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Frozen brakes

4K views 35 replies 10 participants last post by  R32REG 
#1 ·
Is it common in the winter for the brakes to freeze over night on these?....mine seems to do it pretty frequent, and more so if im traveling in snow before stopping for the night
 
#3 ·
go to drive off...resistance followed by a snap as they break free
 
#5 ·
im wondering if its the 18 inch rim design or something....i know i was traveling in 2-2.5 feet of snow on the way to work one day and let it sit after a few hours while at work and it froze so bad it wouldnt move until i took traction control off......most the time it is just a little resistance and snap and away you go. Just wondering if its common, seems it does it frequent, maybe its the moisture and weather we have in my area
 
#6 ·
I've had my tires freeze to the ground before, maybe that's what you're feeling? Stuff frozen inside the rim?

Unless that wet disk brake wiping feature is acting up ie. applying the brakes momentarily when you first take off? I do have a sticky front left caliper, and I do get some creaking in the morning (I guess until the brakes warm up a bit), but not consistent with cold weather.
 
#7 ·
no it is not tire freeze or stuff in the rim it is very clearly caliper freezing.....never heard of disc wipe feature and im sure mine doesnt have it
 
#9 ·
interesting learn something new every day....it may be but i think its snow melting and freezing on the brakes
 
#11 ·
lol no...i put 40k on a year, its lucky to sit still for 12 hrs
 
#14 ·
it is far to cold for rust...even if it did lightly rust which isnt the case...it would not be enough to hold the car and need added throttle to break free
 
#17 ·
My guess is you have an issue with the electronic parking brake. If it's sticky it'll resist movement and you'll sometimes get a loud noise if it disengages.

Never heard of nor experienced frozen ice on rotors. The only brake things deep snow messes up is the abs gadgetry, so you may get a stability system warning.
 
#21 ·
I've experienced frozen brakes on pretty much every car I've ever owned. It even happened on my T2 yesterday. You park the car in snowy conditions, the brakes are hot, snow melts and runs down onto rotors, calipers and pads, everything cools and freezes. It's as simple as that. No need to overthink it. Rust will not do this unless it was allowed to rust for a long, long time. And even then it would likely just squeal or grind until the rust is worn off.
 
#22 ·
Yea, but when you park your car, your brakes are not on.

So your saying that the pads freeze to rotor. Or the ice bridge from pads to rotors, enough to have to "snap away". Or a whole bunch of shush melts and falls on your brakes, coat everything and refreeze.

It's not like fresh clean water that freeze @32 compared to the slop on the road that freeze at less.

Answer": Clean wheel wells before parking.

I never had brake freeze due to water EXCEPT rear drums filled with water. No drums for long time.
 
#24 ·
Well, I've never pulled the wheels to see exactly what's going on in there, but when the ambient is -20°C or colder, any moisture on the pads, rotors or in between will freeze nearly instantly. Probably a "ridge" of ice on the rotor.

Cleaning the wheel wells doesn't help. Besides, everything freezes solid in the wheel well at those temperatures. It's a block of ice. The only way to remove it is to hot pressure wash or park in a heated garage.

I already clean out the back of my wheels as I get balance problems if I don't.
 
#27 ·
What wheels and what size are you running? Factory or not?

A set of 17 inch factory wheels would be the least likely to do this. Not a lot of room for slush buildup inside of them. The larger the wheel, the more room for snow to collect, the more likely this problem.
 
#28 ·
I'm running 20" Ayers Rock for winter. They came with the car. I wanted 18" wheels for winter, and may go this route when the current ones wear out. But the 20" Ayers Rock wheels look so nice.

I know 20" is not ideal for winter, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how well they have performed so far (even though the tires are Michelin).
 
#29 ·
Try to find a set of 17 inch rims for some winter tires.

And keep the 20 inch tires for the rest of the year.

The compromise would be to run 18 inch all year.
 
#30 ·
I have another set of 20" aftermarket that I run in the summer. These also came with the car.
 

Attachments

#32 ·
Why not?
 
#33 ·
because i dont feel the need to
 
#34 ·
Why do you think your car has a PARKING brake? Relying on a small steel pin in the auto box to hold a 2 ton car wasn't quite what VW intended for their owners!
 
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