I'm about to put some Hawk HPS pads on my 2004 6MT sedan and kind of struggling with what to do about the rotors. I'm persnickety about my car but not one to throw cash away either. So the question is, should I turn the rotors, buy new ones, or just call the current ones good and install the new pads?

The current rotors are the originals and have 40000 miles on them, and look quite good. I put my dial caliper on one front rotor tonight and it was about 0.902". There is a slight lip at the outer edge..when I mic that, it comes to about 0.945" which I would assume is the original rotor thickness or very close to it.

I guess I'm inclined to just put the new pads on in my driveway next weekend. Anybody know the minimum rotor thickness spec? (It's prob stamped into the rotor underneath the wheel) Any thoughts?

 

According to the 04 factory manual;

Front rotor specs...
Standard thickness :24.0 mm (0.945 in)
Wear limit :22.0 mm (0.866 in)
Maximum uneven wear (measured at 8 positions):
0.015 mm (0.0006 in) or less

Front runout measurement:
At a point 10 mm (0.39 in) from the outer edge of disc.
Maximum rotor runout: 0.035 mm (0.0014 in) or less

Rear rotor specs...
Standard thickness : 16.0 mm (0.630 in)
Wear limit : 14.0 mm (0.551 in)
Maximum uneven wear (measured at 8 positions):
0.015 mm (0.0006 in) or less

Rear runout measurement:
At a point 10 mm (0.39 in) from the outer edge of disc.
Maximum runout: 0.10 mm (0.0039 in) or less

 

THANKS DaveO, great information. Looks like I've worn about 0.040" off of the rotors, and they still have another 0.040" of life left in them. Thumbs up on that.
I also read some very good posts and articles on infinitihelp and freshalloy about resurfacing brake rotors... I'm going to just install the pads.