My 2cents is I would vote for the white with the black down the middle, would be easier to show off your logo and any other decals.
I have a lot of experience with the Roadster! Rear rotors installed today along with Nitron suspension...
Added some CF wrap today to play with styles, likely to do real natural CF later but this helps visualize things...
New Carbon Fiber top installed today! Bumper should go back on it tomorrow (painted properly)! The wheels are going to be custom forged wheels 14.9lbs/17.9lbs and a bit wider than stock, here is what they’ll look like;
Brakes!!! The new stuff: The front installed: What goes on the rear next (need to do a modification on speed sensor location and remove half shaft to do it:
Not OEM, place in Hong Kong makes them for Lotus Elise/Exige. I actually like the way the Elise/Exige hard tops don’t cover the carbon fiber roll bar cover more than I like the OEM Tesla one that does... we are considering importing them and selling here but probably not enough demand, tho it’s a beautiful top for sure!
Yeah, pretty much! We will use this car to market for doing Roadsters and similar work on Model 3/S/X... not enough customers/vehicles with the Roadster alone. Can’t wait to get the rear brakes on tomorrow (w/ flush) and get the front bumper back on and take it for a spin!
If you got and extra set of the front caliper brackets you could run 4 pots on the rear and really have vastly improved brakes (not to mention killer looks).
Had to modify brackets today to get the right fit, used the CNC mini-Mill in our shop: Had to shave off some material to get the right fitment, geometry is unique in the Roadster, of course. All in on the rear!
Nice work EL... I think you got the set up right. I don't think you would get any real advantages to putting the same calipers on the rears. Due to basic physics, weight transfers under braking and the fronts will provide as much as 75% of your braking force. I have not inspected every car built, but would be confident in saying that 99% of all cars have bigger brakes in the front than the rear (older cars have disc up front and drums in the rear). And, don't fall for the reasoning that the Roadster is rear weight biased. Just look at any 911 and see what they run in the fronts and rears. All stuff you probably already know. But, if you want the looks of the bigger rear calipers...
And that is the biggest problem. The regen is extremely sensitive to wheel slip, and kicks off immediately. A little gravel or hard steering to one side while braking and bang- The car seems to lurch forward like it is on ice. Stock the regen seems to add almost 50% of the braking power, and when you lose that you are in trouble in a panic stop. Just do a full-on stop after a range charge and see how the car brakes without regen. I didn't say to use the same piston size. I originally used the front calipers on the rear but had the problem of the regen kicking off when you slowed down enough to get rear slip during a panic stop. It still stopped a lot better than stock, but always was a shock when the regen went away. I kept increasing the rear piston size on my 4 pots until I got the regen to kick off immediately upon a hard stop. That way I never even feel the regen loss. And with the ABS off, I get front and rear wheel lock at almost the same time. Stock the rears are so weak that you will never lock the rear wheels on dry ground, so the regen disengaging is not a problem.
I have the Nitrons on my Roadster, but haven't really played with them yet. I'll be curious where you set them.
Progress, bumper as color matched as we can get it without blending... gonna PPF it after waiting a few days to buff it... Also now has the official OHMMU license plate!
Can you take a close up picture showing the weave of the top compared to the weave of the roll bar? I've always wondered how well they match. I, like you, prefer the tops from the Lotuses (Loti?)... it is nice to have the exposed roll bar. Also, the OEM does not blend in with the lines of the car... looks like a bad toupee'. I have actually been running an Exige top with the half mohawk. I like the looks of the scoop, but obviously for our cars, it is totally non-functional. When people ask, I tell them it directs air onto the rear spoiler to create downforce . I am currently looking for an Elise top or a CF like yours if I could find it at a reasonable price.
definitely a different weave but it still looks really good together in my opinion. it’s about $2K for the top
If I land a Roadster I do like the look of that top. Please provide the POC vendor info to the group please.