Commuting - Rim brakes working better when wet?

Brake pads on my beat-up commuter bike were worn quite a lot, so I decided to replace them with a set of some generic pads from my parts bin. The new pads still didn't work too well and I even started to regret changing them, but today I got caught up in a rain and whoa! The braking suddenly got much better. I always thought that rim brakes always work worse when wet, so this behavior really puzzles me. Anyone here had the same situation or did I buy some magical brake pads from a sprite? :eek:

Maybe the water and friction helped clean off some junk you had caked on your rims?

I hit the brakes in the rain a few days ago, and the first pull they chattered and grabbed like hell, surprising me. After that they worked normally.
They're Nashbar ones with replaceable pads. The front rim is a cheap POS that's pretty worn and scraped up (it chews through pads like it was lined with sandpaper).

Maybe the water and friction helped clean off some junk you had caked on your rims?
The rims look quite clean to me... And the braking was smooth, not like the pads were scratching dirt off the rim.

The rims look quite clean to me... And the braking was smooth, not like the pads were scratching dirt off the rim.

Deputyjones gave a good guess, so if he's wrong i'm stumped. I do know that brake performance depends on a variety of factors, though. Some rim brake pads really do work quite well when wet, and I think part of the trick is having a good match between rim and pads. I used some brake pads that said they were meant for allow rims on steel rims (I didn't even know at first) and it seemed to wear out the pads quicker and give worse performance, wet or dry, relative to the alloy rim I later used them on. Kool Stop salmon pads are designed to work well wet or dry, and they definitely do, but I (and others) have found them to give poor performance at maybe 97 deg. F. and hotter.

Kool Stop salmon pads are designed to work well wet or dry, and they definitely do, but I (and others) have found them to give poor performance at maybe 97 deg. F. and hotter.Always good to know. I'd been mulling the purchase of the Salmon pads and frankly I don't see many down here. Probably for that reason. I think I'll stick with the tried and true black Kool Stop carts I have in now.