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Brake Pads

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Report on brake pad upgrade

I upgraded to the H10 Hawk pads purchased from Sector 111. Much better feel, response, and power. Thay make no more noise than the stockers. I found a nice downhill, shifted into nutral (at about 40 mph) and tried the brakes without regen braking. They worked great.

To remove the pads, jack the wheel up by putting a jack under the lift point on the side of the car. Remove the wheel. Remove the little clips on the inside of the pins. Push down on the back of the (caliper) leaf spring above the brake pad at the rear pin and remove the rear pin. Remove the leaf spring and front pin. Slide the pads out. Reassemble in reverse order. First time installation had me remove the calipers in the front because the oem pads were rubber cemented to the caliper pistons and wouldn't slide out. So I had to remove the caliper bolts. Then remove the oem brake pads by prying sideways with a screwdriver. The glue used is like a rubber cement and comes off easy. Use blue locktite when reinstalling the caliper bolts. After the origional pad removal the fronts can be changed without caliper removal.

The rear calipers were not glued to the caliper pistons but still required removal of the top (only) retaining bolt. First the single retaining pin had to be removed. Use a small pin punch from the inside. There is a wire spring to remove after the pin is removed. Remove the top caliper retaining bolt (remember to use blue locktite on reinstallation). Swing the caliper away from the rotor and remove the pads. Replace the pads and reassemble in reverse order.

Wear gloves and try not to get oil or grease on the pads or rotors. It really was easy.

Well worth it.

Roger
 
I'm thinking about moving to aftermarket pads.... Hawk or EBC Kevlar if they're available... The EBC Red Stuff is very low in its brake dust plus adds 30% added braking over stock. I'm getting tired of having brake dust on my clothes and hands which is always prevalent of OEM pads.

Anyone know if the Lotus pads can be used on the Roadster's? From my understanding it should be the same and that the rotor on the roadster is 5 lug compared to the 4 lug lotus which wouldn't matter in this case.

I've used the EBC Red and Yellow stuff on my cars and the Green Stuff on my trucks. Wouldn't want to be without them! One thing to remember, the brakes do take some miles (1-2k) to fully set in which unlocks their full stopping potential.
 
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Looks like I'll be making a purchase of the EBC yellow stuff brake pads. Looking at the Lotus forums there's some that are very pleased and some that are not. The unpleased ones say its wearing down their rotors faster. I disagree with that... I've run EBC Yellow, Red, and Green Stuffs on my cars and trucks. Been very happy. Never seen abnormal wear. EBC stands by their pads if you have any issue with them from what I read. Only problem is the brake-in. They coat the pad with some break in material. I don't know if the Tesla will ever get through the break-in material.... I may have to call EBC for advice on that one or just be patient while driving in neutral and avoid the regen for some time on downhills...
 
The biggest problem I have with the Roadster brakes comes from living in a humid climate. It doesn't help much that I wash my car a lot. The rotors get a thin film of rust on them frequently. Sometimes every day. You can't always see it. Since the brakes are used so little due to regen, this rust accumulates faster than the pads can normally clean it off. This results in loading up the pads. That means the rust particles clog up the pores in the pads which makes them slippery instead of adding friction.

Nobody's ever been able to tell me a good solution for this. Several people starting with Roger have recommended pad upgrades. But will that really solve this problem? Doug in a separate thread recommended keeping your rotors clean. But how? The only solution I've found is to slam on your brakes hard at least once a day. But that raises your wh/mile and doesn't always do that great a job anyway. I briefly looked into other custom solutions but ruled them out due to cost. So what's the answer? What pads would you recommend for this problem?
 
Stainless rotors? Or carbotech pads or both?

I looked into both stainless and aluminum rotors. Stainless is normally a bad material for rotors due to its poor ability to dissipate heat but they would never get hot on a roadster. If I went to the track i could change them back to steel. Regardless, it was ridiculously expensive to have them custom made. Aluminum rotors are excellent for heat but once again very expensive to have them made. It takes a special grade of aluminum. I haven't tried Carbotech pads but was told that they would have the same problem. They are optimized for performance at high temperatures. I'm not sure rust loading problems would be any better. Any experience with them in a very humid climate?
 
They increase grab with minimal pressure. The guys there are very responsive. Call them an give them your issue and they will advise you if any of their products will help. They have other products that brake better when cold. See what they say. Would be the cheapest option if effective.
 
I have been running the Carbotech AX6 pads, they work great when still cold, work great if you do AutoX the car and perform much better than stock. There is an ocasional light squeal but its not bad and worth the improved performance to me...

I would totally consider aluminum rotors if anyone find ones that fir the roadster let us all know..
 
We are running the Carbotech 6 compound (Lotus Elise pad) on the car we autocross. The cold bite is the best I have found and they get better when hot. The best so far for autocross. We are going to nationals in Lincoln Nebraska on Sep 5th. See you there.
 
How bad compared to stock is the brake dust accumulation? Also how would you rate the squeal in terms of daily driver usage? Meaning is this something that would get annoying after a while? Happens on every braking application, when you brake hard or light, and how often? Reading up on the reviews they do sound like the grippiest brake out there!
 
My stock pads squealed and scared the heck out of me (due to lack of stopping power) when I was in a panic stop situation. My Carbotech 6 pads don't squeal. There is brake dust created on the Carbotech pads but I can't compair them to stock as I made the switch a long time ago.

I will post a photo of the Carbotech box with part numbers whan I get home.
 
My stock pads squealed and scared the heck out of me (due to lack of stopping power) when I was in a panic stop situation. My Carbotech 6 pads don't squeal. There is brake dust created on the Carbotech pads but I can't compair them to stock as I made the switch a long time ago.

I will post a photo of the Carbotech box with part numbers whan I get home.

Thanks - that would be greatly appreciated.

The stock brakes work okay IF they're nice and clean and warmed up. Unfortunately these ideal conditions are often not present when you need to do an emergency stop. There is a huge difference between clean and warm versus a little corrosion and cold. All it takes is one rainy day, and after sitting in the garage overnight the brakes really don't work very well.
 
It looks like some companies offer "pre-bedding" for the carbotechs:
2008-2005 Lotus Elise Carbotech AX6 Front Brake Pads

This may be a good thing to have done for the Roadster since the brake's may take some time to set in.

Anyone care to comment on this? Thanks!

You only get one chance with brakes and they better work good when that one chance comes up!
 
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