Plaid 19 vs 21

[luvmy3andx]

I am very new to this forum. Please pardon if this has already been answered.

I own 2018 M3 Rear View Drive. though I absolutely love my M3, my only regret is not getting M3 performance.

I am thinking of upgrading to MS, I don’t want to repeat the same mistake, I would go for plaid.
My office commute is hardly 7 miles one way and my wife has Model X, which is more of a family car for us. This plaid is only for me to enjoy my driving with no regrets.

The only thing I care about is 0-60 acceleration, not aesthetics. Any help, which would accelerate faster 19 inch or 21 inch wheel? If both are almost the same, I would go for 19 and save 4500$

 

[Proflig8tor]

Does anyone know of any way to unlock the top speed without buying the Tesla ceramic brakes?

Can't imagine how this could go wrong....

 

[Sam1]

Can't imagine how this could go wrong....

Honestly, the difference in danger between 175 and 200, is miniscule.

 

[bhzmark]

Can't imagine how this could go wrong....

Can’t imagine how some people think the only track brake components are the Tesla CC. smh

 

[Beandoc]

Honestly, the difference in danger between 175 and 200, is miniscule.

It would be 8,640 kj of energy to dissipate versus 6,610.

 

[piemanklp]

It says right on there it's a 1/2 mile run. There's no track with turns on it that I know of where you could get up to 175 and slow back down in time in a street car.

Hmm.. fairly certain COTA near Austin, TX has a back straight ~.6 of a mile

 

[Sam1]

Hmm.. fairly certain COTA near Austin, TX has a back straight ~.6 of a mile

It takes about 90% of a 1/2 mile run to speed up tp 175, I've done it a bunch. Then you need more than a 1/4 mile on top of that to get stopped.

Even if you started at 60-70mph and slowed back down to 60-70mph, you're not doing that in 0.6 miles.

 

[terranx]

Can’t imagine how some people think the only track brake components are the Tesla CC. smh

Too bad no one seems to make a proper rear BBK.

 

[GonePlaid]

high speeds on potholed country roads to avoid that

 

[tldickerson]

bhzmark said:
high speeds on potholed country roads to avoid that

?????

 

[Kohley]

If the stock brakes ALREADY engage the ABS the whole way down from 100 mph, where do you plan to get the shorter stopping distance?

Also consider: Everything You Need to Know About Brakes and Track Days

View attachment 925964

And:

View attachment 925965

I agree, I have a 2024 Plaid, 2,000 miles now. In the first 50 miles, the car did not stop well. I went through a bed in cycle and that changed how the brakes behave, much better now. I have spent a fair amount of time in race cars on race tracks, some that require great brakes like Road America.

In normal driving, I hardly use the brakes, it is all regen braking. A few times when I have been on it to 100-120 mph, I can get the anti locks going above 100 mph when braking. The tires stop the car, more braking won't help it stop faster without a tire change in aggresive street driving. I needed to know if I take off and get to 100+ mph with stone cold brakes, that the car will stop. It does stop and stop well, stone cold. Its similar to an M5 in braking distance stone cold, the M5 has great brakes, so good enough.

With repeated braking from high speeds, they work well two or 3 times in a row, after that you might be out of the pads useful heat range and likely will get fade. So for track use, other pads/rotors are in order, for street use, the stock pads are fine, you won't gain a thing by going with other pads/rotors if one or two ice cold stops is all that matters to you. In less than 1 minute they cool back off anyway.

 

[Sam1]

I agree, I have a 2024 Plaid, 2,000 miles now. In the first 50 miles, the car did not stop well. I went through a bed in cycle and that changed how the brakes behave, much better now. I have spent a fair amount of time in race cars on race tracks, some that require great brakes like Road America.

In normal driving, I hardly use the brakes, it is all regen braking. A few times when I have been on it to 100-120 mph, I can get the anti locks going above 100 mph when braking. The tires stop the car, more braking won't help it stop faster without a tire change in aggresive street driving. I needed to know if I take off and get to 100+ mph with stone cold brakes, that the car will stop. It does stop and stop well, stone cold. Its similar to an M5 in braking distance stone cold, the M5 has great brakes, so good enough.

With repeated braking from high speeds, they work well two or 3 times in a row, after that you might be out of the pads useful heat range and likely will get fade. So for track use, other pads/rotors are in order, for street use, the stock pads are fine, you won't gain a thing by going with other pads/rotors if one or two ice cold stops is all that matters to you. In less than 1 minute they cool back off anyway.

The issue was with the plaids before they changed the brake pads. The first version of pads were absolute trash. You could stand on the pedal 100% and it wouldn't lock up the tires. Since they changed the pads, it's different and they brake normally now.

 

[terranx]

The issue was with the plaids before they changed the brake pads. The first version of pads were absolute trash. You could stand on the pedal 100% and it wouldn't lock up the tires. Since they changed the pads, it's different and they brake normally now.

