Not exactly.A wave rotor actually has less surface area than a standard one and as long as the rotor is true,the edges shouldn't bite at all or your pads would chew up in no time.They do tend to run a little cooler due to less surface area but the biggest advantage is that they equalize pad wear resulting in a better brake.Where the wave is on the outer circumference,only part of the rotor is wearing on the outer part of the pads while the inner part of the pad has more rotor surface running against it.On a standard rotor,the pads wear like a wedge due to the fact the outer section has more rotor wearing on it than the inner part.If you were to drive a stake in the ground and attach a 3ft rope to it and walk around 360' then attach a 6ft rope and do the same thing-you get the idea of the difference in distance traveled from the outer circumference as compared to the inner.
When the pads wear this way,you lose braking efficiency because the caliper piston is pushing straight out against a reasonably straight rotor by way of a irregular pad.Therefore,when the piston pushes the bottom edge of the pad hard against the rotor,the top part only has a partial force against it-due to the uneven wear-resulting in less overall braking force-and a spongy feel as well.A wave rotor eliminates most of this effect.
