Search results

We had the first failure this past weekend. The BWR super stiff sway bar managed to break the sway bar mounting tab on the lower control arm. Good news is Tesla has several in stock, they go for $355. We will probably weld in a reinforcement on both control arms over the winter to reduce the...

It really comes down to preference but full stiff in the front makes turn in sharper

Are you getting any VDS error or debug codes?

I'm nitpicking here, but I don't think they are technically a strut because they do not take any lateral suspension loads. To my knowledge a strut shares duty as a suspension member (holding the wheel or hub in the correct position) and spring/damper combo.

The vehicle description is full of options the vehicle doesn't have and no mention of it being salvage, not a good sign o_O

Someone beat you to it in the Tech section Tesla Parts Catalogs now available to the general public

How does someone like that end up with an original Roadster in the first place???

Did you order the side mirrors yet? I came across this thread on the Lotus forum about swapping the mirrors out for the newer style, and the parts are really inexpensive. The look is pretty similar to stock but not as chunky. How To: Exige V6 Side Mirrors - LotusTalk - The Lotus Cars Community

They look nice, and possibly a bit more aerodynamic too

A fellow AutoX competitor made a compilation video of our runs from a few weeks ago. There is some great commentary from the timing booth Some of the video is on a fixed tripod because we shared a rungroup, it's still a good waste of 7 minutes to watch a Roadster go fast though

Event Update: I upped the front dampers to 9 (from 7) over the weekend and feel like it makes the car more responsive on turn in with minimal change to steady state cornering. After driving a friends national championship winning STU class 350Z the previous weekend I feel like having the front...

Thanks! The venue is about an hours drive away, so we charge and drive over in range mode to preserve as much battery as possible. The event this last weekend was a lot cooler (50-60f), so I was able to run the whole day in performance mode. The car really chews through battery in performance...

Do you remember why?

Hopefully someone will come out with some sort of kit that will use common parts from a Model3. They will be dime-a-dozen in junk yards in a few years.

Good thing I decided to hold off on ordering one till yours came in. How does the Tesla mirror come off?

For those of us in the US, I found the same mirror from RockAuto for $28 IAP 113857511L Inside Rear View Mirror | RockAuto

I'm 6'5" and in the same boat as you. I run the stock mirror upside down to gain a little bit more visibility, I may go with this smaller mirror option though. Thanks. On a side note, i've found it more comfortable to put my left foot behind the dead pedal on the left, that way both my knees...

What brand and model are the wheels and tires?

I always assumed it was normal, but reading the forums I think we're the exception. We do run 2 drivers and typically race in 90f heat, so maybe we are on threshold of being too hot. I'm going to check the HVAC system pressure before the next event, according to Gruber it should be no higher...

Do you know what the system pressure should be reading in the diagnostic menu? It only seems to happen on hot (90f+) days. The battery will get in the 43c range and can't cool down past that between runs. I'll look into the battery cooldown mod and try to pre-cool the battery between each run...

Race weekend update: I added one camber shim to the rear to get rid of the understeer from running zero rear shims. We ran at a different (smaller) venue so it's hard to tell how much it helped with rotation, but the car felt pretty good (I ended day one 2nd in PAX, and day two 1st in PAX and...

I've run 205/50r16 one season for autocross and had no issues with rubbing.

You could give Gruber a call, they are the only alternative to Tesla I know of for rebuilding the electronics Tesla Roadster

I made a few changes to the car this weekend, some good, some not so good. I changed from a standard wheel to the performance forged wheel to shave some unsprung rotational weight. The performance difference is negligible, but every little bit of weight removed helps. I decided to try a more...

Some of my old track videos:

Finally got a chance to AutoX the Roadster again this weekend, and after racing my Miata most of the year the shortcomings of the Roadster braking system were very apparent to me. Once the second step of ABS engages the Roadster does not want to stop quickly, so I tried a few runs with the ABS...

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't realize there was a classified section on here, I don't leave the Roadster section of the forum.

Looks nice. Let me know if you're looking to get rid of the stock forged wheels.

What does the cooldown feature do?

Yes. The rules for Street class do not allow changing the width of the wheels. Note, this is an autocross only setup, and Bridgestone does not recommend using the RE71-R in that size on a wheel narrower than 6.5"

Any update on when they will be available for purchase?

I place the jack and stands near the sticker on the same structural member (jack at the 6 o'clock position, and stand at 3 o'clock, for example) and haven't had any issues. Make sure you give the car a good shake when its on the stands before you get underneath, since the majority of the...

There are stickers on the bottom of the frame that tell you where its safe to lift and place jack stands

Bummer. Maybe give Gruber a call to see if they can save it? Tesla Roadster Battery Pack Recovery If not, and you are interested in parting with the wheels, let me know. Ive been looking for a second set of forged wheels to put race tires on for some time now.

Ive used ramps to get under the car for suspension adjustments (they need to be pretty low profile to clear the front bumper), or a jack and jack stands if you need to remove the wheels.

If you have the factory Sport Suspension, you can change the ride height if need a little more clearance

That's roughly 4.5 million miles away, or 18x the distance between the Earth and Moon

If I remember correctly, it did not allow enough airflow and made cooling worse.

Apparently the Roadster has a low probability of colliding with Earth or Venus in a few million years Tesla shot into space will likely collide with Earth or Venus – in millions of years: U of T researchers

The Roadster will go beyond the orbit of Mars now (they had more fuel left than expected) Elon Musk on Twitter

The car is gutted for sure, you can see the earth through the fender and wheel. Screen Shot 2018-02-06 At 4.52.59 PM by Oricle posted Feb 6, 2018 at 4:55 PM

The Roadster should stop reasonably well in stock form as long as you roll on to the brake pedal. In my experience, full on panic application of the brakes can sometimes trigger ABS "ice mode" which feels like brake failure. Sector111's Tasty Innovations Blog: Lotus 'Ice Mode' Explanation

Is that the factory rear cradle??? It looks nothing like the one on the Roadster I've worked on before

Does anyone know what it sold for? The site doesn't say, last I saw it was at $20k and the reserve wasn't met.

That's really the deciding factor on how much to pay for this Roadster. Its been sitting a month (maybe more) in cold Chicago, I can't imagine the battery is in very good shape. Judging by the pictures only; both headlights, both front fenders, hood, bumper, and rear spoiler need replacement...

I'm also 6'5" and have been looking into "tall guy" mods. None of the Lotus Elise tricks i've found work on the Roadster however, except for removing the dead pedal.

Yeah, I'll try the EBC/AX6 combo for a season before I decide to try something else

Agreed, I've done 2 of the early Refuel races at Laguna Seca in the Roadster. Had an off track experience on turn 3, and an unexpected power oversteer on 11 which sent me towards the pit wall. That was about the time I decided AutoX was the better sport for the Roadster, and if I wanted to do...

Good to hear you're getting some seat time. Tires make the most difference, hands down. I'd probably stay away from the 215s, they are just too wide for the skinny wheels even though the compound is slightly quicker. We went with the EBC pads because they were cheap and we weren't sure how...