[Cudos]

last night and early today we had about 12" of the white Shit , (snow for the layman) again with the f****ing snow. Anyways after driving through some deep snow for a while I returned home and parked her in the driveway. I then shoveled for about 45 minutes, then jumped into the car to back it up in order to shovel the front part of the driveway, well while idling back I pressed the brake pedal and had NONE, I had squishy brakes and no stopping power. I had to use the emerg. brake.

I pumped the brakes and went back and forth in the driveway a few times and everything seems normal again. I wonder if I had snow build up in the calipers, then it melted while sitting due to the warm engine , then froze in between the brake pads and rotors? Has anyone else experienced this concern with deep snow.

 

[swoop1156]

Man, that can be dangerous! We dont have the snow down here, and I've had no problems.

 

[bartman1]

I haven't had my Fusion in deep snow, only 4 to 6" so far (hopefully it's over for the year). Other cars have had brake freezing where shoes or pads freeze to the drums/discs when the hand brake is set while warm and the temperature drops. We try to avoid using the emergency brake in the winter because of that problem.

But it stands to reason that the rotors which get very hot would continue to melt any snow near them, and the calipers could collect melted snow which freezes.

I'll take note of your finding and be more careful testing the brakes before I take off in the snow in the future (perhaps if we're lucky not until next December).

 

[pegair]

In my previous car I noticed significantly reduced initial braking action when driving in the rain.

Scenario: After driving long enough for for the rotors to cool off and get wet and oily (I presume; this is only a guess) if I had to brake suddenly I would have initially almost no brakes at all. They would quickly (1-2 seconds) regain their grip, but the additional time was certainly frightening, and required driving with care (not deliberately putting yourself into a short brake scenario). It got to the point where I'ld tap the brakes a couple times when entering areas of traffic turmoil to get the calipers ready.

... so .. I say all this because I expect the Fusion could be worse since its calipers all the way around. Then again, maybe not, since a couple of my friends have reported no such experiences with their cars so .. YMMV .. as they say. :lol:

 

[Showtime]

The ABS is these cars are overly sensitive so it might have been that. I've almost wrecked my car several times this winter due to the ABS kicking in and not stopping the car. I've got a very good braking feel and the wheels where no where near lockup.

 

[captainhook]

I would guess that your braking issue is due to snow/ice build-up on the brakes. Wet or rusted rotors will lengthen your braking distance until the rotors are clean.

Did your pedal go to the floor or travel further then normal?

 

[Cudos]

I did have some pedal fade, not right to the floor but it was softer than normal. The brakes have returned to normal now so I'm guessing it was snow related. We'll have to wait and see if there any other reports of this happening. Good thing the emerg brake was so close and easy to grab otherwise I would have slid out into the street.

Cheers

 

[captainhook]

I know that mud ans snow can throw the balance of a wheel off, so I would imagine that ice/snow could do the same to a caliper/rotor too.

Hope that is the end to your troubles and everything remains safe.

 

[pegair]

Still trying to find a situation where I can test my ABS, and TCS (that does not invovle mud, and geting my car very dirty) .. wanna make sure they work.