So it snowed for the first time this year in northern va and my car almost ran off onto the street past a stop sign. What happens is if theres snow under the wheels and I press the brake it locks up about halfway, theres a crunching noise and the car just slides away. I looked around and it seems pretty common for subarus with abs to do something like that except the brakes still work in the end. I don't have stock brakes in the front of my car so maybe that's causing some problems? Any ideas?

1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5rs
Wilwood Superlite 6 brakes in the front (disk and pads changed less then a year ago)
Stock brakes in the back
Brakes lock up only when driving on snow (nothing during cold/rain/ice)

 

hahahahahahahahaha

userious?

 

Are you sure they are locking up? It could be worn brake pads and the snow and salt it getting built up between the pads and rotor. So when you apply your brakes, you clamp down on the snow and salt, causing the crunch sound, but the pads don't get good contact with your rotors. Just a thought. Good luck.

 

The pads are pretty new and I checked them again after it happened. Thing is even if there's snow between the pad and rotor (roads arent salted) how long does it take before its gone from the friction. I hit the brake and the car wouldnt stop until I downshifted and pulled the e-brake.Luckily I was going around 10mph. Plus not a one time thing. Happened 3 times in less then a mile.

 

maybe its because ice/snow is slippery?

 

See..that's what I would have thought.

HEY OP...JUST FYI WHEN YOU DRIVE IN SNOW.

JUST 'CAUSE YOU HAVE OMGWTFBBQABS DOESN'T ALWAYS MEAN YOU'RE GOING TO STOP

 

Dude, it's an AWD Subaru, it'll pull him through ANYTHING.

 

Wow

 

I think there's some misunderstandings so heres the simple story
1.Driving on back roads around 10 mph
2.Push the brake but pedal doesn't even go down halfway
3.Car didn't skid, it just didn't stop

 

I had a similar problem like this, intermittently, on my Taurus SHO. Pedal would go about half way down, feel like it was hitting a cog (for lack of a better explanation,) and the brakes would cease to function.

I remember reading that it had something to do with the ABS actuator on that car.