Brake job miles?

[seenhear]

My car is a Sept 2017 build S75. Pretty high mileage - I'm at 94,000 now. About 500mi ago the brake squeeler indicators started making noise. I have an appointment to have brakes done at Tesla SC for 10 days from now.

I must say I'm pretty disappointed. I've had the car on max regen since new, and use EAP as much as possible, probably 80% of my miles are with EAP engaged and when I am in control, I hate using the brake pedal and try to do one-pedal driving as much as possible. (i.e. I don't brake super hard). I live in CA, the car was built in Fremont 10 miles from me, and has never been outside of CA, or to bad / snowy weather.

Elon is a exaggerator we know, but he once said on Twitter that a Tesla's brakes should last the life of the car.

I feel like 93k~94k miles is pretty low to need brakes replaced. What is typical for a model S?

Also, my local shop (Wheelworks) said they couldn't do Tesla brakes, I had to take it to the Tesla SC. Is this true or should I shop around?

 

[ucmndd]

My Dec 2016 S75 is about to hit 150k. Still original brakes and no sign that they're anywhere near needing replacement.

 

[dannycamps]

I feel like this is a joke/sarcasm type of post but I can't be sure.

Obviously YMM (literally) V when it comes to brake usage and pad replacement.

 

[KalJoMoS]

My car is a Sept 2017 build S75. Pretty high mileage - I'm at 94,000 now. About 500mi ago the brake squeeler indicators started making noise. I have an appointment to have brakes done at Tesla SC for 10 days from now.

Also, my local shop (Wheelworks) said they couldn't do Tesla brakes, I had to take it to the Tesla SC. Is this true or should I shop around?

It all depends on the shop and if they can source the parts. The brakes are not Tesla specific and work as any hydraulic or electrically assisted ones. It can be serviced at home if willing for DIY.

 

[beatle]

My front brake pads at 50k (probably earlier) were seized in the brackets. I was also getting pulses through the pedal. This was a Chicago-area car so I assume salt had a hand in the early demise, but it's a good idea to clean/lube the brakes periodically so they don't end up like this:

I bought new pads and rotors and did the job myself for $220. Tesla wanted $2k or something absurd. There really is nothing special about the front brakes. The rear brakes have an electronic parking brake that is released by putting the car in tow mode. I'd find another shop.

 

[outdoors]

My 2017 S is on original set. 216k. I do the maintenance on the slides for winter. All good.

2017 3 were delaminated pads on three of four at 104k for what it is worth.

Are you positive on the sound? I haven't had a problem with outside shops. Mine said come see me at 250k. I might just have them changed at 250k and keep them in the garage to remind myself one of the reasons I bought an EV.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Your brakes are stuck, not worn. Try speeding up in an empty parking lot and then stop, slam the brakes.

This might free them or hopefully cleaning and lubing will do it.

Sometimes a rock will lodge between the rotor and shield.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Ask your brake shop to inspect them.

 

[Darmie]

Autopilot uses the brakes more than you think. So, if you're using autopilot often during stop and go traffic, this could be the reason your brakes had worn down.

 

[seenhear]

I feel like this is a joke/sarcasm type of post but I can't be sure.

Obviously YMM (literally) V when it comes to brake usage and pad replacement.

Seriously? No I'm not joking. And of course mileage varies with brakes. But with normal ICE cars, brakes last from 30k-80k miles. That's a wide bell curve, due to all the various factors (driving style, towing, car size, weather) but it's pretty well defined. Lasting less than 30k or more than 80k with a standard car/suv ICE vehicle is uncommon.
When we look at ONLY one particular model of car, that bell curve should narrow up quite a bit.
When we then make that car an EV, that mean should shift way, way out, due to brakes only being used to come to a full stop or in emergencies.
I'm barely outside the bell curve of a normal ICE car, with my model S. Seems really low miles, IMO. I've never heard of someone needing brakes so soon, without other extenuating circumstances, e.g. weather, or driving style, or an actual malfunction of some sort.
"Normal wear and tear" on brakes for an EV driven normally should, I would think, put the mileage bell curve up in the 150k miles range. Indeed, many people report that kind of mileage, even right here in this thread.
No, not joking.

 

[seenhear]

Are you positive on the sound? I haven't had a problem with outside shops. Mine said come see me at 250k. I might just have them changed at 250k and keep them in the garage to remind myself one of the reasons I bought an EV.

Pretty damn sure on the sound. I've worked on cars in the past (DYI mostly) long ago (no space/tools to DIY my car work any more), and have heard this same noise on my own cars over the years. It starts barely audible, and gets progressively loud/annoying if you don't address it.

 

[seenhear]

Autopilot uses the brakes more than you think. So, if you're using autopilot often during stop and go traffic, this could be the reason your brakes had worn down.

Interesting. I would have thought AP would use regen as much as possible.

 

[seenhear]

Ask your brake shop to inspect them.

Good idea. Maybe the shop that said they can't do them, can at least inspect/clean them and let me know how urgent the service might be. Was planning a trip this weekend SF-LA round trip. >800 miles.

