I had an interesting experience last night with my brakes fading. I had been driving for a while in the POURING rain and came upon a HUGE puddle. I was only going 30 at the time and there wasn't a car in front of me to warn me of it so I hit it.It was actually pretty cool until I hit my brakes afterward and they hardly did anything. Then I slammed on the brakes and it still locked up the wheels but it didn't feel right at all. I warmed them back up and they worked fine. What happened, I have never had this happen before?

 

there is a chance that you warpped your rotor

 

I was really worried about that but today everything seams fine. A bunch of steam came up though when I went through the puddle. If you warp a rotor is that something you immediately notice or does it come up later?

 

the time it takes, really depends on how severe the case is. I wouldn't worry about it now, but pay attention to it just in case.

from my personal experience. you might be able to hear and feel the brakes "grabbing" and shudder when you step on the brake pedal.

in other cases, like on the highway the brakes will shimmy/pulsate when the brakes are applied.

 

Well I think I can pretty much explain this, but anyone should feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I doubt that you warped a rotor, the reason you couldn't stop was because when you went through the puddle water must have splashed up and got your brakes all wet. When you tried to stop you obviousy couldn't. The reason the steam came out was the water hitting your brakes. To stop a 3000lb vehicle the breaks will heat up and the water hitting them was cooling them off. After going through the puddle and hitting the breaks a few times the water then evaporated and hence your brakes worked fine. No damage was done.


-Ian

 

I'll second that....I've been running through puddles(RI roads suck) as long as I've been driving and never had a warping problem on any vehicle I've owned. I quess it could happen, but I bet it's not likely.