Wet Brakes

[none]

Donald..........Isn't water a lubricant under these conditions, like driving
through a puddle? Also, wouldn't rapid cooling like that produce warpage of
discs.........Jim Davis
- -----Original Message-----
From: Donald W. Miller
To: gmcmotorhome
Date: Sunday, August 02, 1998 12:13 AM
Subject: GMC: Water Cooled Brakes

>This idea is so neat I wish I had thought of it.
>
>A Can-AM race team uses a windshield washer pump and a pair of nozzles to
>squirt some water on their front brakes to cool them. They use the same
>system on their Class A motor home when in hilly terrain.
>
>Turning a small amount of water to steam soaks up a lot of heat.
>
>Power for the pump is from the brake lights circuit through a dash switch.
>When dash switch and brake lights are both on, the pump squirts water on
>the brakes.
>
>Another thought is to use the 40 gallon fresh water pressure system with a
>solenoid valve controlled by the brake lights.
>
>May not be as good as six wheel disk brakes but certainly a lot less
>expensive.
>
>Anyone see any problems with the idea ?
>
>Don
>
>
>

 

[donald w. miller]

Jim .......

I learned a long time ago that Drum brakes don't work well when wet. It
really gets your attention when your brakes quit. Disk brakes on the
other hand seem to be more immune to being wet for some reason.

Aircraft disk brakes do work well on wet runways with puddles. Some are
mounted beside the tire where they are totally exposed instead of inside the
wheel. It looks like they get a lot of water splashed on them.

Regarding warpage, I don't know. Manufacturers don't appear to take any
pains to protect the disks from mud puddle splashes, rain, etc., do they?

This is an interesting concept and it was reported to work well. I hope
there will be others who can provide more information about how effective it
is or isn't.

Don

- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Davis
To: gmcmotorhome
Date: Monday, August 03, 1998 00:08
Subject: GMC: Wet Brakes

>Donald..........Isn't water a lubricant under these conditions, like
driving
>through a puddle? Also, wouldn't rapid cooling like that produce warpage of
>discs.........Jim Davis