Electricfan
Active Member
So you wouldn't have been surprised, and would have just paid it and not said anything?
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So you wouldn't have been surprised, and would have just paid it and not said anything?
dmd2005
Active Member
Maybe switch to low regen driving for one day out of the week to "exercise" the brakes would be a good idea.
Phillip L
Gas Passer
I feel the same way.
When I was young I lusted after the Miata when it came out but I waited a few years before buying for exactly that reason. My father explained to me that a car maker gets true experience on a model after it has been extensively test driven by the first purchasers for a few years, and most of the failure points come to light. Occasionally parents CAN actually say something their kids listen to..... sigh....
Service Centers are probably losing lots of money in warranty repairs, so they can not be profit centers and still be hugely expensive. A normal car dealer gets paid for all the warranty work he does, so for them warranty +maintenance and repairs all = profits. That is also why a traditional dealer is always glad to do warranty work for you - they get paid a good rate for that from the manufacturer. Because of Tesla's direct consumer model, warranty and recall work are all losses for them.
They will have to open up the 3rd party option eventually, I really hope they don't emulate Apple in this regard.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
Not in a humid environment. If rust is building up quickly then friction brakes at under 10 mph aren't enough to scrape it off.
Several times a year I do this:
1. find a reasonably smooth straight road that is flat or downhill with a consistent slope.*
2. Get up to 50 mph or so
3. Put car in neutral
4. Brake to about 10 mph or a complete stop as you prefer*
5. Put car back in Drive and drive away.
* It's important that the braking be moderate. It should not be a panic stop, it should not take forever. Consistent braking over a moderate period ensures the pad doesn't dig into the rotor then skip a section. A bumpy road could cause you to unevenly apply the brakes.
With regen even as weak as on the Prius the friction brakes just can't keep ahead of the rust in normal use. It takes disabling regen to force friction brake use to get ahead.
Overall good advice except for the coming to a complete stop. You really should not do this if the rotors are hot, if avoidable. Doing so can lead to uneven cooling (warping) and/or uneven pad material transfer which both could cause vibrations/pulsing/uneven wear. I understand you are not trying to seat pads but just clean things up but, essentially it's the same circumstance and you should probably be doing a full reseat of pads regularly in order to prolong the lifetime of pad and rotors on EVs.
The surprise comes from the fact that the car needs to have nearly the entire braking system replaced. I wouldn't be surprised that the replacement parts are extremely high in price, and I may have sought guidance from my personal mechanic before moving forward with the Tesla SC repair. Since the car is out of warranty, I may consider aftermarket alternatives if possible. All speculation of course.
You must eventually brake as hard as possible to keep the rotor surface in proper shape, you have to work up to it so you don't create hotspots while doing so.
Also, the high hydraulic pressure will exert a force in the opposite direction that moisture has been going into the hydraulic fluid. Of course unfortunately the brake fluid is hygroscopic which means if moisture gets in there it's being mixed. I wonder if converting to DOT 5 fluid would help. In the least, performance brake fluid should NOT be used in the Tesla, not only because you'll never see temperatures near the rating of the fluid but because they are even more hygroscopic than the non-performance versions.
navguy12
Active Member
Just some random blue sky thinking here:
Because of the very nature of these cars, could the calipers and pistons be made of phenolic material? IIRC, the pistons in the Prius' brakes are phenolic material.
Could there be a software solution to this where the brakes are "exercised" in accordance with best practices?
Could the hydraulic system be replaced with an electrically actuated caliper?
Because of the very nature of these cars, could the calipers and pistons be made of phenolic material? IIRC, the pistons in the Prius' brakes are phenolic material.
Could there be a software solution to this where the brakes are "exercised" in accordance with best practices?
Could the hydraulic system be replaced with an electrically actuated caliper?
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
uneven thickness yes, warped no.
Warped' Rotors Myth - Correctly Service Brakes: Runout, Disc Thickness
as to doing it when hot, I tend to do this more in late fall/winter/early spring and I do it after a few miles of low speed driving. I don't tend to do it after long trips or on a very hot day.
Oh Please
$40k brake job all around? Who are you kidding? You've been played for a fool, or you're playing everybody else as one.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
Some, but I've always found the fluid in the reservoir in better condition than in the caliper. It's not a recirculating system, so any mixing from the reservoir to the calipers will slow, if it happens at all.
If you vacuum bleed your calipers seasonally, you can see there is a bunch cloudy brake fluid in the caliper itself. At least up here driving around in wet and salty conditions for half the year.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
Hi all. Have been out of touch for some days. I'll try to answer what is directed at me.
This confused me too. While I try to maximize regen I still use the brakes. Not sure why the pistons would be ceased. As I said before the brakes felt fine - perhaps a little mushy.
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