https://unpluggedperformance.com/mod...rmance-brakes/

 

I watched that yesterday. It doesn’t surprise me since it is not a track car but as irresponsible as it is to have a 9 second (really an 8 second) car available to normal people driving on the street, it’s even more irresponsible to not have the best brakes on the car.

Regardless, I was originally going to delay the delivery of my car until March when it is closer to my current car’s lease end date but I’m getting antsy so I’m probably going to take delivery as soon as it’s available and hopefully I can break even selling my leased car.

 

Maybe you'll get the call for an M5 You can always explore getting the beautiful Etron GT RS

 

Nah I’m all in on the Plaid. BMW is having a hard time getting parts and are dropping options because of it. Plus who knows when I would get it. I’m very excited about going EV, there is just always some shortcomings with any car and as an enthusiast, we always nitpick.

 

Can't wait for your reaction when you do that full launch. I hear the 40-130mph is much more impressive than the 0-60 as the car has trouble with traction with anything under 70mph. It will probably be like having your own little spaceship

 

I ordered the 19” wheels because the 21” tire options are very limited but I’m already looking to get new 20” wheels because the 19” wheels are pretty hideous. From my searches it seems T-Sportline and Martian wheels specialize in Teslas, do know anything about those?

 

Yeah...both are reputable and many Tesla owners have them. I have a friend who switched from 20 inch OEMs to 18 inch T-sportlines and they look great. He also got much better range and ride quality. I'm thinking about doing the same. I think they are lighter than the OEMs by quite a bit too. I think the 19s may serve you well though as they tend to get more range but honestly, the Model S will get about 300 miles so range isn't that big of an issue and the MOdel S charges up really quick. Its definitely Tesla's most advanced car yet.

 

Good point, maybe I will stick with 19” and then I won’t have to buy new tires. They are lighter so maybe range will increase. I thought the Plaid got closer to 400 miles on a full charge?

 

been saying that since day one, tesla has very weak brakes. but initial report on the plaid said brakes are good which i was surprised. i guess maybe ok for regular driving? for sure the brakes on my model 3 dual motor is very weak

when you are doing hard braking, almost all the braking goes into stopping the car, not regen.

it can be an option for track but on a car like this (which a tiny % will actually track it), this is not a very good idea. last thing you want is random rich people who don't know how to drive paying the extra money for ccb. ccb is horrible when cold, people not aware of that will be in deep trouble.

unplugged with the ccb imho is the right alternative for those who track

 

Yeah but you can't drive that conservatively to get the 400 miles. Thats like going 60mph on the highway. C&D did a loop with Model S and got 320 miles at 75mph. I say 300mph because its more realistic given the sportiness of the car. My car gets 300 miles on EPA ratings and the way I drive the car, I probably get 225 miles but i drive 85mph on the highway and am the fastest thing off the light, every single time. I ignore range though as I charge at home. Full tank every morning

If I do road trips though, I can get 250 miles pretty easily but that is completely not fun

 

Tesla doesn't seem to think so since they included a beefed up regenerative braking software as part of the Model 3 Performance Track Mode V2 update. I expect them to do the same for the Plaid. How it works in practice for a bullet like the Plaid, we'll have to see.https://www.tesla.com/support/track-mode

 

increasing the regen aggressiveness works by increasing the amount of braking initiated by the motor regen system. it allows the driver to stay more focus on the gas pedal. but that has nothing to do with maximum braking power, which is when you literally stand on the brake pedal. that's a factor of the caliper size, piston sizes, rotor diameter and materials, and brake pads materials.

brake regen is not going to give it more braking power, that's just physics. think of it this way, one can program the system so that when a person lift off the throttle, the regen system applies 100% of the brakes for maximum regen. is it going to stop the car faster? no because it's the same brakes.

brake fade and overheating is the problem with the plaid on the track

 

The conclusion of the video is not a surprise at all. I wonder how many Model S owners track their car? It's not a track car period. It's an incredibly capable street and family car.

I couldn't care less about ever tracking a Model S. I doubt very much I'm in the minority as far as most Model S owners are concerned. All these types of reviews are interesting to watch, but completely pointless in the real world usage of the car.

Let's imagine for a minute that the brakes and steering were not "TERRIBLE" in track usage. Does that automatically mean the car is now going to be tracked by the majority of owners? I doubt that very much.

 

Now this is waaaay more interesting than the "inadequate brakes on a track setting".

An enterprising software engineer has retrofitted his Plaid with a Model 3 steering wheel and modded the firmware of the car to make it work with the stalks (turn signal, gear selector etc) and scroll wheels.


https://electrek.co/2021/11/03/tesla...model-s-plaid/

 

Doing 40-130 in a few seconds on public roads is HIGHLY dangerous. If ANY vehicle/pedestrian/cyclist doesn't see that bullet approaching they will become a street pizza.

with higher regen, i would think a car will stop more quickly when foot taken off gas than with lower regen. ?

and as you know of course, regen isn't 'brakes' in any traditional sense. Using kinetic energy to turn a motor to generate electricity to recharge a battery...

I assume there's limits to how much 'braking' can be achieved with regen though, the motor doesn't have that much resistance and there's probably built in failsafes so the motor isn't suddenly attempted to be turned 10,000rpm or something and maybe breaking it from such torque force applied to it (as opposed to it providing torque in normal use).

Fade and overheating come from over use, obviously much more demand on them on a track, but it seems tesla simply didn't provide sufficient braking to deal with 1000+ hp. The reviewers felt the brakes were completely inadequate from the get go it seems.