 

[seenhear]

It all depends on the shop and if they can source the parts. The brakes are not Tesla specific and work as any hydraulic or electrically assisted ones. It can be serviced at home if willing for DIY.

Just called 3 other places in my area, and all said they won't do Tesla brakes. The last one, a Meineke shop, the guy chatted with me for a while and explained that the calipers are computer controlled and that one needs to be able to communicate with the computer system to retract the calipers to do the work, and that Tesla has not yet released the code for them to be able to do this. He could have been blowing smoke, but for what reason?
Maybe this is just for newer cars? He didn't ask what year my car was.

 

[KalJoMoS]

That’s weird, the only caliper that is controlled that way is the electrically assisted parking brake. Mine is 2016 model with the separate parking caliper and I was able to change the caliper and pads on my court yard, just by unplugging the wires. It might be a bit different on 2017 model as Tesla did made a change in the parking prake around that time - from separate version to the joint rear hydraulic caliper setup.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Drive up to any shop and ask to find the source of the noise.

 

[Ciaopec]

My car is a Sept 2017 build S75. Pretty high mileage - I'm at 94,000 now. About 500mi ago the brake squeeler indicators started making noise. I have an appointment to have brakes done at Tesla SC for 10 days from now.
rake super hard). I live in CA, the car was built in Fremont 10 miles from me, and has never been outside of CA, or to bad / snowy weather.

Elon is a exaggerator we know, but he once said on Twitter that a Tesla's brakes should last the life of the car.

I feel like 93k~94k miles is pretty low to need brakes replaced. What is typical for a model S?

Also, my local shop (Wheelworks) said they couldn't do Tesla brakes, I had to take it to the Tesla SC. Is this true or should I shop around?

2016 90D 155,000 miles. *80% brake pads remain.

 

[beatle]

Just called 3 other places in my area, and all said they won't do Tesla brakes. The last one, a Meineke shop, the guy chatted with me for a while and explained that the calipers are computer controlled and that one needs to be able to communicate with the computer system to retract the calipers to do the work, and that Tesla has not yet released the code for them to be able to do this. He could have been blowing smoke, but for what reason?
Maybe this is just for newer cars? He didn't ask what year my car was.

Sounds like he genuinely doesn't know how the brakes work. Some people can't admit when they don't understand something and they just make up an explanation so they don't feel/look stupid. This backfires when the other person knows better though. I would avoid that shop.

There is no "code" for Tesla to release. Just turn a few wrenches and tap out the pins for the front. Put the car in tow mode to release the parking brake in the rear.

 

[dannycamps]

Seriously? No I'm not joking. And of course mileage varies with brakes. But with normal ICE cars, brakes last from 30k-80k miles. That's a wide bell curve, due to all the various factors (driving style, towing, car size, weather) but it's pretty well defined. Lasting less than 30k or more than 80k with a standard car/suv ICE vehicle is uncommon.
When we look at ONLY one particular model of car, that bell curve should narrow up quite a bit.
When we then make that car an EV, that mean should shift way, way out, due to brakes only being used to come to a full stop or in emergencies.
I'm barely outside the bell curve of a normal ICE car, with my model S. Seems really low miles, IMO. I've never heard of someone needing brakes so soon, without other extenuating circumstances, e.g. weather, or driving style, or an actual malfunction of some sort.
"Normal wear and tear" on brakes for an EV driven normally should, I would think, put the mileage bell curve up in the 150k miles range. Indeed, many people report that kind of mileage, even right here in this thread.
No, not joking.

That's not how bell curves work. Assuming the normal ICE bell curve for brake pad wear is 30k- 80k miles (it's really 25k-65k (source)) and you are at 94k, it means you greatly exceeded the norm (which would be around 45k - e.g. the highest point of the bell curve). On the other end of this, my wife's Jaguar E-Pace needed new pads AND rotors after only one year of ownership and around 8k miles (the pads had a manufacturing defect from the factory causing premature wear) which BTW was not covered under warranty but I digress.

How long do you think a wearable/consumable part should last for you to consider getting your money's worth out of it? You already doubled the average lifespan of brake pads. There is nothing magical about Tesla brakes - they use the same off the shelf pads and rotors as every other car.

Even if a Tesla brake pad wear bell curve was like something from 80k-150k, you are still in the norm and I would not say your pads failed prematurely. If your car lasts another 100k miles (and I hope it does), you would have only had to replace the pads once - I think that's pretty good.

 

[seenhear]

Drive up to any shop and ask to find the source of the noise.

Fair, but to be honest any car person worth their salt is going to hear this and say " you need your pads replaced, maybe rotors too." It's pretty obviously the pad noise makers. When I drove into Wheelworks, my local go-to for our other cars, the head guy, whom I'm on first name basis, said exactly this, but then he said they don't do Tesla brakes "can't get the parts" which also sounds suspicious/weird since everyone here is saying they are standard brembo parts.
I mean, this is Silicon Valley. Teslas are more common than Camrys. You'd think every shop that could would want the business.
BTW, I tried the slam-on-the-brakes trick and it didn't change anything.