The Brakes! The brakes? Impact!

[Mitrovic]

Now it happened to me!
I really do not have range anxiety, but brake anxiety!
But the story goes like that:
It was as an emergeny call ( I m oral surgeon ) early in the morning, at that night I allready had a call at noon - that is just to tell you that it‘s not just the fault of Tesla‘s brakes.
Getting out of the highway I was approaching a slow driving Peugeot in front of me. When I was pretty close the light in front of the Peugeot switched from green to yellow and the driver slammed the brakes. For me it was at a moment when I thought the Peugeot was accelerating but because it was still green that the driver changed her mind a made a full stop. It was at the moment when me too after slowing down, I also started to accelerate. I immediately slammed the brakes, but it was more like a gliding then braking. I even had time to honk like saying „ go out of my way, I‘m coming and have no useful brakes“. The impact was at about 5 to 10 Km/h.
Both cars had a dent. Nobody was hurt. The driver in front of me was a very young girl. Who was very happy that I was not blaming her and just repeated, oh it does not matter..
The car is now due to go to the Tesla store Zürich for front repairs. I will report....

[Alan]

Really sorry to hear that and I hope you get sorted quickly.

Having read similar reports I now try to do at least one heavy brake per journey to clean any corrosion / warm up the brakes. I hope you dont mind me asking if you do anything similar - its helpful to other users to know if a factor in such accidents is lack of use of the brakes as EVs use them less than ICE vehicles due to the regen.

PS Like the white color with black wheels - could not have chosen better myself

[bonnie1194]

I'm kind of partial to the white with black myself.

Glad you're okay, Mitrovic. Next upgrade for my car will be brakes.

[Eberhard]

I am sorry to hear about that. It happens to me as well (but without accident). I am get used to brake as hard as possible when in need, i can release the brake later if i brake to hard. The brakes needs to get hot to work properly. I got new pads with are much better than the old ones. they don't clue as much in humid weather as the old did.

hope you get your front fixed soon. by the way - whats about our alps excursion?

[dsm363]

I'm glad everyone is ok. I've never had to test the brakes to that degree so didn't realize they were that weak until people started talking about it on here. I'll upgrade as well and agree with white and black being a nice color combo on the Roadster.

[Mitrovic]

White and black it is!

I know of the brake weakness of the roadster, so I do it once a day, a full stop. But only if I think at it. Last days have been so stressful ( among others installed some more solar panels ! ), that I just have forgotten to think about it.
Everybody is ok so, that is most important. Car goes friday to the Tesla store and if there's not too much damage should be finished next week!
Eberhard: I've chosen the hotels, I've chosen the routes, it should be in june 2013. I think 6 cars maximum, but as nothing is finalized, I'll talk about it later.

[wiztecy]

I just ordered a set of CarboTech brakes for this very reason. There's a thread discussing the brakes... was going to go with the EBC brakes but some great forum members who autocross the roadster live by the Carbotechs. I figure you only get one chance to get it right when braking. They should be coming in this week and I should have them installed this or next weekend if time permits.

The Carbotechs work well in cold conditions as well as hot.

I really feel the brake pads on the roadsters are bad quality in my opinion.

[Jaff]

I used to think the same until running an autocross...they work well once the pads are bedded in...a huge difference!

I just ordered a set of CarboTech brakes for this very reason. There's a thread discussing the brakes... was going to go with the EBC brakes but some great forum members who autocross the roadster live by the Carbotechs. I figure you only get one chance to get it right when braking. They should be coming in this week and I should have them installed this or next weekend if time permits.

The Carbotechs work well in cold conditions as well as hot.

I really feel the brake pads on the roadsters are bad quality in my opinion.

[Johann Koeber]

Boah.
Thanks for posting this.

I have had my Roadster for 3 weeks now. I have not used the brakes, was doing fine with the regen. I just use the breaks to hold the car when stopping.

Now I must try out the brakes. I will try some emergency stopping (without emergency) just to get a feel for the capabilities of the car.

I am so glad you pointed me to this - sooner or later I would have to make a fast stop and would not have been prepared. Thank you!

[donauker]

Boah.
Now I must try out the brakes. I will try some emergency stopping (without emergency) just to get a feel for the capabilities of the car.

To make it really interesting you will want to do this right after a full range mode charge!