Increase in pad slaps

When rotors were cheap (I'd say before 2010ish) I often replaced. One year I went to put brakes on one of the Taurus's and a rotor that had cost $20-22 a year or 2 before now cost $60-80 and I was all sorts of "nope"

The rotors on my 2018 F150 are still super thick and I don't get any wobble. I might turn them this next go round. I'm not at all hard on brakes.
 
I routinely check the condition of the rotors on every vehicle I own and I replace the pads before they need them. Why? If I can replace the pads when the rotors are not grooved I am saving money. I threw a new set of pads on my Veloster at 55k... no issues, brakes the same as it did before.

The key is pad slapping when the rotors are in good shape.


A side note, I (we as a unit) went through brake pads on our Harley Road Kings about every 6k. Harley never replaced rotors, only pads and they did this several times before the bikes were traded out 5 years later. No cutting or rotor prep.. just pad slaps. They took a few miles to feel right but they all worked well.
 
We keep using the word "rotors" like its a single standard unit.
But 45 dollar little civic rotor is not the same Kraut Space magic 200 dollar rotor.
Will I turn a rotor that I can buy a brand new one for the same amount of money? No
Will I turn 200 dollar rotor if its not rusted into oblivion? Yes

There is also something in the middle that may be marginal.
EBC rotors are made in UK and they are actually dynamically balanced. I will spend money to clean them up and turn them if I can re-use them.


There are Chinese manufactures that claim that they dynamically balance their rotors. That means absolutely nothing if the spec for that balance is "dont rip the wheelbearing out at 85 mph"
You can actually see dynamically balanced rotors because they have a machining mark on them if they have a tight spec.

"Our rotors are balanced" yeah none of them have machining marks, you either managed to perfect the manufacturing process to the point where you do it better than 1st world established manufacturers while using slave labor or your tolerances are big enough for me to fit a truck through.
 
As a data point, BMW generally allows for 1.6mm of wear on rotors regardless of their initial thickness, and 3.7mm minimum thickness on pads
 
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