Bill Foster
I'm going home!
Now we are we are worried about how our brake rotors look behind our wheels.
what a world we live in JFC
what a world we live in JFC
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2020 7k brake Grooves
- Thread starter Tuckman1982
- Start date
Stretch2727
Engineer and Car Nut
I have the issue on my 2018 Model 3 Performance. I hardly was using the brakes with the heavy regen. I don't think hard use will correct this as mine looked the same or worse after a really hard track day. The rust on the rotor cuts grooves in the pads. These become the low area on the pad, so when you stop hard the "higher" areas are applied to the rotor. In my case it was just getting worse. In fact I think you loose stopping power as the pads are using less surface area against the rotor.
Decided to take matters in my own hands. I could feel it was just rust the at a higher level on the rotor. I considered have them turned but removing material from the rotor is never a good idea unless you absolutely need to do it. Since it is just rust higher areas on the rotors, I sanded them smooth with an orbital sander. Yes, a simple orbital sander with 60 grit sand paper. Also sanded the pads flat so they would not re-groove the rotors. Lots of material on the pads to do this since they are hardly used and new ones are expensive! See my pictures below. I did both fronts. I will see how this holds up and then tackle the rears.
I now have set the regen to "Low"in the car to hopefully avoid in the future.
The rotors require a special E18 socket to remove the bolt. (Last Picture.) They are available on Amazon.
If anyone wants help with this just let me know or PM me. I would not do it if you do not have experience doing your own brakes.
Starting Point.
"High" rust areas on rotor.
Grooved Pad
Cleaned up Rotor
Cleaned Up Pads
Finished Product.
Sander
E18 Bolt
Decided to take matters in my own hands. I could feel it was just rust the at a higher level on the rotor. I considered have them turned but removing material from the rotor is never a good idea unless you absolutely need to do it. Since it is just rust higher areas on the rotors, I sanded them smooth with an orbital sander. Yes, a simple orbital sander with 60 grit sand paper. Also sanded the pads flat so they would not re-groove the rotors. Lots of material on the pads to do this since they are hardly used and new ones are expensive! See my pictures below. I did both fronts. I will see how this holds up and then tackle the rears.
I now have set the regen to "Low"in the car to hopefully avoid in the future.
The rotors require a special E18 socket to remove the bolt. (Last Picture.) They are available on Amazon.
If anyone wants help with this just let me know or PM me. I would not do it if you do not have experience doing your own brakes.
Starting Point.
"High" rust areas on rotor.
Grooved Pad
Cleaned up Rotor
Cleaned Up Pads
Finished Product.
Sander
E18 Bolt
Attachments
rincewind
Member
Stretch2727
Engineer and Car Nut
The only thing I needed to buy was a set of external torx sockets to get the E18 socket. This is for removing the calipers...not the "rotor" as I mistakingly stated above. Also, I would get 60 grit sand paper as it did the job quickly. I tried 100 grit at first and it was too slow getting rid of the rust.
Last edited:
vogz
Member
Nice work! I switched my car to low regen last fall after I noticed some minor rust bands on the passenger side from and rear rotors. I haven't noticed any increase in battery consumption with the change and my rotors stay clean.
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