I need Nitto's on the front and my Baer/Alcon 6 piston calipers and 15" rotors.

 

I get the same problem too. I did the rear brakes last year and had the rotors cut and put gm durastop pads. When they are dry they stop fine but in the rain they seem like they fade and take more effort to stop. The fronts are still fine and have plenty of meat on the pads. I think I might have to get different pads. Any body else have durastop pads? How are they working for you?

 

I notice it too on my 94. Just have to push a lot farther on the pedal to get the car to slow down during a rain.

Will an ls1 brake upgrade help? Anybody done that? Is it much work to do?

 

I notice my brakes blow as well in the rain. The pedal feels much FIRMER than in dry weather.

 

There is no reason you should have more pedal travel in the rain. If you find that a lot of pedal travel is required than you most likely have air in the system and it needs to be bled.

Make sure your pads are not glazed over. Look at the pads and if they are smooth or shiny, go at them with some course sand paper.

 

See if this makes any sense...

To stop the car from a certain speed in a certain distance in the dry requires "x" amount of pedal effort.

Reproducing all factors from above except in the wet requires "x" times 2.

Thus the pedal may move further and feel firmer. In essence you need much more pedal effort to produce the same braking effect when in the wet as you would in the dry.

The LS1 brake upgrade should alleviate the wet problem and improve dry weather performance as well. This is a good affordable option plus it gives you the chance to powder-coat your LS1 calipers prior to installation. : )

JeffA

 

I too have noticed that my brakes are far worse in the rain. This is the first car I have owned that was like that...almost rear-ended someone the second day I had it

HOWEVER...my '02 Grand Am GT is far worse in the rain than dry as well. It is also a four wheel disc car. Therefore, I have always sort of thought that the 4 wheel disc cars, because they have 4 discs, are more succeptible to water. Pure and simple. My '89 Camaro RS, '95 Grand Am SE and '98 Grand Am SE all performed just as well in wet or dry...and all 3 had drum rears. I assumed maybe because the backs were drums and not as succeptible to water, this was the case? Merely a guess..

But ABS is NOT a factor, in any way shape or form. ABS is inactive until needed. So if you aren't in danger of lockup, why in the world would it do anything?

 

what av8er said is whats going on with my car. ill take a look at the rotors see if they are glazed. i was hoping to find out an easy way to fix the wet braking so that maybe i could do it the next time i changed pads and or rotors. id like to do the LS1 upgrade eventually but not right now. thanks for all the replies. does anybody have anything else to add? Trey

 

I have the same problem in the wet. They just get soaked and you have to heat them to get them to work. I just wonder though, I have 17x9.5 wheels with LOTS of space for water to float around in there. I just wonder if the guys with 17" wheels have more trouble than the one's with 16"???

Keep in mind too, water doesn't compress. If it gets between the pad and rotor and you press the brake, onlt friction and heat are going to get it out.

 

I had the same problem in the wet with my car. A set of Performance Friction pads (front) from Autozone made a world of difference. Braking action seemed only slightly worse in the rain after the pad swap.

 

This is absolutely right!!!

Guys what kinda brake maintenance have you done besides changing the pads and little crap. Flush the whole system, put some quality rotors and pads on and stop complaining. A 94's brake system is obviously outdated, but sufficient. What do you guys think...it rained less in 94 then it does in 2003? Maintain your brake system just as you maintain your oil and other fluids and you won't have an issue. If you've never flushed your system do you honestly think that it will be up to par being 10 years old. No, thats ludricrous. Like I said before, brakes are more of an issue in our cars when its really hot out and dry. The small rotors, calipers and fluid heat up too quickly and fade. Thats the real issue. I've driven newer cars that have worse brakes then my 94. My car stops on a dime in the rain. In fact every once in a while I get up to 60 or 65 and just mash them, because I'm so amazed at how fast it stops. ABS works great. The only thing that happens is the low trac light comes on (which is absolutely normal, BTW). Quality tires are 120% involved in stopping. If your tires are slipping then the ABS is compensating for the less traction and allowing you to push the pedal less. Its what it was designed to do.

 

I noticed this brake problem too with my stock setup. I have since switched to slotted rotors and EBC Greenstuff brake pads. Now, while still there, the wet braking problem has greatly been reduced.

I think it's simply a matter of water being on the braking system (pads, rotors, ect) and it takes a second to clear that off. I think the slotted rotor really helps by giving said water a channel to be evacuated.

 

My car HAS Autozone rotors and Performance Friction pads front and rear. In the rain, the car is downright dangerous.

Before the cam, my brakes were alright, but sucked in the rain. After the cam (now making less vaccum), they aren't very good in the dry, and are very dangerous in the rain. I'm talking push it to the floor for normal stops 1/2 the time.

I think I'm gonna try to bleed the system this week to see if that helps any. If I had the $$, my car wouldn't be sporting these brakes anymore (I'd be doing the C5 upgrade).

 

Mine is fine in the rain, sometimes if it rains hard and the rotors do happen to get wet, I have to apply the brakes a few times lightly to dry them off, which is a good idea anyway. Also, some of you are concentrating on the rear brakes. Don't worry about those very much because they only handle about 20% of the braking anyway. The fronts handle most of the braking.

 

ACTUALLY rich-

I asked this question a week or two ago from my boss (I'm a currious pissant huh around here

The reason is that the the wheel will lock easier and hence slower stopping-

why? yes the pad/rotor is wet- but thats not the real reason. a lot of the water will dry right off due to the insane heat they see. If your trying to stop in a puddle thats one thing but just on a road- there isn't much water on the rotor after a few rotations due to the pay tightening and brushing it off and the heat.

Real reason is that the road is "pushing" the tire. (thats what i got from it) With less friction on the road/tire surface, you have less rotor to pad friction before it will lock up.

There is a chart here from braking theory class (i cant go to the class because my boss thinks i'm a dumbass and its over my head )and it shows the max decel in g's vs road - tire friction coefficient.

Your max decel is DIRECTLY related to tire:road friction and i think the max total Force of friction is derived from the that frictional coefficent.


more to come... its early and might as well be monday. Im tired- too much offroading and hanigng out with escaped circus clows this weekend (pics in sig
some of this might be herecy so let me double check the info