On my drive up to PA for my cousin's wedding, I'm moving up Rt 13 (the worlds most miserable road mind you) in the rain. My windshield has no rainx left on it, and my wipers are streaking. Not to mention I had a 18 wheeler next to me kicking up all sorts of spray on my car.

Well, I'm moving along and out of now where a truck carrying many tanks of gas (I'm assuming propane, helium, that kinda deal) is practically stopped in front of me. I saw no brake lights, no turn signal... NOTHING! I put on my brakes... and I get NOTHING. Wet braking is a biznitch, no doubt! I had 2 options... 1 rear end the dude and probably total my car, or 2 go off on the shoulder and try to get her stopped.

Naturally, I opt for option 2. My brakes are finally starting to grab, but not fast enough. To make things worse... the truck then turns in front of me to enter a driveway. Typical response from me "Ah fvck" To set the scene: The driveway had two 2-3 ft deep water runoff gulleys on each side of it.

With the truck now turning infront of me, I nolonger had my slowdown runway... so I had to dive towards the gulley, but not go in it. I skimmed the outside edge of the 1st gulley (while dragging my passenger side rear tire due to it locking up kinda... I think the antilocks were kicking in... but couldn't keep up with the slick grass/mud), weaved PAST the truck, and nailed the other corner of the 2nd gulley. I then proceeded to make a fast, sharp U turn in this lady's front lawn... making some real nasty ruts in her lawn. Mind you this all happened in less that 2 seconds... or so it felt. I got out of the car w/ engine still running (both feet in... didnt stall it =P), and damaged absolutely no body panels... only sprayed grass everywhere.

Trucker looks at me in awh, and asks if I'm ok. I made sure everyone was fine, then went to inspect the car. I could find no damage at all... though I did bottom it out on both sides of the car when hitting the edges of the gulleys. I talked to the owner of the house, and she said that as long as no one was hurt, she had no problems. I apologized profusely for the damage to her lawn, but she said it was only dirt so it was nothing to get too bent outta shape about.

Other than the fact that I probably needed a clean pair of shorts, I was fine... and was in complete shock of my ability to avoid an otherwise catestrophic accident. Guess that driving school and autox's paid off huh?

After crawling under the car yesterday I noticed that I did incurr a lil bit of damage to the car. I put 2 dents on each side of the underbelly of the car... and scarring the gel undercoating. Other than that, I have a small fields worth of grass under there. I'm gonna try to get it up on a lift tomorrow to double check everything and make sure nothing is leaking, and snap a few pix for you to look at. After letting the car sit for a day +, there was no fluids under the car... other than the typ water from the a/c condensor.

So chalk this one up for a close encounter that coulda/shoulda been avoided. Moral of story: pay more attention to what you're doing and drive according to the conditions. I've never experienced that kind of brake loss before... so I will have keep that in the back of my mind next time I'm on the road for a prolonged period of time in the soaking rain. All I know is that this lil accident woulda put a HUGE damper on my weekend, not to mention put me in a lil bit of a predicament considering I'm only 2 weeks away from closing on my house. This in turn would be putting me in a world of hurting financially... even more so that I will be after the 28th of oct ;)

Just thought I'd share with you all... hope ya enjoyed the story.

Also, do any of you know if I can buy the undercoating spray over the counter? After looking at the car I'm noticing that it's starting to show its age (9 yrs... dang!) and it's getting 'bout that time for the 'ol girl to have her underbelly revived... not to mention repair the small scars that the muddy/rocky ground inflicted on it.

Sounds like the lady was real cool about the lawn. That seems to be unusual now-adays...

You can buy spray undercoating over the counter but I don't know if it will be as good as the stuff that was on there. I used it on my old car when I had hit a curb and pushed the wheel up into the wheel well rubbing off the undercoating to bare metal. I primed and undercoated it and it remained to the day I got rid of it.

lawn before, so I wasn't really sure how to handle it =P

So undercoating spray at from an autozone? I'll look into it. I'm also gonna get a quote from the dealer to see what they will charge to get it refreshed. I know my dad had it done to his old 200

It's thick and tarry (is that a word?) and has a rough texture. I probably still have the can somewhere if you want the brand, etc....

If you have any info on it that'd be great. Thanks Michael!

i am going to copy the message and foward it to my wife so she can perhaps more understand the reasons for me going to the driving school which is NOW ON!!! but she is giving me grief about it..:(
Glad your ok once again wound not want to loose you!!!
WOW what a RIDE!!!

I'm trying to kill of the remainder of my blacks... not sure what kinda difference they woulda made, but I'm sure it woulda been a lil prettier than what actually happened.

I used the driving school excuse with my mom as well... she still didn't like it ;) They'll never understand unless they try it. I know a lady at the NEQ that went to her first event skeptical, and now ya can't get her NOT to go... that's how addicting the things are... oh, and you learn something too!

the govn't LIVES and BREATHES them...

Thanks for the help doc.

