Brake Brandishing [burnishing]/My wheels are trashed

[Dangerous Fish]

Tesla burnishes the brakes at the factory. Every vehicle is sent out onto a track with a driver who burnishes the brakes and makes sure the car is performing normally.

Not the ones we get in the UK they don't.

 

[Stevewaclo]

If you ever tracked your M4, you know that there are pad-specific pad bedding cycles that you go through. They vary a bit between different track pad compounds, but all focus around transferring an even layer of pad material onto the rotor surface.
This is WAY more important with track pads, but also when switching between pad compounds (track to street and back).
If you stay with whimpy stock OEM Tesla pads, I doubt pad bedding/burnishing will improve the results.
If you want better threshold braking, you need better pads.

I've given up attempting to turn TM3P into a track/autoX ride, and went back to driving my M3.
My wife is the one who is flogging the Model 3 now, and for her, stock pads seam to work ... for now.



If you drive like a eunuch - sure.
Good for you.

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I went through my first set of tires in less than 10 k miles . Acceleration from the front of the pack on the street is fun! Hard braking, not so much.

 

[gearchruncher]

I've given up attempting to turn TM3P into a track/autoX ride, and went back to driving my M3.

Which is kind of funny, given the M3P is a WAY faster car at AutoX than an F80 M3.
We just ended a situation where they had the M3P ranked as faster than any production car ever made if you throw springs and some camber at it. It's still considered dead even with a GT3, NSX, or C8 though.

The stock brake pads are more than sufficient for AutoX and any real road use. The only time I faded them at AutoX was when I did 6 runs back to back with zero cooldown between.
They're completely wrong for any real track use, like any pads that come on any street car.

The weight of a M3P is greatly over-exaggerated. It only weighs 12% more than an F80 M3, and less than some modern 911 configurations.

 

[rpiotro]

Fair point - you can then either use track mode or just do it on the highway. It's still quite odd they removed the Low setting at all.

For a lot of people a Tesla is simply a cool commuter car, but still just a commuter.

I think this man may disagree with you. there are many other videos of Teslas at the "ring.

 

[MasterC17]

I think this man may disagree with you. there are many other videos of Teslas at the "ring.

I'm not sure what you mean. I said "a lot of people". Tesla has sold over 2 million cars. The percentage of people who will ever track their Tesla is almost surely less than 1%.

I've put over 3,000 track miles on my Tesla(s), but I think it's safe to say I'm an outlier.

 

[bobbyjae]

I think it's good practice to press the brakes on a regular basis. Relying just on regen will make the pads go stale and may not have the stopping power over time.

 

[Petsur]

I’ve fairly experienced tracking my G.S. Corvette running Carbotech XP8’s with Castrol SRF and still needed more brake. If I were to get serious about tracking the MP3 I’d look at an Essex caliper set up.

 

[mspohr]

Hey guys I've been a long-time lurker on these forums but I've never actually created an account or posted. Thought id start by sharing something I recently learned through conversations with some other owners. I have had a tesla model 3 performance for about months now but I ALWAYS thought the brakes felt squishy and weak coming from a BMW m4 before. My friend also has an m3p and discussed it repeatedly and I was thinking the best thing to do would be to get new pads. My friend installed stainless steel brake lines as well as a brake brace and although they gave marginal improvements, we finally figured out the best method to get a better brake feel and bite. Brake brandishing...
There's a setting in the model 3 service mode that is for bedding brakes and I suggest that everyone get that done asap for a better brake feel. I got to the point of just living with the feeling as being normal but I always thought because our brakes are brembos, it should be better. In the service mode they will guide you with a step by step process of driving to 50 and stopping repeatedly until your brakes are good to go.
Ive actually lurked the forums for posts about this before but none of the posts ive seen SO FAR mention this so I just thought id share.

You use the brakes?

 

[KenC]

Tesla burnishes the brakes at the factory. Every vehicle is sent out onto a track with a driver who burnishes the brakes and makes sure the car is performing normally.

"track"?!? Maybe the car gets driven on a 200yd loop from the factory door to the parking lot, where it gets put on a carrier, but that seems to be it for making sure the car gets a shakedown.

I attached the test loop that you can see at the Shanghai factory. It's about 560ft long.

 

[thesmokingman]

Oh I didn't change the lines my friend did. As well as the brake brace. I found the solution I guess it is the same found from another thread but I guess I could try it

Btw, it's officially not recommended to use a vacuum bleeder. I mention this cuz iirc you also used a vacuum bleeder.

 

[rpiotro]

I think this man may disagree with you. there are many other videos of Teslas at the "ring.

How many of those 2 million were M3Ps. I believe that is the model we were discussing.

I doubt many model Ys see much track time.

 

[rpiotro]

Btw, it's officially not recommended to use a vacuum bleeder. I mention this cuz iirc you also used a vacuum bleeder.

Pressure bleeder. Much better and inexpensive.

 

[TarmacSurfer]

I believe I last used my brakes maybe three weeks ago, when a stale yellow snuck up on me. Regen gets the job done!

I’m with you! Since Tesla brakes are insanely expensive to replace (I’ve heard $2,000 for front pads and rotors and roughly the same for rears) I avoid using the brake pedal unless I absolutely need to. If I was a conspiracy theorist I might think that Tesla’s crippling of the regen effectiveness in one of last year’s updates might have been a decision partially driven by a desire to sell more expensive brake service appointments. But that’d be conspiracy theorist stuff, no?

