-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
10 Unbelievable Tesla Facts Infographic
- Thread starter sbasra
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Tesla Inc.
To give you some idea on brake life, you'll be hard-pressed to find many Prius owners who've had to replace brakes and lots have been sold. The Prius has a limit of about 20kW regen, which means harder braking has to use the brakes*. Below 8mph there's no regen available at all. The Volt and Model S both have a 60kW regen limit. A Model S or Volt driver should have even less need of hard friction braking.
* Or B mode.
When my wife sold her 2008 Prius last year with 70K miles on it the brake pad wear was only about 30%.
Brake pad wear on the Model S will likely be less than that. I am expecting pads to last over 150K miles, maybe over 200K.
Brake pad wear on the Model S will likely be less than that. I am expecting pads to last over 150K miles, maybe over 200K.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
Big difference between MS and Prius brakes. The capacity of the MS brakes as a function of mass FAR exceed those of the Prius so you will see far less wear on MS brakes in comparison to a Prius for the exact same usage pattern. Sure, it is reasonable to assume MS' usage pattern will be more aggressive but highly unlikely it will be sufficiently so to make brake pads wear like tires.
I'm with the non-wear camp on this one. I do not believe I will ever replace pads but then I typically only own cars for half their "normal" life.
I'm with the non-wear camp on this one. I do not believe I will ever replace pads but then I typically only own cars for half their "normal" life.
Good call. I forgot about the cabin air filter. The coolant and brake fluid also need to be replaced at regular intervals, but only about every five years or so. It is easy to forget fluids when thinking about the parts list.
GSP
With a typical car, you will need to replace certain items at recommended intervals. Some parts may or may not wear out with age. The question is whether I'd be more likely to need new brake pads than to need to have my fuel injectors or window motors replaced on another car. Would you consider the pads any more of a maintenance item than the clutch on the AC compressor? Both are subject to regular uniform wear.
I'm replacing an Infiniti M45 that went almost 65K miles on the front pads. I changed the rear slightly later and estimate that they could have gone to about 80K. So even standard pads on a car that does 0-60 in a similar amount of time don't necessarily need replacing all that often. Brake pads will wear faster when overheated. On a Tesla, they might not be used enough that there's a loss of friction from heat. Assuming my driving habits don't get worse, and the pads are of similar quality and sized (factoring in vehicle weight) appropriately, then good pads could last me that long with no regenerative braking. So they could easily last me over 300K miles. And I've never kept a car that long.
When you change tires, you might also consider the TPMS. The sensors in the wheels only last 8-12 years on a typical car. So is that a maintenance item? Not by most standards.
Some things are simply subject to wear. I might need a new windshield before I need new brake pads simply because it's more likely that stray items will leave enough pin sized chips that it would affect visibility. It's subject to wear and tear.
BTW, if you count brakes, that means at least eight more items to change. These days, or ever since it became common to make brake rotors that aren't integrated into the hubs, the price of rotors has been low enough that for recent brake jobs I haven't considered it worth my time to take the existing ones in to be turned, and simply replaced them. So that would be 12 items. Speaking of wheel bearings, those were traditionally a wear and tear item. They are no longer a 30,000 mile item, and might last long enough that there's no specific interval given for changing them, but if we follow the trend of not considering traditional maintenance items that now might last as long as you will reasonably own the car, then it makes sense not to count brakes.
- - - Updated - - -
I've heard of service centers replacing them for free if you have the service plan.
I'm replacing an Infiniti M45 that went almost 65K miles on the front pads. I changed the rear slightly later and estimate that they could have gone to about 80K. So even standard pads on a car that does 0-60 in a similar amount of time don't necessarily need replacing all that often. Brake pads will wear faster when overheated. On a Tesla, they might not be used enough that there's a loss of friction from heat. Assuming my driving habits don't get worse, and the pads are of similar quality and sized (factoring in vehicle weight) appropriately, then good pads could last me that long with no regenerative braking. So they could easily last me over 300K miles. And I've never kept a car that long.
When you change tires, you might also consider the TPMS. The sensors in the wheels only last 8-12 years on a typical car. So is that a maintenance item? Not by most standards.
Some things are simply subject to wear. I might need a new windshield before I need new brake pads simply because it's more likely that stray items will leave enough pin sized chips that it would affect visibility. It's subject to wear and tear.
BTW, if you count brakes, that means at least eight more items to change. These days, or ever since it became common to make brake rotors that aren't integrated into the hubs, the price of rotors has been low enough that for recent brake jobs I haven't considered it worth my time to take the existing ones in to be turned, and simply replaced them. So that would be 12 items. Speaking of wheel bearings, those were traditionally a wear and tear item. They are no longer a 30,000 mile item, and might last long enough that there's no specific interval given for changing them, but if we follow the trend of not considering traditional maintenance items that now might last as long as you will reasonably own the car, then it makes sense not to count brakes.
- - - Updated - - -
I've heard of service centers replacing them for free if you have the service plan.
Last edited:
chickensevil
Active Member
I agree, the cabin filters and such should be considered wear items long before the breaks.
BTW, someone on the forums here (you will have to find the thread yourself, sorry) posted about breaking 50k miles on the car. This person, in a bout of REALLY GREAT FORSIGHT (like... really great) decided to get the break pads measured right after purchase and then of course again at 50k miles.
If I recall (and again, feel free to find the thread and verify), he measured the pads originally at 8mm and then again at 50k they were measured and came in at 8mm. Since the measuring tool only has a 1mm degree of accuracy, lets just go out on a limb and suggest it was off by a whole mm. So if it somehow lost 1mm (although it is likely it didn't lose anything much at all), and I believe the metal "warning" strip is at 3mm, that means he lost potentially 1mm out of 5 before the warning would be sounded in 50k miles. Again, assuming a worst case measuring scenario. That means, he will get 250k miles out of his breaks at a minimum.
Hardly a "regular replacement item". If the stupid motors keep going the pace they are with some people, I am more inclined to suggest that is a "regular replacement item" before I would consider the breaks...
BTW, someone on the forums here (you will have to find the thread yourself, sorry) posted about breaking 50k miles on the car. This person, in a bout of REALLY GREAT FORSIGHT (like... really great) decided to get the break pads measured right after purchase and then of course again at 50k miles.
If I recall (and again, feel free to find the thread and verify), he measured the pads originally at 8mm and then again at 50k they were measured and came in at 8mm. Since the measuring tool only has a 1mm degree of accuracy, lets just go out on a limb and suggest it was off by a whole mm. So if it somehow lost 1mm (although it is likely it didn't lose anything much at all), and I believe the metal "warning" strip is at 3mm, that means he lost potentially 1mm out of 5 before the warning would be sounded in 50k miles. Again, assuming a worst case measuring scenario. That means, he will get 250k miles out of his breaks at a minimum.
Hardly a "regular replacement item". If the stupid motors keep going the pace they are with some people, I am more inclined to suggest that is a "regular replacement item" before I would consider the breaks...
Similar threads
