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brake pad compound or rotors? poor braking performance in rain.

B

BrApple

No Life But CEG
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So recently I have noticed that my brakes are not working as well as they should in the rain. As I recall the rear brakes have been on the car for jus tunder 2 years and the fronts where replaced last year around this time. IIRC the front pads where Motorcraft on closeout from Rockauto, not sure on the rear pads. The rotors where all cheap rotors on close out from rock auto also.

So what I have observed in the last few months, didn't notice this before the winter, is that in the rain after driving on the highway for some time, the brake work but don't work well. I really have to lay into the pedal and I get braking but it doesn't feel like its braking. After this if i have to brake again the brake will feel normal again. Then again after some time on the highway the same thing will happen. Its alittle disconcerning.

So just the pads not working well in the wet or something else? i thought at first that this might have just been old snow tires in the rain, but I noticed this again in the rain last night with all season tires. They are also not very new but they are still good.

Any other thoughts?
 
Get some sandpaper

Get some sandpaper

You might have glazed rotors and pads. Now that asbestos is no longer a concern, take some sandpaper to the rotors and the pads. If glazing is the problem this should fix it up.
 
i was thinking glazed pads as well, but could it also be that you need to bleed your system? i know that i need to bleed mine and have noticed that lately when it is wet the brakes aren't doing as well when it's dry.
 
Its possible that they could be glazed, however in dry weather the brakes work just fine. Not as smooth as I like, believe thats because of the cheaper brake parts that where used. I'll certainly bleed the brakes again and had thought about sanding the pads to open them back up to see if they would bite better.
 
This is exactly as I remembered my Contour when driving in the rain. Now that I DD the Sable, I don't drive the Tour in the rain (or much at all) anymore, but it acted exactly as you are describing, Brapple. Curious to see what you find/what others offer. I thought it was just the way it was...
Erick --
 
I have heard that the KVR brake pads, which have something in them which is different then most pads, don't work well the first time in the rain. pretty sure that had something to do with the compound. I have never noticed this before in any of the family contours.
 
my vote goes to it being the pad compound. the pads need to be in their operating temp range to really bite. in dry weather, they get to that point quickly (almost immediately upon application). in the wet weather though, they are colder, along with the rotor, so it takes longer to remove any water from the rotor surface and then get everything up to temp.

I had this same problem with the EBC redstuff pads. first application after being on the highway in the rain and the initial bite just wasnt there. if i released and then pressed on the brake again they worked great, just like they always did when it was dry.
 
I'm having this exact same problem. It scared me a couple times coming off the highway because I felt like I had no brakes, then shortly after, it grabbed and slowed me down with no problem. It's only when wet. It's been like this since I installed my 13" BAER kit.
 
striker2 said:
my vote goes to it being the pad compound. the pads need to be in their operating temp range to really bite. in dry weather, they get to that point quickly (almost immediately upon application). in the wet weather though, they are colder, along with the rotor, so it takes longer to remove any water from the rotor surface and then get everything up to temp.

I had this same problem with the EBC redstuff pads. first application after being on the highway in the rain and the initial bite just wasnt there. if i released and then pressed on the brake again they worked great, just like they always did when it was dry.
Click to expand...

my only issue is the brakes have been on the car for awhile and I just started noticing this. Also iirc the front pads are motorcraft, never had this happen with motorcraft pads before as I recall. So its not some exotic brake pad that might be prone to this.
 
The problem is the ft pads. i had this same problem with a set of Rabestos HD pads. The first time I applied the pads in the rain and it felt like there were no brakes! I had to stand on them to get the car slowed down! After that frist application the pads were dry and warm and they worked fine. Driving on the highway where you didn't use the brakes much was when this showed up.

I finally changed my pads to a cheaper "softer" pad and the problem went away!
 
I've had this occur on several different model cars but typically only under extremely heavy rain conditions and longer periods without applying the brakes such as Interstate driving.

Scott
 
My COugar has always been like this, and the SVT does it, too. My Saturns never had that problem. It's just something I've learned to live with, although I do not like it. Perhaps a softer pad is the answer, but wouldn't that sacrifice overall braking performance a little in the dry?
 
Both my old 95 Mystique LS atx and My 95 Contour SE mtx have always had a poor pedal feel / action until the heat sheds the water from the rotors .My 95 GLmtx however doesn't really do I think because of the rear drum brakes on this one
 
That problem is the reason they used to put on disc brake shields. On any car I ever stripped them off of, the braking got worse on first application in rain. That's more than one car. You learn to drag disc a bit to dry disc off just before a freeway exit. High performance cars require high performance drivers, meaning technique change as required. Brakes hydroplane same as tires. Thoughtful grooving of pad may help.

Bleeding brakes is worthless if they work fine dry.
 
OK ... so as I mentioned I have never had this feeling before. So last friday I took the front pads off and sanded then quickly with some 60 grit. Scuffed the rotors slightly also. Didn't mess with the rears but I also bleed the whole hydraulic system. Was in the rain again last night, however not as heavy rain as the last time this happened. I did not notice any difference in braking. I was driving highway again, but a different one then where I noticed this before.
 
This exact thing has been happining to my car also, I had no problems and then it developed. I have the ATE rotors from tirerack and figured there grooves had something to do with it since I also have some roaring when stopping from high speeds. I scuffed my rotors and changed pads and it is was still doing it although a little better. I will be replacing my pads rotors and the caliper boots for the slide pins soon and I will report back. I think the slide pin boots might be the problem the calipers seemed to rock a litte more than I would expect.
 
the slide pin boots on the car where alittle stiff but I didn't note anything about them. However I did re grease the slide pins also.
 
Huh, always had this problem in my car, but again, only after long periods without braking in heavy rain through the 2 sets of pads I've had on my car (Wagner now, unknown when I bought it, rotors also unknown when I got it, cheapy wearevers from advance now, and when doing them I replaced the passenger front caliper) always just figured it was cold and wet brakes warming up and drying as it doesn't seem to do it as badly in summer weather, but I am going to watch this thread to see if there is a solution.

It really doesn't bother me too badly, as soon as I press the brakes and feel them being stiff, I just let off and get back on them and they work like normal, but it does concern me if I ever need them in an emergency situation where there's no time to stop braking and re-apply.
 
well I have always used good north american made rotors and motorcraft pads. Even the bendix pads on my sevt have never done this. I know these are cheap rotors and i believe motorcraft pads, but I don't recall. I have never had this happen before and am kinda suprised so many just live with it. Again I have only ever heard of high performance kevlar pads doing this, the KVR brakes.

Its suppose to rain today and I'll be on the same highway that I have noticed this on recently before. I'll update tomorrow.
 
well not sure it rained enough last night for me to make a comparison. i believe everything I did helped but again it wasn't raining as hard last night as last week. I might have noticed it slighty just as I stepped on the pedal, but after that it felt about how it has been. This was after near 40 minutes straight of highway driving without using the brake.
 
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