Bit of a warning to early model S owners and others. I have owned a model S since Dec 22, 2012 and I bought the extended care package. It has gone through 4 winters, 2 hard ones and 2 warmer ones. The car has 104,000km on the odometer.



Last year I started hearing a rattling noise in the right rear and it turned out to be a loose parking brake pad. That got fixed and this year the other side started rattling. As well the breaks seemed to be a little soft but in no way concerning. After 3 weeks waiting for the appointment I dropped the car off and got a call saying that all 4 break pistons has seized and it would cost $8500 to repair! Wow. That is the most expensive repair I have ever had on a car. By a long shot. I was told that because the breaks are not used that much the pistons can seize. So one of the benefits of regen might not be so much of a benefit at all. Apparently Tesla is recommending a break servicing for cars in the northeast every year. I was also told that there was lots of wear left on the rotors and brake pads but they wanted to change them all out as the rotors were heavily pitted. They also mentioned that I should break hard a couple of times a week but I'm not sure if that is official Tesla policy.



Here are some of the part costs costs:

Break caliper assembly with piston (each): $745.00

Rear rotor (each): $331.00

Front Rotor (each): $290.00

Parking break caliper with pads: $1,235.00



They also replaced a the upper control arm on the driver's side: $261.00



Tesla managed to salvage one of the pistons but they had to change out 3 of them agreed to not charge for labour on the job so my final bill was $5,824.75. I was not expecting that when I dropped the car off.



I asked Jay (who is as helpful as ever) what other 'surprises' I might be in for and he could not think of any but I am nervous.



So Tesla may have an issue with this or is might just be my car but I certainly recommend everyone in the east (and especially Sig owners) have their breaks looked at right away. I would have one of the earliest cars to go through 4 winters but a near $6K repair bill does not make this the cheapest car I have ever owned.



It is hard to swallow getting a complete brake replacement when the rotors or pads were not worn down.



Tesla service people were great as usual.

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