Regen still works, just have to plan much further ahead and keep the “use brakes on autopilot” setting off too. I really would love to get many, many, many miles out of the current pads and rotors before needing to eat thousands of dollars of replacement cost.

 

[gearchruncher]

I’m with you! Since Tesla brakes are insanely expensive to replace (I’ve heard $2,000 for front pads and rotors and roughly the same for rears) I avoid using the brake pedal unless I absolutely need to. If I was a conspiracy theorist I might think that Tesla’s crippling of the regen effectiveness in one of last year’s updates might have been a decision partially driven by a desire to sell more expensive brake service appointments. But that’d be conspiracy theorist stuff, no?

Like all good conspiracy theories, this one is based on completely untrue ideas that are just ignored because they're bad for your worldview.

You "heard" Tesla brake jobs are insanely expensive, so you avoid using the brake pedal? Didn't even try and validate that idea?

Tesla brakes are no more expensive than any other car. Brake pads are under $100 for a full set. Rotors are $75 each. $400 for the parts. $300 for labor. For all 4 wheels. There's nothing special about the brakes at all, especially for a $50K car.

The Model 3/Y are so popular now that you can just buy parts from any auto parts store or even Amazon.

Pads: 2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Brake Pad | RockAuto
Rotors: 2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Rotor | RockAuto

 

[Dangerous Fish]

If you live in a climate where it's wet and cold for part of the year and you try and rely solely on regen to slow down, you're going to be replacing horribly corroded discs and pads sooner than if you use the brakes as intended.
Brake pads and discs are consumables, just like tyres.

 

[TarmacSurfer]

Like all good conspiracy theories, this one is based on completely untrue ideas that are just ignored because they're bad for your worldview.

You "heard" Tesla brake jobs are insanely expensive, so you avoid using the brake pedal? Didn't even try and validate that idea?

Tesla brakes are no more expensive than any other car. Brake pads are under $100 for a full set. Rotors are $75 each. $400 for the parts. $300 for labor. For all 4 wheels. There's nothing special about the brakes at all, especially for a $50K car.

The Model 3/Y are so popular now that you can just buy parts from any auto parts store or even Amazon.

Pads: 2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Brake Pad | RockAuto
Rotors: 2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Rotor | RockAuto

2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Rotor | RockAuto

Tesla service place by one of she

I’m hoping you’re right. I heard this at the Tesla service center speaking to another M3 owner who was in for service by the service advisor. What I heard was “the pads and rotors must be done at the same time and the cost for front or rear is about $2,000”. Maybe there was some chicanery going on, no idea. But I didn’t just make it up - it’s based on what I heard from what should be a reputable source. Either way I’m not in any hurry to replace wear items if I can use regenerative braking and increase efficiency as well.

Here’s hoping that nobody has to endure that! Pads, rotors AND new calipers on my 911 were less than that, so most likely something’s up.

 

[thesmokingman]

2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Rotor | RockAuto

I’m hoping you’re right. I heard this at the Tesla service center speaking to another M3 owner who was in for service by the service advisor. What I heard was “the pads and rotors must be done at the same time and the cost for front or rear is about $2,000”. Maybe there was some chicanery going on, no idea. But I didn’t just make it up - it’s based on what I heard from what should be a reputable source. Either way I’m not in any hurry to replace wear items if I can use regenerative braking and increase efficiency as well.

Here’s hoping that nobody has to endure that! Pads, rotors AND new calipers on my 911 were less than that, so most likely something’s up.

Now you are playing some game? They are brakes, nothing more. Same brakes as on any car with brembos. Stop playing dumb. Overheard conversions do not constitute absolutes.

 

[rpiotro]

Like all good conspiracy theories, this one is based on completely untrue ideas that are just ignored because they're bad for your worldview.

You "heard" Tesla brake jobs are insanely expensive, so you avoid using the brake pedal? Didn't even try and validate that idea?

Tesla brakes are no more expensive than any other car. Brake pads are under $100 for a full set. Rotors are $75 each. $400 for the parts. $300 for labor. For all 4 wheels. There's nothing special about the brakes at all, especially for a $50K car.

The Model 3/Y are so popular now that you can just buy parts from any auto parts store or even Amazon.

Pads: 2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Brake Pad | RockAuto
Rotors: 2018 TESLA 3 ELECTRIC Rotor | RockAuto

There is so much misinformation, disinformation and FUD out there. Just ridiculous. Good luck trying to change the world.

A couple of my favorites;

Only rich people can afford a $65,000 car.

The battery only lasts 60K miles and costs $25,000 to replace.

You can't go anywhere with them because it takes hours to charge.

Because of all of the weight and torque the tires wear so fast that you are adding to the pollution with all of that rubber dust.

They can just spontaneously burst into flame. It happens all off the time.

They are the most dangerous cars on the road, The accident rate is off the charts.

and so on.

 

[Vines]

There is so much misinformation, disinformation and FUD out there. Just ridiculous. Good luck trying to change the world.

A couple of my favorites;

Only rich people can afford a $65,000 car.

The battery only lasts 60K miles and costs $25,000 to replace.

You can't go anywhere with them because it takes hours to charge.

Because of all of the weight and torque the tires wear so fast that you are adding to the pollution with all of that rubber dust.

They can just spontaneously burst into flame. It happens all off the time.

They are the most dangerous cars on the road, The accident rate is off the charts.

and so on.

I like how people think they are going to catch fire at any accident, and then someone drives one 250' off a cliff, with no resulting fire and all occupants survive. Tesla plunges 250 feet off a California cliff, all 4 occupants survive | CNN