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Brake Upgrade

St Charles

Tesla, not TSLA!
Jun 21, 2016
813
924
Virginia
It's not enough weight savings to be worth changing the calipers. A low dust pad sounds like an awesome idea.

Carbon Ceramic rotors could be interesting from a braking performance perspective. I don't think you would save enough weight to notice, honestly.
 

JPP

Active Member
Feb 4, 2013
3,048
1,281
SF Bay Area, CA
Maybe search this forum and over at TM...from what I read, you need to use the carbon ceramic brakes a lot/often to keep them hot and grippy. Just the opposite of what we do with regen. You end up with worse braking, more cost, and not much benefit. YMMV.
 

Warren-RB

Closed
Jun 16, 2016
35
13
Fullerton, CA
Lighter rotors reduce the unsprung weight of your vehicle which will in turn make your car more responsive to acceleration and deceleration, save wear and tear to suspension parts, and improve the overall driving quality.

New CCM rotors are no longer being affected by the cold temperature.
 

Naonak

Member
Dec 22, 2015
796
1,153
Kansas
If you want to save weight, start with the low-hanging fruit. Brakes and rotors aren't it. You move on to those once you've reduced all the weight elsewhere. Start pulling out seats, crap in your glove box/trunk/frunk, chargers, cables, etc...

If you're focusing on unsprung weight, move to CF 19" rims. The bang for the buck there is excellent ... not so much with new rotors and calipers.
 

AWDtsla

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
4,262
3,952
NE
If you want to save weight, start with the low-hanging fruit. Brakes and rotors aren't it. You move on to those once you've reduced all the weight elsewhere. Start pulling out seats, crap in your glove box/trunk/frunk, chargers, cables, etc...

If you're focusing on unsprung weight, move to CF 19" rims. The bang for the buck there is excellent ... not so much with new rotors and calipers.
Rotors are probably the single biggest payoff weight reduction in the entire car, other than wheels. Rotating and translating weight is worth much more than fixed weight. Those rotors carry a HUGE amount of rotational kinetic energy while spinning.
 

Naonak

Member
Dec 22, 2015
796
1,153
Kansas
Ok, but where are you going to find effective rotors that have a substantial weight reduction? You aren't. The weight reduction is going to be minimal on any sort of usable (on the road) rotor. I'm all ears if you know of a street drivable rotor that offers a substantial reduction in weight, by all means, please post a link.
 

AWDtsla

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
4,262
3,952
NE
Ok, but where are you going to find effective rotors that have a substantial weight reduction? You aren't. The weight reduction is going to be minimal on any sort of usable (on the road) rotor. I'm all ears if you know of a street drivable rotor that offers a substantial reduction in weight, by all means, please post a link.

Start with any aftermarket rotor with aluminum top-hats for a modest weight reduction, or go directly to carbon rotors. Aftermarket rotors with crossdrilling also shed some weight for the same size oem rotor.

You're going to have to go shopping for yourself.

How much does a Brembo Performance big brake system weigh vs. O.E. components
 
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mspohr

Well-Known Member
Jul 27, 2014
9,029
10,462
California
Rotors are probably the single biggest payoff weight reduction in the entire car, other than wheels. Rotating and translating weight is worth much more than fixed weight. Those rotors carry a HUGE amount of rotational kinetic energy while spinning.
You'd be better off looking for lightweight wheels. Much more potential weight savings and larger diameter can give you much lower angular momentum than changing small diameter rotors.
 

CuriousG

Active Member
Dec 1, 2015
1,532
1,495
Elk Grove, CA
Brembo's not good enough for ya?
I had Brembo from my previous car which was from an upgraded package. The brake dust was a PITA. I did replace them with OEM again once and never again after that. The difference in the amount of brake dust was dramatic. The reason why I'm not seeing remotely as much dust with the Tesla most likely has to do with regen.
 

AWDtsla

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
4,262
3,952
NE
I had Brembo from my previous car which was from an upgraded package. The brake dust was a PITA. I did replace them with OEM again once and never again after that. The difference in the amount of brake dust was dramatic. The reason why I'm not seeing remotely as much dust with the Tesla most likely has to do with regen.

It's not the brembo's, it's the selection of pad material.
 

Warren-RB

Closed
Jun 16, 2016
35
13
Fullerton, CA
More precisely it's a combination of (rotor + pad)

Friction is generated between two objects. In the car brake the pad is stationary while the rotor is moving (revolving), so the rotor is truly more important than the pad in terms of metallurgy and how they are machined, only a good compatibility of these two components can assure an optimal brake performance.
 

AWDtsla

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
4,262
3,952
NE
More precisely it's a combination of (rotor + pad)

Friction is generated between two objects. In the car brake the pad is stationary while the rotor is moving (revolving), so the rotor is truly more important than the pad in terms of metallurgy and how they are machined, only a good compatibility of these two components can assure an optimal brake performance.

There's simply not much variation in rotor material available. Pads however, probably a hundred different choices in pad material that are various compromises between rotor wear, noise, mu, dusting, temperature range, temperature resistance.
 
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u00mem9

Member
Jun 8, 2016
943
981
USA
Hmmm...

I actually produce a line of lightweight rotors for the 355mm brembo brakes used on the modern mustang and camaro pony cars (www.morrisengineering.com). Each rotor reduces unsprung, rotating mass by about 8lb. Our Model S essentially uses the same design for both front and rear. If there was sufficient interest, I could consider running a small batch.
 

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AWDtsla

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
4,262
3,952
NE
Hmmm...

I actually produce a line of lightweight rotors for the 355mm brembo brakes used on the modern mustang and camaro pony cars (www.morrisengineering.com). Each rotor reduces unsprung, rotating mass by about 8lb. Our Model S essentially uses the same design for both front and rear. If there was sufficient interest, I could consider running a small batch.

I may be interested as long as they don't have a Tesla markup.
 

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