Even on a 2021, car and driver managed to get pretty respectable braking distances out of the plaid(150 ft 70-0 and 284 100-0).

 

[WilliamG]

The issue was with the plaids before they changed the brake pads. The first version of pads were absolute trash. You could stand on the pedal 100% and it wouldn't lock up the tires. Since they changed the pads, it's different and they brake normally now.

The bolded sentence is simply not true. You can't do repeated hard stops from extralegal speeds, but yeah... anyway - nonsense (don't ask me how I know).

 

[Sam1]

The bolded sentence is simply not true. You can't do repeated hard stops from extralegal speeds, but yeah... anyway - nonsense (don't ask me how I know).

Have to disagree. I've had the OEM brakes and after a quick interstate run with a motorcycle and the brakes giving out on the first hard brake from 160 I immediately ordered Unplugged street pads and put them on with with OEM rotors, then Unplugged street pads with girodisc rotors, then the unplugged lightweight CCB with track pads. I also run 5 different models of tires from 4 different manufacturers.

My CCB rotors look like they came off of dark helmet without ever seeing a road course.

With that said, I'm about $15k deep on trying different brake setups in pursuit of figuring out what works for me. If you're trying to do a hard stop from a whopping 60mph, it's no issue. But some of our cars see nearly triple that on a regular basis.

 

[WilliamG]

Have to disagree. I've had the OEM brakes and after a quick interstate run with a motorcycle and the brakes giving out on the first hard brake from 160 I immediately ordered Unplugged street pads and put them on with with OEM rotors, then Unplugged street pads with girodisc rotors, then the unplugged lightweight CCB with track pads. I also run 5 different models of tires from 4 different manufacturers.

My CCB rotors look like they came off of dark helmet without ever seeing a road course.

With that said, I'm about $15k deep on trying different brake setups in pursuit of figuring out what works for me. If you're trying to do a hard stop from a whopping 60mph, it's no issue. But some of our cars see nearly triple that on a regular basis.

160? 160 down to what speed? Why did you need to hard brake from 160 anyway on public roads? And some of our cars see nearly triple 60 on a regular basis? Where? The track? In that case, definitely - new pads/brakes. But for the street, for normal driving with occasional misbehavior, the stocks are just fine. 160mph and then a hard braking - on the street - is not even slightly normal.

Actually, you know what? I’m going to disentangle myself from this thread. Probably shouldn’t have gotten involved…

 

[Sam1]

160? 160 down to what speed? Why did you need to hard brake from 160 anyway on public roads? And some of our cars see nearly triple 60 on a regular basis? Where? The track? In that case, definitely - new pads/brakes. But for the street, for normal driving with occasional misbehavior, the stocks are just fine. 160mph and then a hard braking - on the street - is not even slightly normal.

Actually, you know what? I’m going to disentangle myself from this thread. Probably shouldn’t have gotten involved…

160-170 down to 80-90. Not everyone lives in a congested area. We've got 10+ mile long straights in the desert with no traffic and no side streets. Or the Indian reservations where we have permission from the tribes to race.

As for 'oem being just fine', that's not the case with brakes. The cars are decent now with the upgraded pads, but when you do a single hard brake from not even being at the speed limiter, and your brakes give out before you get stopped, that's a problem. And it was a problem, until Tesla changed it. At least with the new pads you can get a single hard stop in without any worry. You can't say : here's a car that does 175mph, but the brakes may glaze over or fade when you try to stop it from those speeds.

 

[terranx]

I mean I won't lie and say I've never taken this car or any other car to the 160s... but when I do it, I have literally miles of visibility with no cars around. I wouldn't do it if there's a decent risk of *needing* the full braking capability.

That said, I never tried the older brake pads, so I can't say how much of a difference there is.

 

[yerEVan]

I mean I won't lie and say I've never taken this car or any other car to the 160s... but when I do it, I have literally miles of visibility with no cars around. I wouldn't do it if there's a decent risk of *needing* the full braking capability.

That said, I never tried the older brake pads, so I can't say how much of a difference there is.

Does Tesla sell the new pads if we wanted to swap (‘21 plaid)? Or is it cheaper to get pads on your own?

 

[terranx]

Does Tesla sell the new pads if we wanted to swap (‘21 plaid)? Or is it cheaper to get pads on your own?

I’m sure they sell them. I’m the wrong person to ask when it comes to aftermarket options.

*Technically* the newer pads do also have a different gateway config setting. Probably impacts how much force the car will use when engaging the brakes on its own. Not sure if Tesla has an official process for that. How much of a difference that makes, who knows. For now you can actually make gateway changes on your own with toolbox, but Tesla might close that sooner or later.

 

[Sam1]

Does Tesla sell the new pads if we wanted to swap (‘21 plaid)? Or is it cheaper to get pads on your own?

I have a brand new full set of the Tesla pads from an extra set of calipers if you're interested.

I haven't ran the updated ones, but would recommend just getting the pfc street pads from unplugged because those are amazing.