2001 Cadillac Catera Owners Manual - Files

CAUTION:Wet brakes can cause accidents. They won’t workas well in a quick stop and may cause pulling toone side. You could lose control of the vehicle.After driving through a large puddle of water ora car wash, apply your brake pedal lightly untilyour brakes work normally.Driving too fast through large water puddles or evengoing through some car washes can cause problems, too.The water may affect your brakes. Try to avoid puddles.But if you can’t, try to slow down before you hit them.HydroplaningHydroplaning is dangerous. So much water can build upunder your tires that they can actually ride on the water.This can happen if the road is wet enough and you’regoing fast enough. When your vehicle is hydroplaning,it has little or no contact with the road.Hydroplaning doesn’t happen often. But it can if yourtires do not have much tread or if the pressure in one ormore is low. It can happen if a lot of water is standing onthe road. If you can see reflections from trees, telephonepoles or other vehicles, and raindrops “dimple” thewater’s surface, there could be hydroplaning.Hydroplaning usually happens at higher speeds.There just isn’t a hard and fast rule about hydroplaning.The best advice is to slow down when it is raining.4-19