Well, it’s pouring down rain today – it’s been pouring down rain all week – but I’m taking my car out anyway! I had made the mistake of taking my car to church yesterday during a break in the rain, and while I was at my meeting, it began to rain again. My car is now dirty from the ride home last night, so rain might actually clean it up a bit!
Thus far, I have pretty much avoided the rain because I have been learning how to drive my car. I’m now pretty comfortable with the car, so I thought it might be time to see how it handles in the rain. I can also try to figure out the front and rear wipers. From what I understand, they have a rain sensor element that varies the “swipes.”
Well, Yeah for Porsche; the wipers are indeed variable and wonderful, and the car handles like a dream… until the brakes get wet. I hydroplaned at one point, which really slowed the car down temporarily, but then the next time I tried to use the brakes, they sort of went “zwirr” and didn’t really stop so well.
I had had this “soft breaking” issue twice before: after cleaning the tires with orange oil, and the time I ran the car through a wash and wax cycle at the gas station. I had assumed that the brakes were temporarily malfunctioning back then because of some oil or wax that had gotten on the discs. In both cases, the problem went away after the second or third time I applied the brakes. Who knows, maybe there was oil in that puddle as well, but I think it was mostly water, and breaks really shouldn’t suffer because they’re wet. That’s what those holes in the discs are designed to do — make the brakes work when wet. This makes the car a little less safe to drive. Fortunately, I braked well ahead of time today so I was able to stop well before I hit anything.
I am now a little concerned. Maybe I should avoid the rain as much as possible, or learn how to maneuver with squishy breaks. And here I was concerned that the summer racing tires that are on the car might hydroplane at every opportunity, but I guess the two deep channels in the middle of the tread are sufficient to ward this off. I saw no degradation in the grip of the tires around the corners — the car still handles like a dream — It just doesn’t stop so well.