Brake rotors turnable?

[China Greg]

Can brake rotors be turned or ground?

I have a set of "Braking" Wave rotors.... with about 30,000 miles on them. Last month i rode in the rain one day; there was still a lot of salt at that time, and the bike sat crusted for a few days until I had a chance to wash it.

Bad choice. The salt corroded bolt-heads and all bear metal surfaces quickly.
The worst problem is that salt sat around the brake pads in front, and caused some rust/pitting in the square shapes of the pads. I now have a slight oscillation when braking.

Can I get the rotors hard-turned.. or ground? I don't think the pitting is that deep, but needs to be dealt with somehow, and I don't have $600 for new rotors.

[mademiriam]

i dont know how deeply pitted your rotor is, we had a rotor that just had lots of rust etc. and my better half taped off the center and quickly media blasted the braking surface. It cleaned them up very nicely, but I don't think it would help with really deep pitting.

[tomacGTi]

Before doing anything, measure how thick the rotor is and determine the minimum thickness. If it's at the limit, there's no choice but to replace.

Most rotors are stainless (unless you sprung for iron) and the rust you see on the surface is from deposits from the pads rusting. If it isn't all that bad, I would just run them and let the pads clean the surface. If it's really bad, use a low-grit garnet paper (like 80 or 100) to get the rust off and lightly sand the pads as well. You'll have to rebed everything as well as you just removed the mating coat on the pads/rotors.

[Banditmax]

Id just use your brakes a bit.

[China Greg]

"I'd use the brakes a little..."

Yeah, well maybe; they're SHUDDERING some, after the Salt Incident. It doesn't LOOK like there's material ON the rotor surfaces... I ran a razor-blade flat across and nothing caught. My buddy and i think it's pitting... but the fact that their most likely Stainless trips me up.

Anyone know if Braking WAVE rotors (STX, i think..?) are S.S.?

[r_outsider]

It says they're stainless on their web site.

http://www.brakingusa.com/popup.aspx?prod=street_stx51d_waverotor&ID=10

[China Greg]

Here was Braking's response:

"We can only recommend cleaning with soapy water and scotch brite pad – unfortunately it sounds like you already tried this.

As far as turning/grinding, we cannot recommend this – you need to be sure to stay above the minimum thickness measure that is stamped on the outer braking track of the disk.  Obviously reworking this disk in this manor could be potentially dangerous and make the product even more defective. 
If soapy water / scotch brite doesn’t work, I would have to say replacing the rotors is the best and safest choice".

Hmm.... not a lot of help.
But today I'll get the bike out and REALLY examine the problem, with a magnifying glass, this time... see if the "damage" is ON the surface or UNDER the surface.