Disc brakes are not adequately shielded from water while driving in the rain or snow, resulting in no braking effort for approximately the first two seconds of brake application. The brakes are fine in dry weather, but always catch me by surprise in the wet, when you step on the pedal nothing happens until the water is shed from the brake discs. Nlm
1997 Audi A4 brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Lack of stopping when brakes are wet. At 1000 mi replaced all pads with german spec oem pads. Wet braking problems neglable. Did not need to wash underware as often.
The a4, unlike all other cars I've ever owned, does not have 'splash shields' inboard of the front disc brake rotors. In the rain, this causes a quite alarming period, when the brakes are initially applied, of sheer terror, because the car is not stopping! This has been made a mandatory recall all across europe, and there, insurance companies won't cover you if you rear-end someone and don't have the shields on. I see no reason why audi won't also carry this to the us, until they get sued when someone gets killed because of it. Switching to gas-slotted brake rotors helps this situation, but does not eliminate it. Thanks, and I hope this gets taken care of before I hit someone! Oh, every single person with an a4 that I know has the same problem.
Very poor initial braking in wet conditions, ex. Rain or snow.
My 1997 audi a4 has experienced almost non braking in cold/wet conditions. When brakes are initially applied during these conditions there is almost zero braking for 50 feet at 35 MPH or less. I have come very close to rear ending a few cars that cut in front of you. I have contacted audi of america and there response was that no known poor braking condition exists when brakes are cold/wet. Yet there is a news bulletin on audi's own european web site indicating that there is a problem with brakes when wet. Also many readers on the www.a4.org web site here in the us have been complaining for a long time. I hope that you would please look into this matter as a fatality can exist in this case. I have owned many us/european/japanese vehicles and never experienced such poor wet braking!
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