[sbixby]

I was talking with a co-worker, who said "time to switch to stainless steel". This got me curious, so I did a little reading. It sounds like SS rotors are available, but not ideal for brake rotors. Iron rotors have better braking characteristics and handle heat dissipation better.

But I wonder, since our cars use regen for the majority of stopping duties, whether SS rotors make sense.

Idle thoughts....

 

[sbixby]

Interesting article that dovetails with thoughts above about the reason why drum brakes might be a better idea for EV's

Why old-fashioned drum brakes may be the way of the future for EVs | Autoblog

It may seem counterintuitive, but old-fashioned drum brakes are making a comeback in some of the most futuristic cars.

www.autoblog.com

Good article, thanks! I'm a software engineer, not a mechanical engineer, but I've been pondering this rusty-brake issue a fair bit lately. The drum-brake approach makes a lot of sense.

If the rears are drums with parking brakes, and the front are disks and don't engage with "P" (park) mode, then we shouldn't have issues with pads/rotors fusing together with rust.

 

[sbixby]

About 80% of the stopping power comes from front brakes anyway, so drums in the back aren't that much of a compromise. Again, software guy here, but... it makes sense to me.

 

[sbixby]

I'd think the rotors are what rust - and build up a lip around the pads. So perhaps non-metallic pads would still have this issue? I hope not.

Still going fine on mine, but it's Sacramento and moisture is, well, a foreign concept, this year.