Rotors have iron in them, they are going to rust. And ICE vehicle's brake pads clean the rust off at every stop. I am not sure why GM would invest in such technology since after a few stops the rotors would be nice and shiny. But, companies file patents for various reasons including to lie/advertise to the competition and public. See Apple as an example.Well, I was pretty sure I had read somewhere that Tesla had patented a unique surface treatment for the brake rotors to prevent/stop rust, so I was a bit bothered to see that.
Previously I had (long ago) learned that GM /Chevy had a similar patent and treated the Chevy Volt brake rotors to prevent rust, so when I read that about Tesla it surprised me and that’s why it stuck with me.
So that said, seeing the rusting brake rotors is kinda a bummer. Maybe not a big deal but a little bit of a bummer nonetheless.
If it really bothers you just slam on the brakes from time to time. If demand more stopping power than regen can provide it uses the disk brakes. This really works when the battery is cold from sitting. The colder the battery is the less regen energy it can accept and the more the car will rely on the disk brakes to slow.
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