[thstone]

I've used expensive rotors and less expensive (cheap Chinese) rotors. Less expensive Chinese steel is still the same grade of steel used elsewhere around the world and I've never noticed any performance difference (track or street).

The resulting price difference isn't in the material (steel) anyway, its in the machining - less expensive Chinese rotors have 10x less finish machining done on them. At the end of the day, all of that expensive German machining only makes the rotors look better, not perform better. Pads make all of the difference.