Scored rotors?

[touringcamry]

Is it normal for brake rotors to become scored or wavy when the pads are not close to being worn out?

I was looking at the rotors and noticed my rotors are scored. I kind of expected them to be smooth, but instead it has a wavy pattern when I ran my fingernail on the rotor radially outwards.

[gdanaher]

Over time this is going to happen. It should take many miles of use to see this but as the pad wears down the steel you will develop ridges on the disk and lips on the inner and outer edges of the wear surface. If it becomes very pronounced you will need to have the rotors turned when you replace the pads, but with moderate wear some guys will just replace the pads and let the new ones wear in and seat to the disk.

[TRD VVTi]

Originally Posted by gdanaher

Over time this is going to happen. It should take many miles of use to see this but as the pad wears down the steel you will develop ridges on the disk and lips on the inner and outer edges of the wear surface. If it becomes very pronounced you will need to have the rotors turned when you replace the pads, but with moderate wear some guys will just replace the pads and let the new ones wear in and seat to the disk.

+1

This is usually caused by small rocks, dirt, dust, or other debris. It's normal and common. It actually increases the friction surface area. The only real draw back is when new pads are installed without machining/resurfacing the rotors there will be less contact until the pads seat to the rotor.

[new echo owner]

Post a picture so everyone can see what you are referring to.

N.E.O.

[gdanaher]

Originally Posted by new echo owner

Post a picture so everyone can see what you are referring to.

N.E.O.

Better, just go out to the parking lot and start looking at brake rotors. They all do this over time but at 25k miles/40k km, it should be obvious to any eye or well experienced finger tip.

[new echo owner]

True, but aren't we more interested in how his rotors looks like than what we think they may look like?

N.E.O.