hey Rich you sound like a respectable New England guy. If you’re in the Southern NH area I’ll pay ya $25 a rotor to do mine lol. Or if you have a recommended shop

if you turn 1.0mm off that brake disc, fit new pads and put the car back into service, by the time the pads are worn out again the disc will be way thinner than the DISCARD thicness and therfore DANGEROUS. Thats why they arent re-ground any more. If profit was the driver, they would do it every time.

People stopped getting their rotors turned because the people who turn them started wanting almost the same amount as brand new rotors. I much rather spend 10 more dollars and get brand new rotors I can install in 20 minutes instead of dealing with most mechanics who almost always have shitty attitudes these days and offer garbage customer service.

you saile this one

They still turn rotors the latest machines turn it without removing it. That machine is cool but obsolete.

I know because it’s more work

The new aftermarket rotors are garbage most of the time. Rust quickly

New school mechanic= Buy new part from China

But I know how to do it though

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