-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
2015 Model S Parking Brake Pad?
- Thread starter T3MTLCanada
- Start date
dekuramen
Member
dark cloud
Active Member
I see you are in Montreal. The parking brake pads should never wear out in theory. They should only lock on and release when the car is stationary and should not be in contact with the rotor while it is moving unless they are corroded or extremely dirty from lack of maintenance/servicing.
don’t be surprised if they are seized and you need the whole parking brake calipers because the pins cannot be punched out.
And it is a real bitch removing the plug the first time; a piece of electrical tape should be placed over the connection to keep crud out and make it easier next time.
they should be cleaned and lubed along with the regular brake calipers annually in climates with substantial winters where salt/magnesium or calcium chloride is applied on the roads.
edit: I see this is from April, did you end up getting this done? Did you do it or did you have a shop do it?
don’t be surprised if they are seized and you need the whole parking brake calipers because the pins cannot be punched out.
And it is a real bitch removing the plug the first time; a piece of electrical tape should be placed over the connection to keep crud out and make it easier next time.
they should be cleaned and lubed along with the regular brake calipers annually in climates with substantial winters where salt/magnesium or calcium chloride is applied on the roads.
edit: I see this is from April, did you end up getting this done? Did you do it or did you have a shop do it?
Last edited:
dark cloud
Active Member
Dark Cloud great info - guy on YouTube was cutting the pins on the rear parking brake caliper and I didn't get why. Also agree the pads should never wear but while replacing rotors and pads I was going to clean up the hardware and lube up. Sounds like I may want to leave alone but, the new rotor will be thicker and I'm wondering what if I get in a bad spot and can't get the parking brake caliper back on without cutting and doing the full job.
Yeah I noticed it was 2 years old, figured dark cloud may still be here. Would like to answer you properly but I am unaware there are two types as you say separate or integrated. I have a 2013 P85 + so...yeah I'll need to research what the difference is
dark cloud
Active Member
Well they didn't integrate the parking brake until 2016 or 2017, so a 2013 definitely has separate parking brake calipers. You can see 2 calipers on the rear rotors, yes?
But I don't understand cutting the pins? If it is seized you just replace the whole caliper; cutting the pins holding the pads will accomplish what? Possibly they could not take the caliper off because of a worn lip on the outside of the rotor maybe.... and the whole thing was rusted solid.
If in the process of replacing the rotors the caliper is seized you get a set of ebay, if not the pins get hammered out, the pads come out, you can remove the caliper and put it back on, so I wouldn't overthink a clearance issue.
dark cloud
Active Member
Well that what @dark cloud is pointing at is actually the main hydraulic caliper. Your separate parking brake caliper should look like this (see photo). I think with cutting the pins one can possibly wiggle them out of the way and then release the pads.
You can see how little is needed to get that caliper seized (on my photo, obviously on the left). After you have separated the motor you can unwind the piston using metric size 14mm (if not mistaken) wrench on that star shape joint on the shaft. Make sure you do not loose that large round rubber grommet on the edge that motor housing, otherwise you will get water in as well.
Don’t worry about setting the caliper back on, you can use the car’s automated function to properly set the pistons back as should. I managed this by three-four times of cycling that parking brake. And the pad are not hard to find, they are well used before Tesla, one example here…
You can see how little is needed to get that caliper seized (on my photo, obviously on the left). After you have separated the motor you can unwind the piston using metric size 14mm (if not mistaken) wrench on that star shape joint on the shaft. Make sure you do not loose that large round rubber grommet on the edge that motor housing, otherwise you will get water in as well.
Don’t worry about setting the caliper back on, you can use the car’s automated function to properly set the pistons back as should. I managed this by three-four times of cycling that parking brake. And the pad are not hard to find, they are well used before Tesla, one example here…
Good stuff and thanks for the photos, I'm here in dry Temecula ca so I don't expect any calipers to look like the barnacles some people have, my original point is I don't want to disassemble the parking brake if i dont have to and hopefully when I retract the parking brake prior to starting the job that will leave me enough space to reinsert over a new, larger rotor.
Okay so yeah, I was overthinking the parking brake a little bit, it fit back over the new rotor easily. The long bolts holding te small caliper were really hard to take off and put back on, just really tight much harder than the large 18mm bolts for the primary calipers.
I didn't disassemble the small caliper, I simply cleaned as best I could, re lubed all pins and added caliper grease to the back of the pads and pistons. The pads are so little, anyway thanks for guidance and info.
Last thought - I just turned 100k miles and while I knew I good go farther on the brakes I was getting some noise from the rear left so I replaced everything with brembo rotors and pads. Point is the rotors were fine and the pad thickness on old pads were incredible. The sound was simply the back metal shim on the pad had basically disintegrated - that's it. I bet I could have gone another 20k miles easily on original brakes, Maybe longer. If I had to do it again I would simply inspect, clean and lube everything and put back together. Even just installing new pads would have taken care of the squealing while braking. Hope this helps, late.
I didn't disassemble the small caliper, I simply cleaned as best I could, re lubed all pins and added caliper grease to the back of the pads and pistons. The pads are so little, anyway thanks for guidance and info.
Last thought - I just turned 100k miles and while I knew I good go farther on the brakes I was getting some noise from the rear left so I replaced everything with brembo rotors and pads. Point is the rotors were fine and the pad thickness on old pads were incredible. The sound was simply the back metal shim on the pad had basically disintegrated - that's it. I bet I could have gone another 20k miles easily on original brakes, Maybe longer. If I had to do it again I would simply inspect, clean and lube everything and put back together. Even just installing new pads would have taken care of the squealing while braking. Hope this helps, late.
Attachments
In my opinion this is the simplest thing one can do to keep the car running fine. On my car RH front caliper have also loose that metal shim plate and planning to get the pads changed this spring, as soon the weather improves. Pads and rotors have bearly lost their thickness (app. 1mm/0.0393701 Inch), have around 75k miles on the odometer.
Similar threads
