Also you've got a lot a variables that can cause you to see steam at the car wash. Outside temp, water temp etc. Ever see steam when you breathe in cold weather?

 

It sounds normal if you put cold water on brake pads.

Also, do not go through ANY car wash. It is always better to wash your car at home. Those brushes in the car wash only slap your vehicle with crud leaving you with swirls, scratches etc.

 

The reason they are so hot is because they are tiny. At 262x21mm and only 12 pounds each, it doesn't take much to get these rotors very hot. After a stop, you're temporarily storing all the kinetic energy of the vehicle as thermal energy in some very small "storage" containers. (the rotors)

Now if you could install some Dodge Ram SRT-10 rotors, then you could probably touch them with your hands after a 5 minute drive! The SRT-10 rotors are 380x36mm and 40 pounds each. Of course, your acceleration would be even worse than it is and the ride and handling would be affected.

 

Only when my lung is dragging.

 

my Fit had the problem too, but...I was also mobbing the hell outta it.

 

I did an experiment yesterday, since the Fit was dirty and I ran out of time to wash it, since we had guests coming over for a BBQ. So I took it to the local (good) carwash. When the spray hit the front wheels, steam came billowing out.

I hereby declare this event - Normal!

 

I realize this thread is over 11 years old but as a guy who's done all his own work on many cars for over 55 years, nearly everyone in this long thread is missing the point here.

With only a casual easy five minute drive to the car wash on level roads with a small number of stops, there's no way the brakes should should be screaming hot and causing steam clouds to emit, no matter if a hot summer day in Phoenix or a cold winter day in Minneapolis. .

Almost certainly a caliper piston is hanging up. I'm especially tuned into this with my 2007 Fit Sport manual today making front end noise at highway speeds and smelling like hot brakes when it's parked. The passenger side wheel was much warmer than driver side. I jacked up and put it on jackstands. Start car and engage first leaving it at idle. Engine stalls. Can't spin RF wheel by hand in neutral. Only one thing could cause that- sticking caliper piston. Removed pass. fr. wheel, removed caliper bolt and swiveled it up and pulled the pads. One pad worn 2mm thinner than other. Used a C-clamp to push piston back in. Required a lot of force. Exercised the caliper several times with hand braking on the pedal, repeating push back w/ C-clamp. Noticed the rubber dust boot on the piston was cracked and had a chunk missing. Car has 224,000 miles so maybe I shouldn't complain. Bought a replacement dust boot with a caliper rebuild kit also containing the square cut piston seal and a bleeder dust cap for six bucks at Advance Auto.

Will now clean up the bore and the piston and replace dust boot and all should be good to go. The cracked boot has allowed road salt water to corrode the steel of the piston and caliper bore. My point being, learn how brakes work and do your homework when a problem like this comes up to figure out what's really going on rather than guess the car wash is to blame. .