Rear Disks clog in Snow? (Please Help)

[jberg62]

The snow was great to mess around in this past weekend... at least 'til the plows took to the streets.
I thought my truck was slipping when I put my foot on the brake peddle, 'cause they were almost non-responsive.
I hoped in my Truck this afternoon and began to head out for work and noticed that my brakes felt the same as last night...non-responsive and giving me that slipping feeling.
Strange though, 'cause there wasn't any Snow or Ice on the area that I tried to stop in.
After I did come to a halt, I got out and took a look at my brake calipers (front and rear) and found that there was snow and ice build up between the brake pads and rotors from a previous jaunt through some fairly deep snow as I crossed a field to rescue a buddy of mine who wasn't able to get out to the main road and go to a store for some needed supplies.
I managed to clear the obstruction (ice) from between the brake pads and rotors, hopped back in and tested the brakes again and found that they once again worked great.
What I am wondering here is if anyone else with rear disk brakes has experienced this same thing while driving through the snow or mud?
What can be done; if anything,to prevent it from happening?
I was thinking of something like the front brake backing plates to keep some of the snow and ice outa there...though that wouldn't seem to be a bolt on type of option and I don't have access to a welder.
If anyone can let me know how to prevent this from happening again please let me know.
Yeah, not driving through the snow and ice wo0uld definitely prevent it but then what fun would that be /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Thanks for your ideas and solutions here.
Jim

 

[Bubba Ray Boudreaux]

About the only thing I could suggest is to warm the brakes up to keep the stuff melted. Kind of like what one does after running through the water to dry out the brakes.

 

[jberg62]

Hmmm...I actually just thought of something that I haven't done in a while and that is to manually apply the parking brake lever (on the rear Caddy Calipers) so that the brakes will adjust themselves.
I don't have a parking brake cable yet and I forgot to get under there and apply it by hand.
Maybe there was too much room in between the pads and calipers which allowed snow to get in there in the first place?
I'll have to adjust them in the morning along with taking some measurements for a parking brake cable.

 

[dyeager535]

More likely, they just weren't applying, or were applying so lightly they didn't build up any heat to melt it off/force it out of the way.

This is why you need to use the e-brake with the caddy calipers. So figure out a cable that will work for you! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Pookster]

heh. Mercedes Benz's acutally have sensors to detect snow/water on the discs... when it detects it, it "gently applies pressure" until its dry. Pretty cool eh?

Anyways, if I were you, I'd just drive around with the foot on the brake a little. Should dry it up.

 

[jberg62]

Thanks for your replies gentlemen. I will adjust them in the A.M. and am now almost positive that that's what caused my temporary dilema. It's all good now; I mean I could stop throughout the dau today after I cleared the snow/ice build-up outa the calipers. It was only the rear ones that were clogged up so the rotors very well may not have been heating up at all due to the light if not totally non-existant braking pressures exerted by the rear calipers.
Thanks again for your input /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif