Originally Posted by HangFire
I don't see any debate here , about the rotors anyway. People quoting the real racing brake expert engineer's paper and trying to make it say something it doesn't, then others using that as a straw man, I do see.
Re-read the stoptech article carefully and see if there's really anything to disagree with.
I'll tell you something that's no myth, service writers blaming owners for warping rotors, while having no runout measurements to base it on. Caught in the act, several times, by me. Proven wrong, with my instruments. So yeah I get a gold star, not a participation trophy.
You don't see any debate because you don't have the experience other than what you read on the net. I started in the trade when most cars with disc brakes had no hub mounted rotors they were spindle mounted and included the front wheel bearings in the rotor itself.
You packed the bearings, adjusted the bearings and checked the run out, if it was good you mounted the calipers and pads which were mostly semi metallic. if not you trued them on a brake lathe as it is not possible to shim or index them.
Whenever we got a car with pulsating brakes the rotors were distorted, it could be the pads wore the softer areas of the rotor quicker and cause it but in any case they were no longer true. So I suppose if someone is a armchair engineer you could say distortion is not the same as warping but the end effect is the same.
Floating steel rotors common on motorcycles and carbon racing rotors do not react the same way and rarely have pulsation issues, it appears to be a cast iron issue and high carbon content iron seems to be more resistant to it.