[AlfonsoR]

Just writing out loud here...I believe the main purpose of honing is to provide small grooves where oil can reside so that it lubricates the piston rings as they travel up and down the cylinder. Another purpose is to provide suitable quality surface for the rings to provide a "long" life, given that good operating parameters are maintained.

I could see how you could argue that scotchbrite will only take off the highs. Perhaps this would be good for a quick job, or perhaps it would be good for longer. I don't think there's any good reliable information/ data that tells us at what point piston ring life is severely affected. If the surface finish spec is 4-6 Ra, does piston life go to hell when you reach 9 Ra? How long will you stay in spec (4-6Ra) if you only use scotchbrite brite, effectively only removing the highs? I don't think you are going to get solid answers on those. It's a judgement call.

However, if you are reworking one cylinder to as new condition, then I would probably get the others re-honed instead of just scotchbrite. I would want as symmetrical/similar conditions from cylinder to cylinder.