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adiggs
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't have described it as a thumping, but I've had sort of a lowish volume clicking or rattling. It might be the same thing. This is where the goo that's been talked about by others and over in the brake pads thread comes in - a bit of that on the back of the pads helps keep them immobilized when you aren't actively on the brakes.
If you're having the same thing, then something that started in on my car and has since gone away, was squealing of the brakes - mostly when close to stopped. The squealing got so bad at one point that it was almost painful to stop the car (very very loud). I believe the issue there was the same root cause - absence of goo on the back of my brake pads was allowing a harmonic to get started that made sound. N
Note that both the clacking / thumping I was experiencing, and then the squealing, have gone away after going back over the pads with the goo, and then having a nice heat wave come through Oregon (might have only been the goo, but the squealing was getting worse until the heat wave happened, and now its gone).
Hope that helps.
Sidebar - over in the brake pads thread there's a video that walks through changing the pads on our Roadster (or an Elise). I didn't know this before (I really don't know much of anything about cars, but I get fascinated anyway) - our cars have a brake pad design that comes from the racing world. With a couple of clips and pins, the pads alone can be removed and replaced (the wheels need to come off, so maybe not a pit stop change, but easy to imagine a racing crew changing pads between runs for a race car). That's just cool, at least to me.
A consequence is that the pads have some degree of play and mobility on their own. This is where the goo comes in (at least as I understand it - if you take what I'm saying and use it in a decision, then you've earned what you've got coming!) - it helps the brake pads stick to whatever-that-is on the outside of the brake pads, so they don't rattle around and bump up against the rotor when you're not using them.
The racing parts on the car are a mixed bag. Brembo makes great brakes, and ours are indeed made for racing. I'm glad we now have rotors that can take advantage of these brakes.
I just finished replacing my rear inner toe-links which were also made for racing. Because they are made to be light weight and not really used in the rain/snow/salt, they didn't even last 40k mi on my car. Most cars don't even have rear toe-links but they're necessary if you want a tunable high-performance suspension. Most of these tradeoffs are worth it and part of the reason we love the car.
I want to say *THANKS* to all who made this great achievement happen.
The rotors I received exceeded my expectations and are performing amazingly each day. I've pushed them very hard and stoked the braking is exactly placed where I wanted them to be before all this happened. Amazingly, I can hear the Carbotech pads roaring down hard on the rotors when I'm demanding stop request. Had some panic stops and for sure these things did their part to keep me back in the game. I've put some miles on these things and the dual part metal treatment is still holding up strong! After washing the car there's no rust on the rotors, only brake dust crap.
Awesome!
Big thanks to Dave who fabricated and answered many questions asked in the field of braking.
He's such a fantastic business man to deal with and a master in his trade.
The rotors I received exceeded my expectations and are performing amazingly each day. I've pushed them very hard and stoked the braking is exactly placed where I wanted them to be before all this happened. Amazingly, I can hear the Carbotech pads roaring down hard on the rotors when I'm demanding stop request. Had some panic stops and for sure these things did their part to keep me back in the game. I've put some miles on these things and the dual part metal treatment is still holding up strong! After washing the car there's no rust on the rotors, only brake dust crap.
Awesome!
Big thanks to Dave who fabricated and answered many questions asked in the field of braking.
He's such a fantastic business man to deal with and a master in his trade.
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Well today I finally decided to install my new rotors and pads. But I run into a serious problem: the piston of the rear left caliper is out and I can't push it in. After some testing and trying, it came out a little more, and now I can't fit the original rotors and pads anymore, so I'm blocked 
I have the tool to push back pistons, and opened the bleeding niple, but no success, it doesn't move at all. I also checked the hand brake and it's not that either. Any tips to get it back in?
I have the tool to push back pistons, and opened the bleeding niple, but no success, it doesn't move at all. I also checked the hand brake and it's not that either. Any tips to get it back in?
Tesla 940
Member
Using a pair of needle nose plyers you simply twist it (turn it) and it will go back in. I had the same problem.
