This is to follow up on Another Tesla Crash. There was some discussion of the Roadster's brakes being inadequate.
I've known for some time that the Roadster brake rotors get dirty/corroded because constant use of regenerative braking means they don't get enough of a workout. After the winter this year I went out and did a dozen hard stops, and braking performance improved. Less brake noise, more braking... but still less than ideal. Afterwards I could still see narrow concentric streaks of corrosion on the rotors, but they were definitely a lot cleaner.
What really made a HUGE difference was the Autoslalom school I recently attended. We did a whole bunch of exercises, and often the braking was hard enough to trigger the ABS - I'm talking really hard braking (I was also using the sticky A048 tires). After a while I noticed the brakes were biting a lot better, and were also needing a lot less force on the pedal. The improvement wasn't just noticeable, it was significant. It wasn't just because the brakes were warmed up, because they worked just as well after lunch.
Then I happened to look at the wheels and got a surprise. The rotors were positively gleaming - you almost needed sunglasses to look at them. What they had needed was a really good workout to clean them off properly.
So my advice is to go out to a lonely but paved road and do several HARD STOPS - I mean emergency-level stops hard enough to trigger the ABS. Do this every day until the rotors gleam like mirrors, and then do it periodically to maintain them. The result will be night-and-day in terms of braking performance. Someday it might just save you from a crash.
I've known for some time that the Roadster brake rotors get dirty/corroded because constant use of regenerative braking means they don't get enough of a workout. After the winter this year I went out and did a dozen hard stops, and braking performance improved. Less brake noise, more braking... but still less than ideal. Afterwards I could still see narrow concentric streaks of corrosion on the rotors, but they were definitely a lot cleaner.
What really made a HUGE difference was the Autoslalom school I recently attended. We did a whole bunch of exercises, and often the braking was hard enough to trigger the ABS - I'm talking really hard braking (I was also using the sticky A048 tires). After a while I noticed the brakes were biting a lot better, and were also needing a lot less force on the pedal. The improvement wasn't just noticeable, it was significant. It wasn't just because the brakes were warmed up, because they worked just as well after lunch.
Then I happened to look at the wheels and got a surprise. The rotors were positively gleaming - you almost needed sunglasses to look at them. What they had needed was a really good workout to clean them off properly.
So my advice is to go out to a lonely but paved road and do several HARD STOPS - I mean emergency-level stops hard enough to trigger the ABS. Do this every day until the rotors gleam like mirrors, and then do it periodically to maintain them. The result will be night-and-day in terms of braking performance. Someday it might just save you from a crash.