Brakes seem to stick

[rogerssa]

Anyone notice after the car sitting the breaks seem to be locked. I put it into drive then start to go and you get a loud clunk as the rear breaks release. I can hear a little grinding for a short time then and it goes away. Looking at the rotors they seem to be wearing a little odd. Groves in them all around.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this?

Thanks,
Shane

 

[oreobbq]

When exposed to moisture the rotors will have a film of rust until the brakes are applied. It's normal and isn't unique to Tesla. How long have you had the car? Also hard to tell if your rotors are normal without seeing them.

 

[jmaddr]

Happens after every car wash for me.

 

[rogerssa]

I have had it happen to some of my other cars but never ever to this degree. I had to give it a lot of power this week to get it to break loose. (granted it has been raining for 24 hours). I did turn off brake assist for a long drive recently and used the brakes for a while that seemed to help a little more. I guess using all brake assist probably is why I notice it more with this car than others as I own.

BTW I've had the car since August 2021 and have just over 10k miles on it.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

It's a perfectly normal, albeit undesirable consequence of using the brakes to hold the car when parked instead of jamming the transmission gears like older cars do. It'll happen on any car if you apply the parking brake when wet but usually you would have used the brakes enough during your drive to keep them relatively warm/dry before parking. Whereas on a Tesla you're likely to finish your drive with cold, wet brakes and then just hit the parking brake and let the pads rust into place.

Try moderately hitting the brakes at speed near the end of your journey if you plan to park it wet for a while. And/or don't worry about it and just work on your technique of powering thru it. There's no harm to the mechanics as long as you can perform the lurching maneuver safely.