Well today I finally decided to install my new rotors and pads. But I run into a serious problem: the piston of the rear left caliper is out and I can't push it in. After some testing and trying, it came out a little more, and now I can't fit the original rotors and pads anymore, so I'm blocked
I have the tool to push back pistons, and opened the bleeding niple, but no success, it doesn't move at all. I also checked the hand brake and it's not that either. Any tips to get it back in?
I have not yet done this installation yet, but if the E-brake is integral to the rear brake then perhaps you need to screw the caliper back in
No, not at the moment. That was a group-buy I coordinated together. David at CRF who built the rotors let me know that he was very pleased with the run and making the rotors, that he's happy to make another run at the same price. Just need the minimum orders needed like before. Note that was almost a year ago, so I don't know if the same price structure holds since the cost of services / supplies can increase. He's a great guy, honest, very fair, and won't take advantage of you so I trust his pricing structure.
Also its been a year I've been running these rotors, still outperforming my expectations. They are holding up very well in repelling the rust/corrosion on the wear areas of the disc after it rains. So the dual metal treatment is highly recommended. There's some slight rusting on the part that the pads wear on, but not much at all. I can take pics if someone wants to see. I've also been pushing these rotors very hard, high speed hard braking. Very happy and pleased I have them on my Roadster.
I have no need to do anymore modifications or brake upgrades to the Roadster for that the Carbotech's + the CRF rotors meet and exceed my expectations when pushing the car hard on the street.
I'm happy to get back in touch with David if there's enough interest, however there'll need to be a coordinator / lead who keeps the group in touch with the status and keep things moving forward such as I did in the past to get things going and to follow up to the end.
Since you're in SF you're welcome to come to Santa Cruz where I live or San Jose where I work to see them in person. Feel free to PM me with your email and I can get you in the loop with David. With that, those who have the rotors might want to buy extra 'discs' at this time to have as backups or whatnot if they're keeping their Roadster for the long-haul like me.
Only upgrades I did with the brakes are the CarboTech AX6's and the CRF rotors. Dave can get a discount on the brake pads in the group buy if you buy the pads together with the rotors.
We can see what Dave's min order and price for the set of four rotors are when we email him.
Here's a pic of about 12k hard miles on the CRF rotors. Note, this is right after an El Nino hard wind blowing rain-storm in California and sitting outside for over a day oxidizing and getting hit with more rain. My car lives outside in the elements so it gets hit pretty hard with the water.
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Interesting. That's more rust than I've ever seen on mine and they get wet quite often. Of course it's still way less corrosion than the OEM rotors. I wonder if your FNC treatment has started to wear off? Then again the treatment was never said to totally prevent rust. It was only supposed to reduce it. So it's probably normal and just a result of the environment.
How many miles do you think you have on your Rotors? Yes, like anything the Black Oxide was the first to wear off, I knew that would happen. But it keeps the non-wear parts of the disc protected and still looking that cool dull black color. As I put more miles on the rotor I knew that the FNC would start to wear down. Comparing the rotors on my Roadster with the black oxide and FNC compared to my EBC rotors on my truck which have only the black oxide, I can see substantially less corrosion on the Roadster rotors. But that's not an apples to apples comparison since both rotors have a different makeup of steel, process making & casting it, etc. I'll see if I can contact Dave to get a pic of his non treated rotors using the same process making the disc and then compare. Still happy with the minimal amount of rust compared to the stocks for sure.
matt_in_ca
Member
I just took delivery of my 2011 2.5 Sport three weeks ago and came across this thread today. I'd love to purchase a set of the rotors and pads if Dave decides to do another production run.
I received a response from Dave regarding another rotor production run. He's totally down! He also said he can still hold the prices constant for what we bought them for last year. Totally cool of him! He indicated that the minimum sets of rotors needed will be 20 at that price.
With that, whoever would like to be the lead/contact person to keep everything forward please let me know and I'll connect you up with Dave.
Dave also picked up a Lotus Elise, so totally sweet on that part. I'll let him know to keep us in the loop if he fabricates up anything cool that'll crossover to the Roadster.
With that, whoever would like to be the lead/contact person to keep everything forward please let me know and I'll connect you up with Dave.
Dave also picked up a Lotus Elise, so totally sweet on that part. I'll let him know to keep us in the loop if he fabricates up anything cool that'll crossover to the Roadster.
