Welcome to the Cadillac V-Series Forums!

Brake Pad Stick / Seize

strohw

Seasoned Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2021
Messages
435
Location
Michigan
V-Series Cadillac(s)?
CT4-BW
I've been meaning to make a post about this for awhile now. How badly are your guys brake pads sticking to the rotors after you park the car wet?

I've had this happen in the past with certain pads to some degree but this car is far worse than anything I've experienced. If I park the car and the pads are wet then the next morning it takes quite a bit of effort to break the pads free. It can take as much as 2-2.5k rpm and multiple lurching reverse attempts for them to free up. After they do they leave an imprint of pad material on the disc. If this was all I'd probably just ignore it but that's not the case. Eventually over the months of this happening the car will develop brake judder as the material doesn't come off. I've been unsuccessful in using successive aggressive stop technique to clean up the material. What has worked every time so far is a track day. After a track day the rotors are fine for a few months and then it gets worse again.

I'm bringing this up now because it snowed yesterday and I put the car away wet and of course it did it this morning. Considering how often I put the car away wet in the winter I know I'll probably have some terrible brake judder within the next couple of months.
 
Absolutely not right, take the car to the dealer for repair. Bring some video of the problem if you can or plan to have the dealership keep it overnight so they can test the conditions you mentioned. I wouldn't take the car back until the issue is fixed.
 
Totally agree. Far worse than every other car I’ve owned. Wife made fun of me for wasting time giving it a quick drive around the neighborhood after washing it to prevent this. The next wash, I took her “advice” to put it in garage without a drive and literally ended up spinning rear wheels the next time I used it. It wouldn’t move until the rear started to slide sideways which broke one front caliper loose and I was off. Fortunately I was backed into the garage. First and last time doing a line-lock burnout out of the house.
 
I have had the brake pads stick on my 4BW on the morning after a wash, but not to the extreme amount you guys are describing. I see that you are both in Michigan... were the pads seizing before the cold weather and the roads started getting salted, or is it coinciding with cold weather/road salt use?
 
My experience has been that the worst cases are with washing and direct water flow into the caliper/pad area. Driving in rain, slush, and snow has caused some minor sticking. The longer the car sits with wet brakes the problem obviously gets worse. To the extent that a clear pad imprint on the rotor can be seen and felt in the pedal if left more than a day or so. Track days and/or rebedding has worked for mine so far.
 
Wondering if the lines need to be re-bled? Possible they're over pressured? Not sure if thats a thing?
 
Totally agree. Far worse than every other car I’ve owned. Wife made fun of me for wasting time giving it a quick drive around the neighborhood after washing it to prevent this.

Do they still grab if you do this? I've tried driving the car after hand washing it up to a couple of miles but it still does it, just not as aggressively.

I have had the brake pads stick on my 4BW on the morning after a wash, but not to the extreme amount you guys are describing. I see that you are both in Michigan... were the pads seizing before the cold weather and the roads started getting salted, or is it coinciding with cold weather/road salt use?

Mine has always done this. If go home tonight and just spray some water out of a squirt bottle on the pads, it will stick tomorrow morning.
 
A short (1-2mile) drive at neighborhood speeds minimizes but does not eliminate. I think they need the heat generated from a longer, higher speed drying session to truly solve. Problem is, who wants to go drive and brake hard when you just scrubbed the brake dust off your wheels.

I might try compressed air to blow out the area in combination with a short drive next wash.
 
It helps if you do not use the parking brake after a wash, wet, etc, just use park. I've experienced the same on all my high performance cars with these types of brakes. I honestly consider this normal, but then again, mine is a garage queen when it can be. My 2019 Audi A7 (not really a performance car) did it all the time as well. If you use the parking brake, it's way worse to break them loose.
 
This happened to my CT4 BW every time I would wash the car, until I took it for enough of a ride to totally dry the wheels and brakes afterwards.
 
I have never experienced this, but I use air to dry my car and wheels...... I have driven my 4 in the rain but again, never had a brake problem...
 
The more I think about it, I recall this happening in my SS as well as my Evo. Common factor of all? Brembo's.
 
I always take a quick spin around the block after washing car just to eliminate the rust that builds up after spraying wheels with powerwasher.
I am amazed at how much and how fast rust materializes after wetting.
 
Ordered a set of cheap series z26 Powerstop pads to try out. If they take care of the issue then I'll just do pad swaps for track days.
 
I'm in Michigan as well. This happened to me the other day after the first snow and the car sat in the garage overnight. I reversed and it felt like the parking brake was on (it wasn't). Took 2000+ rpm to break it free in reverse. Never had this happened before on any car I've had.
 
This is normal on these brakes, do not let the car sit after a wash, drive it a few brake applies (believe its in owners manual too). For the folks driving in winter, try to blow out water between rotor and pads with a dry blower. Even more important get the snow between wheel and caliper out with a wheel brush. If you let that freeze and go drive, it will cut the rim when it jams between caliper and wheel, this happens on any vehicle if enough snow is jammed there. I have owned track brake cars since 2005 and winters get rough if you let them sit, remeber doing 3k dumps to break them loose.
 
Wanted to bump because California has been getting "severe" rain and just experienced this occurrence this morning leaving for work, hopefully this thread will help others.
 
The more I think about it, I recall this happening in my SS as well as my Evo. Common factor of all? Brembo's.

Had a similar issue with my SS on the stock Brembos as well any time after rain or cold weather. Steep driveway precluded me from leaving it in gear. Every time I moved it off the parking break there was a very loud, "thunk" noise as they broke loose.
 
Ordered a set of cheap series z26 Powerstop pads to try out. If they take care of the issue then I'll just do pad swaps for track days.
Curious if the z26 pads are working to minimize this wet weather rust/seize situation. Any better?
 
If the stock brake pads are suitable for track day use(which they are, from what I've gathered) then they probably have a higher amount of porous metal within the compound. The dissimilar metals from the iron rotor and the pads themselves cause surface rust which could form a weak bond between the pad and rotor surface with water and moisture present. This will happen with aftermarket metallic and semi-metallic track pads as well. Any 'track ready' car worth its price will have metallic stock pads like these and it is very normal for the pad to stick to the rotor after being parked in the wet and/or humid conditions. My Veloster N(also another track ready car) with stock pads does this. And my previous cars with aftermarket track pads also do this. Completely normal, and is a compromise when buying track ready cars.
 

Win 2 Supercharged Cadillacs!

Win both supercharged Cadillac Vs!

Supporting Vendors

Delaware Cadillac

Exhibitions of Speed

Signature Wheels

Taput Tunning LLC

V-Series Marketplace

Advertise with the Cadillac V-Net!

Torque Shop

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom