Brakes don't grab when wet

No secret that it's been a little wet here in "sunny" Southern
California. Now I find that there is a fairly significant (maybe 1/2
second) lag when I apply my brakes in the rain. They just slip for a
beat and then seem to gradually grab. Not a long time, but geez, it's
the brakes! They work perfectly when dry.

I'm going to get them checked tomorrow when I get an oil change and
tire rotation, but the garage doesn't specialize in Miatae and I
wonder if there's something they might not know about them. It's a
stock '97 with 57K miles and I'm pretty sure there's still some meat
on the pads.

Thanks very much for any suggestions.

In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> Now I find that there is a fairly significant (maybe 1/2
> second) lag when I apply my brakes in the rain. They just slip for a
> beat and then seem to gradually grab. Not a long time, but geez, it's
> the brakes! They work perfectly when dry.

That's normal after driving on the highway in very heavy rain. I've
gotten into the habit of applying the brakes lightly every few miles to
keep them dry in that situation.

--
Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
'94C
the alignment page:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html

Now if this was a 99 or 2k model-- There is a revised backing (shield) plate
available (after a bunch of griping) that will help with this problem.
When my 99 was fairly new, I stopped at Mazdamart in Atlanta, and was
somewhat shiocked to find a fairly large number of 99s and 2ks with crunched
front ends. (The result of rear ending a car in front of the Miata.)
I later experienced a wet brake fade under more favorable conditions (no
accident or damage) Some research showed that the problem had first surfaced
in Europe, and a replacement front brake backing plate (or shield) was
available. Naturally the dealer and mazda customer service claimed to have
never heard of the problem or the revised shield. At first, after I found
the correct part number, I thought that I was going to have to pay for the
swap, even though the 99 was under warrenty. I was given the first name of
someone at Mazda customer relations, who was able to authorize the warrenty
replacement of the shield plates. Problem solved..


"Lanny Chambers" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Dave Smith > wrote:
>
>> Now I find that there is a fairly significant (maybe 1/2
>> second) lag when I apply my brakes in the rain. They just slip for a
>> beat and then seem to gradually grab. Not a long time, but geez, it's
>> the brakes! They work perfectly when dry.
>
> That's normal after driving on the highway in very heavy rain. I've
> gotten into the habit of applying the brakes lightly every few miles to
> keep them dry in that situation.
>
> --
> Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
> '94C
> the alignment page:
> http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html