Horrendous brake feel

[1.21GW]

Agreed, brake feel is sub par. I like the brake feel on my Honda Civic better than this. There isn’t a good initial bite and it requires too much force to slow down adequately.

 

[kbecks13]

Beyond that, it sounds like at this point there is not community consensus that the brakes on the Model 3 are particularly bad.

The people that say it's fine likely are either

A) Not braking that hard or
B) Just defending the car because it's Tesla

They definitely leave something to be desired, but luckily just changing your pads alone will have a very noticeable improvement.

 

[SammichLover]

Racing Brake and Mountain Pass Performance offer upgrade street pads

Yup, and as KBecks13 mentions UP.

I can speak for the MPP Street pads, I'll let others discuss the other options. Swapping in on the front brakes alone are a world of difference from the stock pads, addressing the issues you give. You will see a bit more dust, and it is a sort of dark reddish colour rather than the very black stock dust. But zero noise issues.

I cooked mine on the track because I pushed too far (to their credit they likely saved the rotors) so I'm back to the stock pads for now and it is ugly as you say. The only reason I haven't ordered a replacement set yet is I want to push as far again so I'm waiting on sorting out what rotor set I'm going to swap in. Either the Speed Brake in standard 320mm or the MPP big brake 365mm front.

Will swap front and rear rotors at the same time, because I was pushing the edge of the rear rotors with stock pads, don't want that to be my next [expensive] choke point.

 

[Daniel in SD]

The people that say it's fine likely are either

A) Not braking that hard or
B) Just defending the car because it's Tesla

They definitely leave something to be desired, but luckily just changing your pads alone will have a very noticeable improvement.

I dunno. I autocrossed mine once, tested the braking distance between tires, regularly use the brakes while driving, and I think they feel fine. I’ve got Hawk HP+ pads on my autocross car so I know that brakes can have way better bite. I think it’s a matter of personal preference for a street car.

 

[jyalpert]

Thanks, all! I like the feel of the Hawk HPS on my Miata for my street driving, and MPP told me their "Street" pad is a similar compound. After hearing it solves most issues, I'll swap those in and see how we go.

 

[cwerdna]

I am curious why this is so "important"? Ideally during non-track driving, I'd want to actually engage the friction brakes as little as possible.

I have no 3 but usually drive around my Bolt in L mode. As a result, I don't use the brake pedal much.

Cases when I do include: having to press and hold it to shift, at stop lights, since the brake lights don't remain on while stopped in L w/no pedals pressed, when reversing (there is reverse creep that can't be disabled) and when I often use D (creep on) to pull forward into parking spots, for safety.

 

[SammichLover]

I am curious why this is so "important"? Ideally during non-track driving, I'd want to actually engage the friction brakes as little as possible.

To get to that ideal, and I've done this, is rather imposing on driving style.

For when that goal gives way to other goals, I'd rather not my brakes give the sensation of stepping on a dog dropping where it's there but kinda soft and then you get that small but distinct heart-wrenching sliding sensation.

I'll not talk further about the far more sad Bolt braking lest the usual suspect drops in and claims that if you don't hold down on the brake pedal it'll still actually lock up with braking if the vehicle starts to roll, which when I tried it out didn't happen.

 

[jyalpert]

I am curious why this is so "important"? Ideally during non-track driving, I'd want to actually engage the friction brakes as little as possible.

I have no 3 but usually drive around my Bolt in L mode. As a result, I don't use the brake pedal much.

Cases when I do include: having to press and hold it to shift, at stop lights, since the brake lights don't remain on while stopped in L w/no pedals pressed, when reversing (there is reverse creep that can't be disabled) and when I often use D (creep on) to pull forward into parking spots, for safety.

It's not important for probably 99%+ of people. The only important things are safety considerations. This issue is a matter of feel - it's personal preference. I just don't like how the pedal feels (even though I don't use it that much due to regen).

Most cars have some inherent issue or compromise and these enthusiast forums are generally the best place to find them out, along with opinions and potential solutions. The nice thing is that this particular issue can apparently be fixed for $200 in parts and one hour in my garage!

 

[amoney805]

I agree, the brakes lack bite but on the other hand theres zero brake dust. My wheels are always clean.

 

[SammichLover]

I agree, the brakes lack bite but on the other hand theres zero brake dust. My wheels are always clean.

I don't find it "zero" but the stock pads are really low dust and the colour makes it really hard to notice, that is definitely a strong point for them.

 

[OCR1]

How the brakes feel to you may depend on what you were previously driving before your Model 3. I do agree that compared to my Lexus the Model 3 brakes feel a bit rougher and have less bite to them. But I’ve really only needed to use them hard a few times when I was caught off guard with a fast changing traffic light. Otherwise I virtually never use them since the regen braking on the car is so strong.

 

[1.21GW]

How the brakes feel to you may depend on what you were previously driving before your Model 3. I do agree that compared to my Lexus the Model 3 brakes feel a bit rougher and have less bite to them. But I’ve really only needed to use them hard a few times when I was caught off guard with a fast changing traffic light. Otherwise I virtually never use them since the regen braking on the car is so strong.

In Southern California you don’t need to worry about regen going away when it’s cold and relying on friction brakes for most of the stopping needs.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

It's going to be expensive for us in Europe to bring in aftermarket pads from the U.S.
If someone could post photos of the OEM pads (front and rear) with a ruler next to them, we could start looking for options over here as well.

 

[Msjulie]

I thought the stock brakes were fine enough but I'm also spoiled by generally having higher performance cars (with brakes to match) so I did the "easy" fix for my car, MPP BBK (which means larger front rotors, lighter rotors all around)

Some may not notice the behavioral changes and the main reason was ability to shed heat better but I was pleased that the feel from the larger sweep area was noticeable and for me an improvement

I am only a customer of MPP

 

[Dogtone]

Coming from a BMW M235i the model 3 brakes initially felt weak with a lot of fade. Driving my Model 3 AWD
is a learning experience. As said before the regenerative braking does most of the braking and that is the biggest part of my learning experience.
Contrary to the comment about low brake dust, my silver 19” sport wheels are well covered in dust with just 400 miles on the car.

 

[EVDRVN]

I have an AWD and did a fast stop on the freeway and it was almost a rear end, they pedal felt like there was less braking and soft as it went down. I ended up turning to the shoulder in fear of not stopping in time. I have never felt brakes on any of my modern cars do that at that speed. My 85D brakes were a night and day difference. My pads should have been seated but i'm going to do some further testing,. Really terrible feel in general and it felt like I could not predict the braking response.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I have an AWD and did a fast stop on the freeway and it was almost a rear end, they pedal felt like there was less braking and soft as it went down. I ended up turning to the shoulder in fear of not stopping in time. I have never felt brakes on any of my modern cars do that at that speed. My 85D brakes were a night and day difference. My pads should have been seated but i'm going to do some further testing,. Really terrible feel in general and it felt like I could not predict the braking response.

Uhmmm. You should have your car towed to the service center.
If your brakes don’t have enough power to engage the ABS they are broken and it is extremely dangerous to drive the car.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I have an AWD and did a fast stop on the freeway and it was almost a rear end, they pedal felt like there was less braking and soft as it went down. I ended up turning to the shoulder in fear of not stopping in time. I have never felt brakes on any of my modern cars do that at that speed. My 85D brakes were a night and day difference. My pads should have been seated but i'm going to do some further testing,. Really terrible feel in general and it felt like I could not predict the braking response.

Sounds like your 85D had better tires! Or your brakes are defective.

 

[Daniel in SD]

For reference, I got a braking distance of 125ft from 60-0 with the 18" MXM4 tires. You should be able to decelerate at more than 20mph per second. If you can't, there is something very wrong with your car.

 

[EVDRVN]

I believe the ABS did slightly engage but the pedal felt like their was air in the lines, as if it would run out of travel. My 85D had the stock tires. Further testing needed.