brake dust help

B

bortass

New member
My wife's car has a few years of brake dust on the front wheels. Any recommendations on how to remove it? There's a link to the pic below since i can't figure out how to make the picture inline. Anyway the dark brown color in between the spokes of the hubcap is what I want to remove.

100_0461.JPG
 
Ok. I'll search around for a good wheel cleaner. I tried TW F21 on them with a brush before that pic was taken. I didn't have the time to scrub the wheel for 30 minutes or an hour since it's winter and I had 4 hours total to work with.
 
Have you tried Eagle 1 A2Z yet? My mom has a PT with chrome wheels and it proved to work pretty well.



If you want to order online, I stick by my Meguiar's Wheel Brightener.
 
Make sure you apply a sealant to the wheels after you spend all the time cleaning them up good. With properly cleaned and sealed wheels, you'll never have to use anything more than car wash soap in the future.
 
Next time you rotate the tires take the brake dust off the inside if the wheels. It sucks when you clean the wheels just to have brake dust come right back from the inside.
 
I just read a thread about Meguiar's Wheel Brightener with some pretty impressive before and after pictures. Search for the thread, but remember to dilute it.
 
I stand by my poorboy's S&R. Thought not as powerful as wheel brightener (though i havent used WB, so i cant personally say that truthfully, just from what ive seen), it has tackled so pretty serious wheels before. 3 year old rims that were hardly ever cleaned turned out looking brand new on a friend's parents car using just S&R with a spoke brush. If you do use the Poorboy's product, remember to apply it witht he wheel wet.
 
You know.. I must be getting a special version of all this wheel cleaner you guys use because it doesnt work worth a crap for me without running over every nook and cranny with a brush. I can use Wesley's Bleech White and do the same thing to rims I can using any other kind of rim cleaner.



Far as the whole "Sealing them and they're impenetrable!!!" statement, Ive been putting Collinite 476 on my rims and I cant tell it does squat for keeping them clean or making them any easier to clean in the future.



After buying my Mustang Saturday before last, I brought it home, cleaned it from top to bottom and sealed the rims with 476. 3 days later they looked like crap. Got the brush out, scrubbed them down again and 4 days later, crap. I broke down and bought some Kleen Wheels.



Kleen Wheels wasnt my first choice but Ive never had any luck keeping my rims clean on any car... my wife's Redline Vue being the only exception. I think rim design has a lot to do with it and the more intricate the rim is, the more places for crap to collect.
 
Sealants don't prevent the wheels from getting dirty. They make the brake dust and dirt easier to wash off.



And just to show what a totally-safe wheel cleaner like P21s is capable of...



P21S_and_Wheel-C.jpg




WheelAfter-C.jpg
 
And how much scrubbing did that take? Surely you didnt just spray it on and walk away. If you did, Im going to order a 55 gallon drum of that stuff.
 
JayC said:
And how much scrubbing did that take? Surely you didnt just spray it on and walk away. If you did, Im going to order a 55 gallon drum of that stuff.
Click to expand...



I would of liked to try PB S&R on those wheels.



Before I sold my Z06, I used to track it alot. PFC 01 race pads have the worst dust of any pad. I used PB S&R on the stock Z06 wheels after a w/e at the track. I would say that it got 95% of the dust off, inner barrels too.
 
Not all brake dust is created equal. Tracking a car for the weekend may create a lot of dust on the wheels but it's not like that baked on stuff that you get from having nasty wheels that get wet and heat cycled and wet and more dust added all through that process. That caked on stuff is tough to remove.
 
JayC - I spent about 5 minutes per wheel. You can see the firm sponge that I used in the first picture. This was with the liquid version too. The gel version is supposed to be stronger.
 
Okay but if you had to scrub it, what makes that stuff any better than anything else?



Thats the point Im making.. anything I spray on my wheels, if I go over them with a brush, they come clean.. doesnt matter what it is.. Well, I take that back.. Duragloss's general purpose rim cleaner might as well be bottle water. Least I'd have something to drink while I'm scrubbing the crap out of the rims trying to get them clean.



Ive tried a LOT of different cleaners and I just dont see where one is any better than the other and that includes using stuff not even made for rims like Wesley's Bleech White and Amazing Roll Off. Agitate it with a brush and the stuff comes off.
 
Well I do not want to sound like a smart a$$ but I would have considered investing in a set of better looking hubcaps (or alloys better yet)
 
JayC, I agree you usually have to rub the wheels a bit with a good wheel brush, but not scrub (lotsa labor!). Have you tried Poorboys Spray & Rinse? It's much stronger than the EO. I'm pretty close to you, if you want PM me I can send you a sample, just send me a bit for shipping at your convenience.



Poorboys S&R Review
 
Murat said:
Well I do not want to sound like a smart a$$ but I would have considered investing in a set of better looking hubcaps (or alloys better yet)
Click to expand...



The car's my wife's daily driver and neither one of us is that picky about what the hub caps look like, outside of looking like crap from the brake dust. Otherwise I'd probaly do that :)
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I have a couple options to persue regarding better wheel cleaners. I'll make sure to try before and after pics when I try to get them clean.
 
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