Sticky brakes

[cpa]

I have a question about my brakes sticking from time-to-time.

Here in California, we have been fortunate enough to have received a lot of wet stuff falling from the sky over the past several months. After driving in these conditions many times I do not drive my S again for 3-5 days, as I work from home. So, the car sits in our garage.

When I go to leave after several days, the car will not move. I really have to punch the go pedal to get the car to back out of our garage. Every time it makes a rather loud clunk, and then the brakes seem to grate the first few times that I apply pressure to the brake pedal. Then the sound vanishes, and does not return until I drive upon wet surfaces and let the car sit for a few days.

I presume that there is some oxidation on the rotors that develops while the "parking brake" is in effect when I place the car in Park? Is this why there is this resistance?

Is this deleterious to the well-being of the brake pads and rotors, and is there something that I should do proactively to reduce this occurrence?

Thanks!

 

[ecarfan]

That's just rust on the rotors. I have have had many cars do that. Normal.
Punch it. [emoji1]

 

[cpa]

That's just rust on the rotors. I have have had many cars do that. Normal.
Punch it. [emoji1]

Thanks, Fan. That is what I thought. But this is a Tesla, after all, and to quote Gilbert and Sullivan, "Things aren't always what they seem; skim milk masquerades as cream."

As far as punching it, backing out of my garage is a tight fit, so I creep out of my garage.

 

[CHG-ON]

Very common with ferrous based rotors. You might try a few hard brakes before pulling into the garage so the rotors are warm when put to bed. That will help to evaporate the moisture. It's the e-brake that is sticking, as it is essentially a mini disc brake with a screw drive to engage. Also, is your garage conditioned? If not, the humidity will cause rust. I kept my ICE for about 6 months after buying my S. It was in a car port and every time I got into drive it after a week in the damp winter here, the brakes were rusted and would grind until I hit them hard a speed a few times to clean them off. The unfortunate part is that the rust pits the rotors and can make braking permanently rougher over time.

The other solution is to park in your living room so that she gets the care she truly deserves!

 

[sorka]

Happens every time after washing my MS if I don't drive it and let it sit overnight. Never had it happen with any other car.

 

[InsaneDriver]

Same thing here. After washing the car and parking it in the garage overnight takes a little bit to break the wheels free. I typically wash the car and put it in the garage, haven't tried driving it for a bit afterwards.

the other issue of course is how much water ends up inside the doors after washing the car. Couple of days later when I roll the window down to enter the parking garage at work the Windows go back up soaking wet.

 

[Todd Burch]

This is more common on Teslas for this reason:

Internal combustion engines have a parking pawl which engages when the car is in park to prevent it from rolling around. On an ICE, brakes are not engaged while parked (normally, unless you pull the parking brake as I used to do on my old manual tranny car).

The parking pawl does not exist on the Tesla because of its electric drivetrain. Instead, it engages a parking brake on the wheels (the black brake apparatus next to the larger regular disk brake), which squeezes the rotor to keep the car from rolling while parked.

Regardless, it's perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.