Brake pad compatibility? Anyone have cross reference? And cabin air filter CR?

Doug_G said:

Personally I'd like a pad with more bite. I swear the car stopped a lot better when it was first delivered.

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I feel the same way but I don't have any quantative evidence. I seem to remember the pedal feeling better as as well. I haven't had any issues stopping however, everything seems to be working fine.

You have an early car that came with the 1st design brake rotors. Tesla redesigned the rotors due to squealing. After I got the 2nd design rotors I don't have any squeal. My SC swapped the rotors under warranty, no charge.

As for the cabin filter, someone else spent quite some time cross referencing and came up empty. Tesla charged me $33 for the filter which isn't too bad.

Carbotech has fitments for the Model S. Many of us have switched on the Roadster. Phenomenal initial bite, no squeal, and no dust w/ the 1521 compound. They also have the AX6 compound with more bite but more noise and dust. But neither have to be "cleaned" like the stock pads. I have a set of their 1521 compound for the Model S sitting in my garage but haven't found the time to install them. Go to knsbrakes.com

islandbayy said:

..And I also remember reading for the in cabin filter cross referenced with a Mercedes filter?...

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My cabin filter is upgraded to a filter with active coal. Orginally designed for some Ford Ka and Mazda's, fits perfectly with a little adjustment (shortening). Febi part# 17556



Read more in this thread. (Warning: Dutch language and links to a German Tesla forum)
Luchtfilter met actieve koolstof

Bumping. Has anyone tried the CarboTech1521's on Model S, and if so, how are they on final bite or when stopping? I find it difficult to modulate the car to a stop. It's too easy to stop the tires, and end up with the car pitching forward, and backward a few times. Not smooth, and pretty sure it isn't me, either. I think a pad with LESS bite could help.

I think this thread is important enough to justify bringing it back. I had to do an emergency maneuver on the highway and the brakes really didn't seem to have the bite to slow down such a heavy car. I'm running michelin PS3s, the only high performance low rolling resistance tire available in the stock 19 inch size and I think the strong grip of the tire really exposes the weak brakes. Also, have been driving a few german cars lately with ceramic brakes which are in a completely different league. I really would like to do a brake pad upgrade, but there are so many pads available at that KNS site...It's a bit intimidating.

joetz said:

I think this thread is important enough to justify bringing it back. I had to do an emergency maneuver on the highway and the brakes really didn't seem to have the bite to slow down such a heavy car. I'm running michelin PS3s, the only high performance low rolling resistance tire available in the stock 19 inch size and I think the strong grip of the tire really exposes the weak brakes. Also, have been driving a few german cars lately with ceramic brakes which are in a completely different league. I really would like to do a brake pad upgrade, but there are so many pads available at that KNS site...It's a bit intimidating.

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This slow to stop stuff... haunting. The reason my car was not stopping well was three out of the four wheels had the inside pad seized (frozen) in the caliper. Crud cemented in. They had to be massaged loose with Moovit lube, prying carefully, more lube... time.. wiggling, prying... finally got out. Cleaned up put back in car stops hard now. I had less than 50% braking power.

Another symptom was pulsing / modulation ... I thought I had warping rotors... This went away too once all four corners were working again.

So check that if you haven't already.

But in doing so, I damaged one pad. Chipped a corner of the material off. So now I need 1 pad. Just one. And I'm shopping around... and seeing lots of brands now for Tesla on rockauto.

Looking for recommendations here ?? Something close to OE would suit me fine. These brakes work well from the factory.

PaulusdB said:

My cabin filter is upgraded to a filter with active coal. Orginally designed for some Ford Ka and Mazda's, fits perfectly with a little adjustment (shortening). Febi part# 17556

View attachment 139516

Read more in this thread. (Warning: Dutch language and links to a German Tesla forum)
Luchtfilter met actieve koolstof

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I recently had my first "annual" service and asked for my cabin filter back to explore what other filters might fit. It appears the factory cabin filter came with active carbon. My car was delivered in December 2015

I wish I could find out where saleen sourced those carbon/ceramic rotors on that tesla they modified before the company got in trouble.

joetz said:

I wish I could find out where saleen sourced those carbon/ceramic rotors on that tesla they modified before the company got in trouble.

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Why don't you just send Steve Saleen a message and ask?

I thought the whole brake system was lifted from the Camaro SS gen 5. This would explain why the rear rotors are setup for a drum parking brake system.

I actually did talk to Saleen and the brakes are an eye watering 16K because they are bespoke parts, not stuff lifted from another model. They are looking at adapting Corvette ceramic rotors, which should be cheaper
I imagine the parking brake is an engineering hurdle that would difficult to overcome.

I really need to do something, My upgraded performance rubber really exposes the brakes as being sub-par, especially compared to the german autobahn bombers I'm used to. The car is just way too heavy and fade is an issue when someone does something stupid in front of me. I'm thinking about maybe a set of Hawk HPS pads, but am not sure how will they would perform on such a heavy vehicle. C&D did a test, but that was with a Miata, which weighs 1/2 as much!

I had Hawk HPS on a 4000lb car (2013 Mustang GT) They were much more controlled with an even bite vs stock pads which seem to have all their bite up front. The pads held up for a few laps on the track before they got above their heat range. My main concern was dusting, it was a lot. I couldn't keep the wheels clean.

Hawk pads would make more noise than the stock pads. Not squealing noises, but grinding noises from the higher metal content of the pads. There's a reason the bite harder.

Has anyone switched pads on a model s to something different? I would love to hear about your results

you might check out Akebono ceramic pads for the gen 5 Camero with Brembo brakes. About $80 per wheel.

Snerruc said:

you might check out Akebono ceramic pads for the gen 5 Camero with Brembo brakes. About $80 per wheel.

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Are the front and rear pads the same as a 5th gen Camaro ss? If that's true it would make shopping for pads so much easier!