So we started getting a bunch of snow around here today and unfortunately my cobalt is the only car I have so I have to drive it all winter. Anyway, I drove home in it just fine. Went to go back out to run into town about an hour later and noticed that my front brakes don't seem to be working at all. (I am indeed talking about the brembo's) I'd go to hit the brakes and would get less than stellar feedback in the pedal until the rear brakes nearly locked up and the ABS began kicking on to keep the rears from locking up. In addition the ESC that keeps the front from slipping around wasn't kicking on like it was supposed to either. I got home and look at it and my front rims were pretty packed up with snow so I used a heater to melt some of the snow out of the rims and haven't been back out since. Anyone else ever had anything like this happen to them. It's striking me as really strange and I'm not sure what would have caused it or what exactly to do about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

you are driving with stock tires on as well?

 

I have a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S on, stock size, stock rims.

 

is this on dry pavement or wet, snow or icy? Sounds kind of like you are sliding a lot and your wheels are full of snow and stuff. could be air in the brake lines as well, or so much snow packed in the caliper.

 

his brake pads got wet and it causes the fronts to slip. mines does this every time i wash the car and go out in the cold

 

I don't see how it could be air in the brake lines because I'd think that would affect how the rear brakes perform as well and they seem to work just fine. In addition, it doesn't matter what surface i'm on because i could tell only the rear brakes were grabbing when I pulled into the garage. I was previously driving through semi deep snow, and on packed snow, and icy roads.

BlackLsCoupe I think I know what kind of slip you're talking about but typically that goes away pretty quick for me when the rotors dry. When that happens I typically get 2 or 3 seconds of less than stellar brake performance until they dry and perform normally again. This is like that but worse, I looked at the rotors when I got out of the car and they were all dirty rather than clean and shiny like that would be if the brakes were actually functioning. Any ideas what I should do???

 

id go get the rotors turned. they may have rust built up. other than that im stumped.

 

if your rotors are rusty and even after braking, then your caliper isnt closing when pressed. You know you could have air in the line to each brake...each one has its own line. Thats why when bleeding you do each brake. If you have ice and crap jammed in the brake piston it could be making it not close....

 

did you try pushin the brake pedals?
j/k

 

Well, I'm not sure what the issue was.... probably snow and ice to be honest because they started working again. I parked it in a heated garage over night and melted all of the snow off of it and they work just fine now. Somewhat worrying though that they did stop working though.

 

this^ everytime my car gets wet my brembos go to **** an i struggle to stop the car
spray your car down then go drive and youll see that the brembos fade when wet

 

I've noticed that, I'm thinking when I need new brakes I'll pick up the stock rotors and have my dad drill them since he runs a machine shop. That would help with the fade when wet issue i'd think.

 

please do not drill the rotors...

 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a noob... so in an effort to become less of a noob, why is this a bad idea? The stock rotors too soft to handle this or something?

 

No it just has no benefit on a street car.

 

So I wouldn't see a difference when the brakes are wet? Currently they seem to be significantly worse when they're wet.

 

Drilling rotors for street will put stress and cause cracks from the heat. you could do slotted or dimpled but dont drill. But the stock rotors are amazing...so maybe get slotted/dimpled rotors JUST for winter.

 

if they are packed with snow your stopping distance is going to decrease, are traction control is really aggressive as well so when i drove in the snow last i turned it off the esc was still one but the traction was off it was kicking in too early and almost caused me to stall a few times

 

This happens to me every time it rains. The brakes get wet real easily. I've gotten in to the habit of lightly pressing the brakes from time-to-time to dry them out.

I did notice, yesterday I got on the brakes really hard, and while they brought the car to a complete stop I failed to induce the ABS and the brakes didn't feel that good... It does feel as if I may have air in the brake lines, but I've never done anything to my brakes. Is it possible they weren't bled correctly from the factory?

 

I dunno, I recently had to replace a rear caliper on mine and had to bleed the rear line on that side and it didn't really have any air in it even after having been disconnected and reattached. So I'm thinking since that part was good the rest of it is probably good too. What I wonder is what would have happened if you'd braked really hard again right after having done it the first time and if it'd been a lot better. Typically mine are terrible the first time then after they've dried up they'll be good for a while. I really don't see why drilled or slotted rotors would be so bad. It seems to me that it would really clear up this issue but then again i'm not as mechanically inclined as some of the people who have posted earlier on this thread.