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There's no shortage of jalopies throughout automotive history which would want their brakes serviced after a single agressive stop from highway speeds. That wa

There's no shortage of jalopies throughout automotive history which would want their brakes serviced after a single agressive stop from highway speeds. That was before they carried a floor full of batteries and accelerated with their peak torque from 0 RPM. This situation is exacerbated with the paradoxically affordable, massive, and quick (in a straight line) EVs. It won't surprise me one bit if Tesla's first "budget" electric car for the masses cut enough corners to join that list. Skimping on things like brakes in favor of retaining impressive, car-selling acceleration and range figures.

dpark 8y ago
It would surprise me very much if the Model 3 couldn’t handle a single stop from highway speed since it took 4 laps to fry the brakes at Laguna Seca.
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  There's a big difference between brakes being worn to their service limit and wanting service due to runout caused by overheated pads depositing pad material on the rotor surface. Most people (I suspect) would take a vehicle in for service when the brake pedal pulsates or the steering judders under braking. This is fairly easy to cause on heavy vehicles with undersized brakes. We'll see what happens with the Model 3 as the numbers climb and we begin to get a real sense of just what Tesla has been selling to people.
  - greglindahl 8y ago
    Given that most Tesla owners rarely use the brakes, I suspect you won't find much of a problem. I have 40k miles on my car, and the original brake pads are in great shape.
    - newnewpdro 8y ago
      Possibly, but I presume you're driving a Model S or X? It's already been noted by multiple reviewers that the regenerative braking of the Model 3 is less significant than previous models. They did switch to a completely different motor architecture in part to cut costs, the two may be related. Edit: More significantly there have been numerous reports of Model 3s disabling regenerative braking altogether due to thermal constraints in fairly normal climatic conditions like 68F ambient temps. What I think is most likely is the Model 3 just won't have particularly good service intervals for the front brakes. They at least appear to have a performance-oriented brake configuration with four piston front calipers, they will probably just wear quicker than expected.

dpark 8y ago

It would surprise me very much if the Model 3 couldn’t handle a single stop from highway speed since it took 4 laps to fry the brakes at Laguna Seca.

newnewpdro 8y ago
There's a big difference between brakes being worn to their service limit and wanting service due to runout caused by overheated pads depositing pad material on the rotor surface. Most people (I suspect) would take a vehicle in for service when the brake pedal pulsates or the steering judders under braking. This is fairly easy to cause on heavy vehicles with undersized brakes. We'll see what happens with the Model 3 as the numbers climb and we begin to get a real sense of just what Tesla has been selling to people.
- greglindahl 8y ago
  Given that most Tesla owners rarely use the brakes, I suspect you won't find much of a problem. I have 40k miles on my car, and the original brake pads are in great shape.
  - newnewpdro 8y ago
    Possibly, but I presume you're driving a Model S or X? It's already been noted by multiple reviewers that the regenerative braking of the Model 3 is less significant than previous models. They did switch to a completely different motor architecture in part to cut costs, the two may be related. Edit: More significantly there have been numerous reports of Model 3s disabling regenerative braking altogether due to thermal constraints in fairly normal climatic conditions like 68F ambient temps. What I think is most likely is the Model 3 just won't have particularly good service intervals for the front brakes. They at least appear to have a performance-oriented brake configuration with four piston front calipers, they will probably just wear quicker than expected.