Drum brakes stronger when wet?

[metalmonkey47]

Well, maybe not WHEN wet, but after soaking them.

 

 

 

 

I had to drive through 2 1/2 feet of water today to get home (pic below) and experienced the obvious reduction in braking strength I expected to get out of them, since it's 4 wheel drum brakes.

 

 

I dryed 'em off by doing some hard quick stops to heat them up, and approached a light cautiously, hit the brakes, and noticed my braking strength had nearly tripled after going puddle jumping and drying off the brakes.

 

 

I thought this was VERY odd and I'm very curious about what may cause this. After putting about 10 miles on the truck, the braking strength was back to where it was when I got the truck. It's sufficient and I have no real complaints, but I figure this is an obvious sign that my brakes aren't working at their full potential.

 

 

 

 

[ggzilla]

Unusual. They may have been contiminated with dirt or something and the flooding got them clean.

[datzenmike]

Back in the '60 (god knows what they used for brake lining) my '64 Dodge was noticeably grabby when it was raining. So if you drove down town and the first tim you used your brakes they tended to lock very easy, but after a few tries they warmed up (or dried out) and were normal. I used to hold the brake on slightly for 1/2 a block while giving the gas.

 

Submerging them would cause a severe loss of braking but so will disc brakes but they recover much quicker because the pads squeegee the water off. Drum have to drain and are wet until you use them again.

[HRH]

I'd second contamination. Probably a whole shitload of brake dust that got flushed out with the water. And asbestos is still the best brake lining. Not good for you, but the best material. Surprisingly, you can still find asbestos brake linings in Canada! And there are a few other places. They're outlawed in the US, but not everywhere. Learned that from the brake rep at the last info session on brakes.

 

I now know more about brakes than I even thought possible amongst friction materials and whether the pads are adhesive or abrasive in the way they stop. (Two types of pad construction)