Ammco Still the Most Popular Brake Lathes

This picture shows an Accuturn Brake Lathe in use

Ammco remains the most popular manufacturer of brake drum and brake rotor lathes in the United States. Although sales of Accuturn brake lathes, like the one in the picture above has gained some ground over the years. The preferred method of machining rotors is on the car. Most shops don’t have anything but a standard combination brake drum and brake rotor lathe for machining. If you don’t have access to an “on the car” brake lathe for machining rotors at least mark the rotors so they can be placed back on the wheel hub in the same position.

This is called indexing. Usually I use a small bottle of white touch up paint and mark two wheel studs on one side and one stud on the other so I won’t mix up which side each rotor goes on. Brake lathes are most shop’s bread and butter. With increases in the technology of cars, one thing that is likely to stay pretty much the same is the friction portion of the brake system. Having a good quality brake lathe in the shop is sure to help any shop TURN a profit.