So I had an interesting and mysterious series of events occur this year, which was finally resolved yesterday, based on a random link I received from Newscutter.
Back in January, we had a really cold spell. As I was parking my car one day, I found this metal piece in my driveway on top of the fresh snow, in a spot where only my Model S would have driven. I had not used the snowblower or anything yet, so I am wondered if it may have fallen off the Tesla? It was in a spot where I turn the wheel all the way left or right to get into or out of my garage at 90-degrees to the driveway. I can’t think of anything else that could have deposited it there, except an aircraft overhead! It was covered in black liquid, but was not oily or greasy. It is clearly snapped right off of a bigger piece of metal, perhaps due to the cold temps.
I immediately emailed these pics to my Service Center, and asked if the piece could belong to anything on the underside of the Tesla. They promptly responded that it didn't look familiar as a piece of the undercarriage or suspension, and they looked under a car on the rack and didn't see anything similar.
I wrote it off as possibly a piece of brass from some exterior light fixtures I had replaced over the summer, which somehow must have been flung there from alongside the house or the garage wall during some shoveling. But it still bugged me because it was on *fresh* snow, and seemed too heavy to have been lifted by winds.
My car went in for its annual service shortly thereafter where a bunch of items were covered, and I never experienced any issues.
Then yesterday Newscutter sent this link along with a bunch of other helpful links (TMC inlcuded, of course) to some prospective Tesla buyers we had met and given some impromptu test drives to earlier that day (Tesla grins all around, of course).
2012 Tesla Model S Signature Performance Suspension Walkaround
I was scrolling through those pics of the underside, and there were two pics of exactly my broken piece of metal...the caliper spring clip, on top of the brake calipers!
We had never had any issues in the months since, and Newscutter suggested I go back and look at my annual service records, to see if they had replaced the caliper spring clip. Item #1 was the 12 month inspection, including mention of the brake pads, nothing mentioned except the pad widths. Some other mention of the rotor discoloration inside the pad radius, still nothing about the clips. But sure enough, the very last item #29 said: “Technician noted on inspection front left brake caliper spring missing, replaced left front caliper spring.” I don't know why I never connected the two. Having never changed my own brake pads, I was envisioning a coiled spring, not a flat metal clip spring. Now I know better, and after several months, the mystery is solved!
In retrospect, I am wondering if perhaps the strain of the brake pads being frozen onto the rotors after washing it in the garage may have cause the breakage on the clip, perhaps exacerbated by the cold temps.
Back in January, we had a really cold spell. As I was parking my car one day, I found this metal piece in my driveway on top of the fresh snow, in a spot where only my Model S would have driven. I had not used the snowblower or anything yet, so I am wondered if it may have fallen off the Tesla? It was in a spot where I turn the wheel all the way left or right to get into or out of my garage at 90-degrees to the driveway. I can’t think of anything else that could have deposited it there, except an aircraft overhead! It was covered in black liquid, but was not oily or greasy. It is clearly snapped right off of a bigger piece of metal, perhaps due to the cold temps.
I immediately emailed these pics to my Service Center, and asked if the piece could belong to anything on the underside of the Tesla. They promptly responded that it didn't look familiar as a piece of the undercarriage or suspension, and they looked under a car on the rack and didn't see anything similar.
I wrote it off as possibly a piece of brass from some exterior light fixtures I had replaced over the summer, which somehow must have been flung there from alongside the house or the garage wall during some shoveling. But it still bugged me because it was on *fresh* snow, and seemed too heavy to have been lifted by winds.
My car went in for its annual service shortly thereafter where a bunch of items were covered, and I never experienced any issues.
Then yesterday Newscutter sent this link along with a bunch of other helpful links (TMC inlcuded, of course) to some prospective Tesla buyers we had met and given some impromptu test drives to earlier that day (Tesla grins all around, of course).
2012 Tesla Model S Signature Performance Suspension Walkaround
I was scrolling through those pics of the underside, and there were two pics of exactly my broken piece of metal...the caliper spring clip, on top of the brake calipers!
We had never had any issues in the months since, and Newscutter suggested I go back and look at my annual service records, to see if they had replaced the caliper spring clip. Item #1 was the 12 month inspection, including mention of the brake pads, nothing mentioned except the pad widths. Some other mention of the rotor discoloration inside the pad radius, still nothing about the clips. But sure enough, the very last item #29 said: “Technician noted on inspection front left brake caliper spring missing, replaced left front caliper spring.” I don't know why I never connected the two. Having never changed my own brake pads, I was envisioning a coiled spring, not a flat metal clip spring. Now I know better, and after several months, the mystery is solved!
In retrospect, I am wondering if perhaps the strain of the brake pads being frozen onto the rotors after washing it in the garage may have cause the breakage on the clip, perhaps exacerbated by the cold temps.