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As @Chaley very correctly said, pads and rotor wear together, more often than not if you only replace the pads with an old rotor, it can cause accelerated wear on pads, less braking power and slight (or more( noise.
This is problematic when a pads is worn nicely to one rotor but does not provide exactly the same braking power on another rotor from another wheel.
Techinically a rotor is to be ridden until it hit 1.5mm thick, but in my experiences servicing bikes, it’s not the thickness but the wear ridges on the rotor (like a vinyl record).
I go for Magura rotor for this reason, they’re very hard wearing, less likely to have wear ridges and can go through several pads before performance get reduced (by wear ridges).
When I just replace pads, it is not uncommon for customers to return saying their braking are not great, once I’ve started quoting both pads and rotors, the number of customers returning plummet massively (same with chain; replace both chain and cassette also reduces this massively rather than just the chain, especially on 11+ speed bicycles).
edscoble-
When I just replace pads, it is not uncommon for customers to return saying their braking are not great, once I’ve started quoting both pads and rotors, the number of customers returning plummet massively (same with chain; replace both chain and cassette also reduces this massively rather than just the chain, especially on 11+ speed bicycles).
What is your perspective on this then? It seems like neither outcome is great - if you replace only the pads they aren't happy with the performance, if you replace both they aren't happy with the price.
exteroceptive
That checks out! Thanks for the explanation.