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It's kinda like "metal fatigue". You bend a bit of metal back and forth enough and the molecules start to give way and their bonds begin to break. Put the disk on reversed and time spent in a "forward" gear pulling the fibers (tension) is now spent pushing (compression) and the material degrades faster.
These disks are a combination of rubber, metal and fiber. They only last so long. The argument over choice of vendor is about quality control procedures (did they ship crap) and quality of materials (did they build crap).
Like us, it's all going to die eventually. And like our own mortality, we have skin in the game. Hopefully we extend, not contract the car's life-span (and maybe our own) because periodically, we check up on the "wear items" and get them replaced.
(I passed a cigar shop yesterday and it left me feeling nostalgic for the days when I was enjoying those without too much guilt).
-CTH
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