Stock breakpads, anyone had to replace yet?

[Nocturnal]

I've had my car since August and have 7,300 miles. I swear my front break pads are going out as they are making far too many grinding and squeaking sounds. Has anyone else replaced pads yet? I don't break aggressively for the most part but do have two track days under my belt so that might have really worn them out.

 

[HeatproofGenie]

but do have two track days under my belt so that might have really worn them out.

Bingo. However with the performance brakes I would have thought you'd have been okay. Would definitely believe two track days would roast pads with the non performance front brakes.

Time to pull a front wheel and measure pad thickness.

 

[Nocturnal]

Bingo. However with the performance brakes I would have thought you'd have been okay. Would definitely believe two track days would roast pads with the non performance front brakes.

Time to pull a front wheel and measure pad thickness.

I was worried that was the answer. lol

 

[eSpiritIV]

YEP track days! One track day will toast your stock brakes. You should at least get upgrades to MountainPass Performance rotors and pads.

 

[BerTX]

This is probably right, but something that is also possible is that you are not using the brakes ENOUGH. Teslas are notorious for rusting rotors making a lot of noise. This is an indicator that you are doing it right.

 

[pschubert61]

Try a so called braking Friday by shutting off regenerated braking or to the lowest level once a week it will sand down the thin layer of rust that builds up on the rotors because they are not used enough. If that doesn't fix it look at pads and rotors.

 

[SpudLime]

BRAKE pads, for the BRAKEs on your car. lets break bread

 

[BerTX]

I think we need a "Just let it go" rating emoji added

 

[lolder]

This is probably right, but something that is also possible is that you are not using the brakes ENOUGH. Teslas are notorious for rusting rotors making a lot of noise. This is an indicator that you are doing it right.

A screen shot in Ingineerix M3 "Secret Signals" you tube showed an item called "brake disc wipe request". That may be an automatic system to periodically wipe the rust from the disks in the M3.

 

[kbecks13]

I've got two track days and some autocross on my car as well with stock pads and they aren't doing too bad, maybe 60-70% worn or so. You can probably check thickness without even removing your wheels (i have aftermarket on mine and can), but i bet your problem (like me) isn't so much that they are wearing but they are probably dirty with brake dust from your track day and that's causing some minor noise when things bind.

YEP track days! One track day will toast your stock brakes. You should at least get upgrades to MountainPass Performance rotors and pads.

As far as upgrades, i'm not quite sold that we need upgraded rotors just yet and ill tell ya why!

Tracking Model 3 means 15-20 minute sessions at the longest, you could do a little more but the battery will be dying and motors hot - so shorter is definitely better. Even a 15 minute session on Buttonwillow results in ~35% battery loss and some minor heat related power fade after 10 minutes-ish, so you can't really get full speed after that point. That said, i think you would be able to get by with just using a high performance brake fluid (Motul 660 perhaps) and high performance pads for those 10-15 minutes if you are careful with when you use them.

I'm going to try this out soon and will let you know how it goes

 

[DrDabbles]

Just a heads up I haven't seen anyone else mention. If you're hearing grinding when you apply the brakes, that likely means there's metal on metal contact. If that is the case, you are going to need to inspect the rotors and may have to replace them as well. Don't mess around when your brakes start making noise. If you crash and hurt yourself, that's one thing. If you hurt someone else, that's a whole lot worse.

Track days are the epitome of hard braking, so saying you don't brake aggressively isn't really true.

 

[xpitxbullx]

What’s rust? I live in Vegas where it’s so dry you have to worry more about your leather cracking and dash warping.

 

[brianman]

Another data point...

4.5 track days:
- front left pad at zero (scratching sound)
- front right pad needs replacing
- rear pads need replacing
- front rotors need replacing

Been at the service center waiting for the pads to arrive.

 

[adaptabl]

These cars are far to heavy to track well. They may generate a good time for a very short period of time but they are really hard on the car. There will be no endurance racing for a Tesla.

 

[Carrera]

If you're tracking your car I hope you're checking and measuring your brake pads before each event. I haven't measured the pads on my M3 but they are typically around 10mm thick when new. If you're below 3mm you should be looking at replacing them. I recommend this tool for an easy way to measure the pads even with the wheel on the car.

https://www.amazon.com/Steelman-978...1824&sr=8-1&keywords=steelman+brake+pad+gauge

Also check TrackTeslasOnline

 

[ceekz]

What’s rust? I live in Vegas where it’s so dry you have to worry more about your leather cracking and dash warping.

What leather?

 

[Nocturnal]

Have a new set on order from unplugged.

BRAKE pads, for the BRAKEs on your car. lets break bread

I realized my mistake after posting. I was just too lazy to fix it.

 

[kbecks13]

These cars are far to heavy to track well. They may generate a good time for a very short period of time but they are really hard on the car. There will be no endurance racing for a Tesla.

Model 3 is ~4000 pounds and that's only ~400 heavier than a BMW M3. It's also about the same weight as a GT-R, so i wouldn't say they are "far too heavy".

Definitely won't be endurance capable for battery reasons tho

 

[Nocturnal]

Ordered some fresh pads from unplugged so I have them on hand. I did some hard breaking yesterday and I think it might have been rust/dirt. I don't have a jack so I'll have to get in and have the stock pads checked when the new ones arrive.

 

[kbecks13]

Ordered some fresh pads from unplugged so I have them on hand. I did some hard breaking yesterday and I think it might have been rust/dirt. I don't have a jack so I'll have to get in and have the stock pads checked when the new ones arrive.

I've got some coming from Unplugged as well! You should really be able to see the pad thickness without removing wheels/needing a jack, here's a poor mans solution