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2000 Passat - Stock pads and poor brake response in rain

When it's raining out and especially when on the expressway where I'm not using the brakes often, I have noticed that my wife's Passat has some pretty severe lag between actuating the brakes and when they actually start to be efficient. It's enough to be sort of unsafe, IMHO.

I've noticed this behavior on all the cars I've ever had to some degree or another. My present ride is an early 90s Honda, and it really doesn't do this much at all. Even so, on other cars I've noticed this as being fairly linear (meaning the brakes have the same feel/response, but just need more effort) and it has always been mild, to moderate, and not scary.

On her car, it is severe. If I'm cruising along for awhile, and hit the brakes, there is essentially NO BRAKING ACTION for about 1 second, and then for the next 1 1/2 - 2 seconds it quickly returns to normal braking efficiency. In fact, a side effect of this is that in that following second, it returns to normal braking drastically enough to slip a wheel (in the rain, sic) if you're not paying attention!

I feel the brakes are in good working order. It never pulls to one side, pads were replaced about 6 months ago (was same before this, and this is the second set of pads), calipers are free, and fluid's been flushed every

2 years. I think this is a function of the rotor material, and even more so, the pad material. Both sets of pads have been OEM.

Assuming I'm not the only one, what pads would you recommend to try to alleviate this problem? I don't want to run pads that will squeal, and I don't want to chew up my rotors, so no racing stuff I guess. Maybe just something a little more aggressive? I'm hoping that folks have some suggestions I can try for the next pad replacement.

Thanks, Arthur

P.S. It's the 4-motion sedan, so it's the 5-speed tiptronic, and the 90deg V6 engine, if that matters.

Reply to
Arthur Russell
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I found upgrading to drilled rotors worked quite well for evacuating water, slotted would do the same thing (maybe even better)... It also makes the brakes less fade prone in city driving, especially with heavier loads... Combine these rotors with a good quality pad, and you'll never want to go back.

I have Zimmerman cross drilled disks, and PBR pads... Now, all this on a stock Golf TDI, not a fast car, don't drive it super hard or anything... But I noticed the same thing you did with water, and who couldn't use a bit of extra braking power? It's a definate safety feature, and why not, it's only a little more money when you have to buy new brakes anyways.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Rain, water, and brakes don't mix on any car but you have several choices.

1- apply the brakes every so often to clean the water off them and warm things up. 2-installing performance rotors such as cross-drilled or slotted units.
Reply to
Woodchuck

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

wrote

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

Definately... Cross drilled rotors, and pads that work a little better when they get warmed up - best descision EVER, and my driving is 70% city, 20% country back roads, and maybe 10% highway (with the exception of the yearly road trip or something).

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll do this.

Does anyone have additional brand/model recommendations (first hand knowledge would be preferred!) for either slotted or cross drilled rotors?

Rob recommended Zimmerman cross drilled rotors. What else is readily available for not too much $$$, and that fits with no mods?

Thanks in advance, Arthur

Reply to
Arthur Russell

Check out ClubB5 for a group buy on drilled/slotted rotors.

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Reply to
StyxNStones®

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