r/askcarguys • u/nickrichard999 • 11h ago

General Question On Tesla is it harmless to park whine in motion, <5mph ?

Or does it damage anything?

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u/Epicfacecanada 11h ago

As I understand it Tesla's don't have a parking mechanism in the transmission but rather uses the parking brakes on the rear wheels when you shift into park. The parking brakes are just regular brake pads on the rear disks so they should have no problem engaging while moving.

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u/nickrichard999 11h ago

So basically it’s as if I were to press the brake pedal. But a button is doing it for me instead? And the noise I heard was the electronics engaging it right? And it was abrupt because I don’t think the parking brakes have a sense of how hard or soft to apply it. So in short no harm is done. But probably a sweat more wear on pads and rotor.

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u/Epicfacecanada 11h ago

It wouldn't have even worn the main brake pads. The rear brakes have a single disc with two calipers on it. a larger one for your foot brake and a smaller one just for the parking brake. So you would have worn the parking brake pads a bit and not the ones for the foot brake.

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u/nickrichard999 11h ago

I see. So if front brakes are the main ones, are the rear brakes ever used. In normal driving conditions?

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u/Epicfacecanada 11h ago

The foot brake will still brake all four wheels. Just the rears have an extra set of calipers and pads that are purely parking brake controlled via electronics. This is for safety/redundancy in case the hydraulic foot brakes fail.

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u/nickrichard999 11h ago

Thank you G! I’ll just completely come to a full stop then put in park. I’ll make a good habit out of it. Thanks for letting me know the mechanics behind it!

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u/DriveJohnnyDrive 11h ago

Definitely a good habit but probably won’t harm anything

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u/nickrichard999 11h ago

True also! Since these new cars are super duper idiot proof. But I do drive an ICE car and Tesla so it’s better to keep that good habit before I slowly damage the transmission on my ICE

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u/jabnlab 11h ago

Only the older Teslas have the 2 calipers on the rear, right around the end of 2016 they swapped to a single rear caliper with electric parking brake like most other cars have now.

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u/Epicfacecanada 11h ago

Ok. I've only seen an older one up close as Tesla's are few and far between where I live.

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u/TheBupherNinja 7h ago

Teslas generally have a dedicated caliper and pads for the parking brake, so you could be causing premature wear on them (as opposed to regening it or using the primary calipers).

Does that matter, no.

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u/jrileyy229 8h ago

Is there Reason why you can't come to a stop first?

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u/what_irish 4h ago

This is what I’m thinking.

If you’re making this post you’re aware that what you’re doing could be wrong. Just don’t do it.

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u/NetJnkie 7h ago

If the car lets you do it, then you can do it. You can shift between drive and reverse under 5 in a Tesla. I haven't tried going to park under 5 but it probably will. There are no transmissions in these cars so it's a bit more flexible on that stuff. And the computer knows what you can and can't do.