I doubt having the "blues" on would have dramatically changed things however that is an occurence where cross-drilled rotors truly shine. The problem is a solid rotor doesnt allow water to get out from under the pads when pressed against a rotor. It gets trapped there and becomes a friction-resistant layer that prevents pad-to-rotor contact. The water has to heat, boil, steam and then escape slowly... and if you let off then press the brakes again the entire process starts over. With a cross-drilled rotor it's gone instantly and any residual water escapes on the next set of holes under the pad and so on and so on. The difference is staggering on wet roads and thats when having them is a God-send.

If it's worth having them "just" for such an occurence I doubt anyone would. But they do prove themselves in so many other instances as well. And all that talk of cracking, crazing, breaking or other imagined issues... well thats just some people talking. I've run nothing but Zimmermans or Porshes for well over a decade and there's very few people harder on brakes than I am. I've never endured anything other than enhanced braking and an overall confidence-inspired benefit to them.

Besides doesnt anyone ever consider that if US drivers were suffering catastrophic failures of brakes due to cross-drilling or "cast-in" rotor holes than NHTSA and DOT would have something to say about their sale and use in this country or that they would have the "for off-road/racing use only" discalimer stmped on every pair sold!?!

Oh and "grooved" rotors arent even close in this instance.

that should never have happened with cross-drilled rotors! I always have brakes w/cross-drilled even in torrential downpours.

i had someone in the local audi club that told me to remove the guards before the track day that i should not have them on for the track i didnt know one way or the other and know your the MAN!!! thanks

i especially liked the "ah fvck" comment, heh heh heh.

I'm surprised that with cross-drilled rotors that you didn't get brake response sooner than you did... although I do understand that we're talking fractions of a second.

Living in the PacNW I switched to x/d rotors as soon as I could, and soulely for the improvement in wet weather braking. On solid rotors it would take 2-3 good full applications before I started getting slowdown, though now with the cross-drilled initially I still get hesitation but brake response will come at the bottom of the first application; and then I can just hold it there for slowdown. For me at least there's been a marked improvement, adding to the safety quotient of wet weather driving.

In any case thanks for sharing, and stay safe

check yah later

Good judgement and good reflexes saved you. ABS can be tricky on very slippery surfaces, and I really wish we could turn it off.

it is really easy to lock my wheels up now though with the pagid blue pads on once they are warm.. even got smoke last night by accident.. not wanting to create flat spots..oh pulled it out due to over active abs ..

Too much info there... :-P

I'd like to be able to switch the ABS on and off, but I don't know what would happen if my insurance company were to find out.

i got 18014 for an error code which is i think the abs controler along with 00597 which i cant find in the error code lists or 00532..? and when braking it is on even when not slipping.. i ahve alredy cleaned all 4 corners sensor wise..and no differance.. it started doing this every once in awhile and now with the abs fuses in it is constant.. :( what would insurance have to do with it?

Not sure what could cause your problem. Maybe an issue with an electronic component?

Insurance is of course an issue. If I alter the car it doesn't match the OEM specs. In case of ABS and brakes, we are talking about a safety issue. I am sure an insurance company can and probably will use this is a reason to claim breech of contract.

In most countries your registration will expire if you modify any existing part on the car, unless the modification is certified for use in that vehicle.

and like I said before, I never experienced it like that... it was really really weird, and disconcerting. I'll have to check the holes to make sure they're not caked up with brake dust or something to that extent (which isn't at all possible from the glen and autoxs). And my shields ARE intact, and not tampered with... so I'm kinda stumped. It's been doing it more and more, so I'm thinking that the holes in my rotors are plugged up.

btw, you don't know a good place to pick up undercoating that I can apply DIY style to clean up the underneath of the car do you?

Thanks Mance,

I personally like 3M but do have trouble finding it sometimes and other times its everywhere.

Seems to be directly related to "my" needs, ie; when I want it it's never available and when I dont, its abundant. Since I just bought/used some last week on my sub-frame repair I'd say your chances are good for finding it cuz I'm up to my eyeballs in it.

;-)

so for now i am absless if i had not paid $300 for the track event this weekend in Topeka ks i could get the parts maybee but now i am out of mod-repair money..

The ABS control unit is extremely sensitive to contaminated brake fluid. Not saying that's the cause or reason for your ABS control unit problem, but it might be a possibility.

would it be possible to take the control unit out of my mothers 99 2.8 a4 and put it in mine are they the same part? to see if that is actually what is the problem?

I'm sure you can find something locally.

What's your mum gonna do without ABS? :-P

problem before i go out and spend$400-$1000 on parts..:)
maybee take hers for the track event and put it back once i am finnished.. is the controler under the back seat? if you know that is.. i guess i can search some more too..

Found pumps and controllers in $200 to $300 range.
Appears trick will be determining which is sick.

When I mentioned the ABS control unit, I actually meant the ABS hydraulic unit in the engine compartment. My mistake!

200 TQ. That car used to accelerate when the abs kicked on in the snow. That car though had a switch to shut off the abs....

I'll post pix tomorrow ;) Not that there will be too much to look at... minus all the grass and what not.