Brakes and water (1 Viewer)

[relaxedcruiser]

Hi team,
this afternoon I explored one of our local backcountry valleys - of course there is a stream in it and the track crosses it many times. I would not call it fording , today it was up to the hubs at the deeper parts.
Enough to give the underbody a wash and definitely totally wet all the brakes. This is about 1.5 hours return of constant in and out of the stream...
So far so good - done that many times.
But why are my brakes so badly affected by this even when (I think) all the water has dried off - after half an hour driving on the highway ...including brakes being used on downhill streches of the road ?
Before - and I know well that the 60s brakes are average at best - they were actually really good, they had that 'biting'
feel of expotential rising brake force with only a bit increase of pedal pressure.
Now it is all gone...the pedal is rather soft - they also seem to fade heavily. Ok, the enclosed rear brakes will need longer to dry - and they would have also accumulated brake dust which could turn into a lubricating grime - but the front brakes should dry fairly fast and should anyway be responsible for about 70-80 % of the brake force anyway.
By the way - the stream water is cristal clear... It will be fine after an hour or two of highway driving...but why so long ?
Maybe my brake pads and shoes friction material is too cheap and acts like a sponge and lubricates the brakes ?
The picture is from todays trip - but as I was alone and didn't want to get my feet wet - I choosed not to park it in the deepest parts.
What are your experiences ?

 

[BlackCat]

Keep in mind typically brake pedal height is dictated by how well the rear drums are adjusted. Loosely adjusted rear shoes will give you a very low pedal.

Also, I ran into a nearly identical issue once doing nearly the exact same thing as you, but I was in my solid axle swapped Tacoma. A fun filled day of water crossings completely washed out the wheel bearings, allowing the wheels to have excessive play on the spindles. I lost nearly all braking power on my way home and eventually parked it and towed it later that afternoon.

 

[OSS]

The pads are contaminated.

 

[relaxedcruiser]

Thanks for your replies, I recently rebuild the rear brakes, payed much attention to the auto adjust system. They were perfect before getting wet.
I know that it will come right soon but it always puzzles me how long it takes.

The pads are contaminated.

I'll second this - but with what, bearing in mind that the water was just clear and they were at their best before ?

 

[OSS]

The water was clear before you drove in it

 

[BurntToast]

Maybe I’m out of the loop but cars and trucks get their brakes wet all the time without issue….

Is there a drum brake effect that is present? Seems odd

 

[White Stripe]

Maybe it's not the water but rather the offroading. Perhaps your wheel bearings loosened up.

 

[relaxedcruiser]

Thanks for your thoughts guys,
the water is reasonably fast flowing so it doesn't turn into a cloudy soup...and my wheel bearings are still good even though I had to negotiate on and around some boulders it was not hard offroading at all. I would be suprised and disappointed If I would get wheel bearing issues from that.
I'll report back after more road driving.

 

[Spike Strip]

 

[relaxedcruiser]

Update
Brakes getting better by the day and are almost as good as before - I know there is nothing wrong with the trucks technical setup like wheel bearing or the like. I'm still puzzled why it takes so long to get the brake performance as good as it possible can be. With the clear water - the only thing which happened is that the brake dust is washed away. Maybe it helps to make the pads/shoes bite better ..
Maybe its the pad material which just not as good. I will try a different pad brand next time.