well, when the brakes are warm and dry they work perfectly, but after i wash my car and the brakes are cold, they shudder very badly. it shakes the whole car and makes alot of noise. i notice this when it rains and the brakes are cold also, but when they warm up its all good. anbody ever expierence this or hear of it? anybody know what causes this?

 

It's water between the pads and rotors -- my SC400 got really bad after a wash when it needed new pads and rotors.

My current SC300 w/ 12,000 miles since the last brake job does this too -- in Drivers Ed. they teach you that when your brakes are wet you need to step on the gas and brake at the same time while going about 20 MPH -- I think this is nothing more than that. If it really bothers you, maybe you should check your pad and rotor wear, if you don't know how, take it to a friend or mechanic who does (it's not hard stuff)


JT

 

strange because i have like 90% pads and pretty new rotors. so i dont need to replace those, any other suguestions?

 

That seems right (about the water). After most washes and if (accidentally) driven through puddles of water my brakes get like that... about 5 min lightly pressing the brake and still on the gas (slow speeds) dries them out.

 

Do you also see some rust on the rotors? I know I get that but after driving for a block or so with a few intentional stops, the pad/rotor contact will wear away the rust and things are fine again. This happens to many on here (since the topic on the rust has been raised before) so it seems to be normal.

 

yeah there was alittle rust on the rotor, is there any way to prevent this from happening? ive never had rotors rust instantly when i wash my car.

 

If there is a way, I'd like to know too. I just live with it. I've even seen the cad-plated ones rust. the plating helps somwhat where the pad does not touch the rotor but where there is contact, the friction has worn away the plating.

 

damn that sucks, its a shame such a nice car has this kind of problem. its pretty embarrasing when my neighbors hear that horrible sound after i wash my car and move it like 10 feet to the garage to dry it.

maby changing to a different kind of brake pad will do the trick?

 

happens all the time when I wash the car I've learned to ignore it.... What I do is just go really slow and then hit the breaks hard. I do this a few times and it goes back to normal.

 

thanks guys for your input, im glad this is caused by the rust on the rotor and is not somthing mechanical.

 

I get it too, after EVERY car wash...and I wash my car underground so there's zero sunlight to dry it out. I just drive the car around the block a couple of times and then finish the job with a chamois.

 

i get it if it rains at work for a long period of time...or if i leave the car out in the rain anywhere...

CEO