I've been going back and forth here- figured let me get a few opinions from others.
I've got 98,000 miles and still on the original pads/rotors. I've got about 1/8" left of pad- so I recently bought some new pads (Hawk LTS) and was going to swap them in. My rotors are in good condition considering the mileage. No big nicks/gouges/etc. The faces are clean, thickness is at 32.18mm and consistent all around (i'm tacking up the few 1/100ths variation to my $15 caliper). The vents are all rusted out - living in the northeast and all- but not deteriorated.
I've had no warping/vibrations/etc- so I was thinking of just sanding them down and throwing on the new pads. I didn't wish to turn them and take a chance of then needing to replace due to warping.
The other option... turn $100 brake job into $500 and buy some new rotors. Obviously that's the better solution- but I'm wondering if it's a 'necessity' or not.
The challenge is that there is no telling how much the rust has effected the rotors. If you went 100,000 miles on the first set run, how many years will it be before you change them out again? There are certainly great, inexpensive options for rotors that will give you some peace of mind without breaking the bank.
Centric and
Stoptech have some e-coated and high carbon rotors that will help the war against rust from the salt and elements for northern drivers.
You can find any of these brake upgrades and others at
BuyBrakes.com who enjoys a bit of price smashing (even Amazon pricing). After all, we're Veteran owned.