After hearing a loud scraping sound with braking that had been only occasional and seemingly only when there was heavy snow caked around the wheels become to a nearly constant sound with braking, I had the opportunity to look at my wheels in the bright sun this weekend. I discovered a missing brake pad in the rear passenger side and a very gouged/scraped up rotor. I had intended to switch to a more aggressive brake pad when I replaced my pads, and the time is suddenly now. I had intended to go with Carbotech AX6, because everyone on the forum seems to be enthusiastic. However, when I called Carbotech, they tried to dissuade me and get me to go with the 1521. They said the 1521's had less dust and very nice stopping power, and they noted the AX6 squeaked a lot, even with light braking. The Carbotech rep said that the people running AX6 were most likely doing Autocross or racing on a track or that sort of thing.
Looking at the forum posts, the only person I saw mentioning the 1521's was running them on a Model S.
My big concern in VT is "the deer jumped out in the road in front of me" scenario, so I really want a short stopping profile. The Carbotech guy said they run the 1521's on all their personal vehicles and he has had to do panic stops, pulled into the break down lane and had 1.5 cars blow past him as they tried to stop, as he emphasized the stopping power of the 1521's. He said the AX6 probably has "twice" the stopping power, but he went back to the dust and squeal as reasons that he thought I would not want to go there.
I found the OEM brakes plenty dusty, so that probably isn't a big deal. I wondered what people's thoughts were on the 1521 versus AX6 compounds. How squeaky is squeaky? How much dust do AX6's really make compared to the OEMs and how do the 1521's stop the car compared to the OEM. I have a call in to Tesla to find out just what the OEM pads/compound is so that the Carbotech guy can try to give me an assessment of how they all compare, but if any one knows what the OEM on a 2.5 Roadster Sport is, that would be great to know too!
Thanks!
David Jones
Jericho, VT
Looking at the forum posts, the only person I saw mentioning the 1521's was running them on a Model S.
My big concern in VT is "the deer jumped out in the road in front of me" scenario, so I really want a short stopping profile. The Carbotech guy said they run the 1521's on all their personal vehicles and he has had to do panic stops, pulled into the break down lane and had 1.5 cars blow past him as they tried to stop, as he emphasized the stopping power of the 1521's. He said the AX6 probably has "twice" the stopping power, but he went back to the dust and squeal as reasons that he thought I would not want to go there.
I found the OEM brakes plenty dusty, so that probably isn't a big deal. I wondered what people's thoughts were on the 1521 versus AX6 compounds. How squeaky is squeaky? How much dust do AX6's really make compared to the OEMs and how do the 1521's stop the car compared to the OEM. I have a call in to Tesla to find out just what the OEM pads/compound is so that the Carbotech guy can try to give me an assessment of how they all compare, but if any one knows what the OEM on a 2.5 Roadster Sport is, that would be great to know too!
Thanks!
David Jones
Jericho, VT