Drove from Portsmouth to Newcastle yesterday in my Octy VRS. Had been going for a couple of hours when i had to brake heavily in the outside lane. But, as i stood on the pedal, little happened. The car did slow but nowhere near as good as it should. Felt as if i had no servo assistance. But after this happened the brakes worked fine again, for a while. A while later i had to brake sharp again and, guess what, same happened again. Not good. I get in it this morning, drive to the end of the street and nearly overshoot the junction. It's wierd. Once the brakes have been pumped they seem ok, but this doesn't fill me with confidence. This car normally has fantastic brakes but at the moment it dangerous. I have looked at brake recalls on this site but my car doesn't seem to be affected. Car details are Aug '03 Octy VRS 5.5K.

I understand this will be covered by warranty but has anyone had anything similar happen.

Cheers, Phil.

Havent there been few cases of split brake servo hoses before?

Anyone have any gen?

yes brake servo pipes spliting could be a cause as ross stated. have you had any work done recently?

ade

Phil, it's a known fact that water and salt on the brakes can cause this. Had this on mine this morning on the m60. You need to keep dabbing them every couple of miles when the roads are heavily salted and it's raining heavily. Once the rain has washed the salt away they will be fine. Think it's bad in a car, try it on a bike.

Haven't had any work done.

If this is normal then i think its really bad. I'm not too happy if this is going to be classed as "normal". Will contact the dealer and see what they say.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?t=659&highlight=brakes+water

Phil, read the above thread.

Cars have come a long way in recent times but they can't beat the elements of nature. Maybe it is a design fault or just the price you pay for having oversized brakes and fancy alloy wheels, but either way, any car with exposed disks will suffer like this.

It's like having slick tyres on a wet track, and same goes for normal disks when wet.

The answer is tyres with groves to displace the water, so I guess the same theory can be applied to wet disks.

had same problem was wondering would drilled / grooved disk help get rid of the water

Cheers for the replies. I've read the link and that does appear to be the problem i am having. I am really surprised by this. I suppose i will just have to bare this in mind in bad conditions. But i still think its bad enough to be dangerous.

Personally, i think people are expecting a bit too much from their brakes in bad weather. Doesn't the Highway Code still tell you to test your brakes after driving thru water?

Folks, for info my bike has drilled disks and it certainly helps, but is doesn