Tesla Brake Cleaning and Service Clinic - Tesla Owner's Club

Even EVs need brake service, not because of wear, but because of disuse. Especially in areas with road salt, you need to inspect and clean your Tesla's brakes.

This goes for other EVs too, but in this case the Tesla Owner's Club of Michigan put on a clinic for their members to show them how to get the job done right. Former Tesla mechanic Tony H. shows us how it's done. Whether you do it yourself or have it done, make sure to clean your brakes especially if you live in a climate with snow and slush.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:25 Why Brake Service?
01:54 Tesla Service Info Access
03:10 Tony Explains Background
04:40 Jacking Up The Car
06:43 Loosening the Lug Nuts
08:02 More on Tesla Service Access
08:57 Tire Wear Check
10:02 M3 Front Brake Caliper and Pad Disassembly and Cleaning
24:00 Front Brake Reassembly
31:13 Not A Flamethrower
31:18 M3 Rear Brake Caliper and Pad Disassembly and Cleaning
38:12 Rear Brake Reassembly
39:36 Lug Nut Torqueing
39:56 M3 Performance Brake Service Time Lapse

[edisonng]

This person explain service a million times better than anyone else I have seen in Youtube. Well done. We need more video from him.

[Car_Tism]

Instead of a speed lapse of the Performance brakes, could you post it regularly? Really would like to hear what he says and any tips for when I clean my M3P brakes later this season.

[KK-tspm]

Thanks Carl for posting this video. I have it as reference now.

[chazchazzerton]

Great timing! Watched 2X. I will be cleaning my brakes for 1st time in a couple of days. Tx

[SantiTheDev]

Can you please post the performance raw original footage? it'd help alot thanks

[OldElvis]

Great Video. Thanks so much for posting. Would you be able to post the full video of time elapse at the end of the Performance Caliper Service? That would be helpful for all MY owners. Thanks.

[martinwinlow]

09:08: Tread wear indicators are set at 1.6mm not 3mm.

[thenetworkarchitectchannel]

Super cool vid!!! Love watching. I had heard about using your EV breaks to keep the pads clean, but it is something else to see it up close and being worked on by a Tesla SvcEng. Thx for the awesome content.

[Myksgarage]

good video, I learned some good tips!

[yves_renaud]

Hi, I just attempt this job but at the front, on both wheel, there is a pin that just won't come out, no matter how hard I hit it. It's just stuck there. I even try heating it with a small household propane torch. No sir. It's kind of welded in place. I hit so hard the tip of the pins are starting to get flat. So I guess it means I have to leave it like that or change the whole galiper. My car is about 40K miles and 3.75 years, living in Canada where lots of salt is sprayed on the road. I should have done it way before and check every year.
Thanks for the nice video. It's a bit annoying to hear everyone comments in the back, but it's part of the deal.

[dzsink]

It is a great video. I think for the celaning process no break cleaner and wire brushes should be used. It will break down the paint and even if the slides are lubricated it will cause corrosion and binding/seizing of brake backing pad to caliper slide. Maybe a good time to check brake rotor run out neasurement too.

[Martinko_Pcik]

First time someone admits EVs need regular brake service. Since I have the same problems on my Prius I suspected it to be the case. I guess 4 drum brakes would be simpler on maintenance

[chezchezchezchez]

Wow. This is gold!
Thanks so much for sharing this.
My 2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range is almost 2 years old.
Maybe i should do this?

[ZackScriven]

How to get the rear brake piston to compress in a model Y performance? The parking brake activated on me when the caliper was off and pads were out

[harry-eto]

I'd say only people with some mechanical background should do brake jobs. By that, i don't mean the instructor here, he knows his stuff.

[epcalderhead]

Learned my brake maintenance from SouthMainAuto on Youtube. He's in upstate NY and deals with the worst elements for brakes. He does not lube the ears of his brake pads on the back as found on non-P Teslas. He finds it attracts more dirt to jam them up. What he does lube is the metal channel of the the caliper the brake clips sit in. That's where rust can build up and push up the clips to seize the pads. When I did the first brake job on my Model 3 I found very little lube on the rear caliper slide pins out of the factory, making a lube of the pins on the first service recommended. This is also what my MST (mobile service tech) said to me: "I wish Tesla would not dry-pack the caliper pins during assembly, as it leaves them susceptible to winter salt and ice on our roads. Once they are lubed, the service may be done every other year if your interim mileage is under 20K km".

[domk]

⁠hey brotha. I have a 2016 Model S P90D with 90, 313 miles. Randomly yesterday I heard a squealing kind of sound. Come to find out it’s my front left…I took it to Tesla to see how much it costs for front brake pads and they’re $305 so I was going to buy them. But the Tesla service advisor at first was like you never really have to replace the pads due to regen brakes. But im curious, would the dirty rotors cause that? I guess what im asking is do you think my pads are still good? What would cause that squealing kind of sound? Thanks

[RoBert-ixev]

Basic brake service 101.

n.b.: The lug nut torque is 175NM not 135NM.

[ronndan]

What is your opinion about a copper grease

[mspaniard]

Tesla recommends brake caliper cleaning and lubing every 2yrs or every year if living in snow conditions where salt is used on highways. A tech came out for my 2yr caliper cleaning and lubrication and did not perform the service saying it’s unnecessary in warm climates. Is that correct?