Can you put water on hot brakes?

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asked Jun 10, 2020 in Other-Cars/Transportation by Cullum (300 points)
Can you put water on hot brakes?

1 Answer

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answered Jun 10, 2020 by MrMoonPie (10,680 points)
Putting water on hot brakes is not a good idea.

When you put water on hot brakes to cool them down the sudden shock from hot to cold from the cool water can cause the brake rotors or brake drums, brake pads etc to crack.

So by putting water on your hot brakes you will do more damage to them than just letting them cool down.

Brakes do get hot normally because they use friction to stop the vehicle and friction creates heat so it's normal to have hot brakes as long as they are not smelling really hot.

If the brakes are not glowing hot or smelling too hot then the brakes are just fine and simply allowing them to naturally and normally cool down will be good enough.

You only should put water on hot brakes if they are really glowing hot and you believe the vehicle will catch fire.

However since brake drums and brake rotors are made of metal they will not usually catch the vehicle on fire.

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