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Brake Caliper Clean/Lube Info

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I've seen advice to have brake calipers cleaned a lubed periodically (every 12 months in cold areas). I had that done today on Nick (2.5 years, 67K miles).

Note that the first brake place I called said, "We don't work on Teslas."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"We just don't. Nobody around here does."

That was total BS. I had it done at another shop. Total was $300, and that included a free brake inspection. He said they were in good shape. I think I'll do it again in three years.

Here's the bill:

Brakes.jpg
 
Last October, I made an appointment to have a Tesla Mobile technician come to my house to do the recommended 2 year check up. He changed the cabin air filter, checked the tread wear on my tires & checked the brake pads, etc and cleaned and lubricated the brake calipers. I also had him rotate the tires, which is not part of the two year check up. Total cost was $143.
 
I've seen advice to have brake calipers cleaned a lubed periodically (every 12 months in cold areas). I had that done today on Nick (2.5 years, 67K miles).

Note that the first brake place I called said, "We don't work on Teslas."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"We just don't. Nobody around here does."

That was total BS. I had it done at another shop. Total was $300, and that included a free brake inspection. He said they were in good shape. I think I'll do it again in three years.

Here's the bill:

View attachment 943108
It’s not advice. It’s part of the official tesla Owen’s manual maintenance schedule. That nobody seems to read. You also need the brake fluid tested but I just change mine every two years. It’s cheap and takes less than 30 mins.
 
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I lubed my 44 000miles driven 2020 M3P brakes at the weekend.
Not too bad task, but with my working methods it took a while.

One odd thing was that in this car almost every bolt I have opened so far has been glued, but not the caliper bolts.
With other brands it has been reverse.

Pad pins were really tight and glued. Within time they might get stuck, so better to lubricate them at the tire change.
1.jpg


Pins and vibration dampers were magnetic, but they did not have any rust.
In this picture they are already cleaned up.
2.jpg


I used some wook pice between the pistons to pump them out (without popping them out) and aded brake grease under the rubbers to avoid pistons sticking.
These was already grease and pistons moved freely, which was nice from Tesla.
3.jpg
4.jpg


As I was there, I painted all the bare metal parts with a zinc spray to avoid further rust build up.
From my experience when disks have zinc paint at the center and in the vents, they do not rust so heavily and zinc stands pretty well for the heat.
6.jpg
7.jpg
20230721_143938.jpg


Then I just cleaned up the pads and sliding surfaces of the calipers and mocked them back together with synthetic grease.
I would not recommend using copper paste with the aluminum calipers, like I did for the pins.. I did not have zinc or aluminum paste at shelf, so going to change it when changing the winter tires after few months.
8.jpg
 
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And just in case others need the info, there is a retaining kit available that has new clips plus pins for about 20 usd. I’d have look it up to be sure. But anyone who lives with salted roads etc may want to invest in that vs trying to salvage corroded pins and clips. Which paint did you use ? It’s a very good idea since the OEM coating is fragile. Hit it with brake cleaner and it comes right off :/
 
Last October, I made an appointment to have a Tesla Mobile technician come to my house to do the recommended 2 year check up. He changed the cabin air filter, checked the tread wear on my tires & checked the brake pads, etc and cleaned and lubricated the brake calipers. I also had him rotate the tires, which is not part of the two year check up. Total cost was $143.
Yeah, I thought $300 was a little steep for that service. I would have gotten an estimate or two beforehand.
 
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