I got my car washed today...did the touchless wash because it has a good underbody spray. It's chilly, something like 40 degrees today but that's as warm as it's gonna get so I took my little pony for a bath.

Everything was fine until I turned the corner to exit the wash bay...I put on the brakes and as I reached a full stop heard and felt a LOUD grinding noise coming from the front end. Almost as if something was caught under the car and I was dragging it and getting it caught around the front wheels...it also sounded like brakes do when you don't have your foot all the way down on the pedal and they make that slight grinding sound, only much louder.

The noise happened one more time after I released and depressed the brake pedal again to determine what was going on. But after that, it stopped altogether. WTF is this? Wet brakes that dried out? I never experienced this before and I washed the underbody countless times.

 

Anyone?

 

It's not uncommon for our rotors to get a slight amount of oxidation immediately after getting wet. The first few brake applications after this oxide develops can sound pretty bad but the pads will eventually clean them off. Don't sweat it if it went away.

Look at your rotors sometime after you've washed it and haven't driven it yet. You'll be surprised.

 

I believe i started a thread about my rotors being pockmarked with bright red rust after rain, so i know they can look like hell after getting wet. The noise hasn't replicated itself since but man oh man did they scream after the wash yesterday...sounded like the front end was coming apart!

 

Dont sweat it. Pretty common issue (non issue). Occasionally mine do it too. Although my braking distance increases quite a bit along with the noise. I always ride the brakes abit when I come out of the car wash.