10% better range by servicing brakes

[MY-Y]

In the fall of 2022, I attempted to service my brakes (clean and grease). I was able to do the rear brakes, but didn't do the front. It appears that my early 2020 AWD MY has performance brakes up front (although grey), and these require an E18 socket that I didn't have.

Anyway, it seemed like my range increased just doing the rear brakes.

A couple of weeks ago, I serviced my brakes (front and rear this time) and watched my energy consumption more carefully. For several commutes now, I see a ~10% energy reduction. With the pads more free to move, they seem to drag the rotors a bit less.

Bottom line, there appears to be a range benefit from doing the recommended brake maintenance.

For those interested, here is a pic of my grey Brembo performance-looking caliper. No pins to pop out; the caliper must be removed to pull the pads. The youtube videos for the performance models showed me how to service these.

 

[mike01]

Interesting. I have the same brakes on my MY. I also did the rears about a month ago, but didn’t do the fronts for the same reason as you. What do you need to do with the fronts? I know you need an E18 and you have to remove the caliper and pads. Is it just cleaning up the pad mounting points in the calipers and applying caliper grease to the pad edges? There aren’t any slide pins, are there?

 

[MY-Y]

No pins, but, there is a piece of spring steel that pulls the pads back.

I used this video for instructions. I wouldn't hang a caliper from the brake line like he did. I just have a jack, so my car was close enough to the ground to just set the caliper down. No other special tools needed.

One note is that there wasn't enough room in there for my torque wrench, so I just torqued the E18 bolts to German specs: good-n-tight.

 

[Marc Connery]

interesting about the range improvement you found. I don't have the performance but look forward to checking the difference when it is time to service my brakes.

It's funny now that I have the need for oil changes (the disposal requirements sent me to service centers) I am looking forward to being a wrench turner on my own car again.

 

[Unclepaul]

Thanks for the post.
Believe Tesla recommends regular brake servicing in areas where Winters have salt and sand on the roads.
Probably a good idea if you live near salt water oceans as well.

 

[necroregion]

I tried scheduling this at the tesla service center in nyc. They wanted $500. Is there a cheaper place to have this service completed?

 

[SteelClouds]

interestingly enough, you are supposed to do this every two years. Clean and sub the mounts and such. But, the pads should not be touching the rotor at least with normal disk brakes. They should just clear the rotor. Anything closer and they drag which will grind them away ( and decrease range) but a 10% range hit is pretty significant. I would think with that much drag, you would have all kinds of brake dust on the wheels. Mine are very clean after 2000 miles ( monthly cleaning)..

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I'm having difficultly accepting the 10% improvement. That's quite a bit. That's saying if you have a full, 70kWh battery, you would lose 7kWh through brake friction if you drove it to empty. That's a lot of heat. I don't doubt there could be come improvement, but 10% seems to be a lot.

 

[MY-Y]

I pay attention to my wh/mi every commute. For a few weeks before I serviced my brakes, I averaged ~260-270 wh/mi round trip. Here is my last commute round trip: 234 wh/mi. I had a few round trip commutes like this one with ~15% lower consumption last week. I'll measure again this week and report back.

 

[SteelClouds]

That’s extreme for just brakes dragging. Teslas are sensitive, I’ll give you that. I’ve seen some real hits with wind for example but I would expect wear and tear on the pads dragging this much. Now you have me wondering

 

[Stirfry]

There are quiet a few other variables that need to be controlled to come up with anything statistically significant.