How to clean brake calipers and hubs?

G

globemast

New member
Hello guys,



Is there any way i can clean built-up break dust from my brake calipers and the wheel hub? My brake calipers are painted silver with Hammerite's Smooth Silver paint.



The amount of built-up break dust is not excessive but it is enough to give the feeling that the whole wheel assembly is dirty even when the alloy wheels are gleaming.



Thank you.
 
I use a soft to medium tooth brush with the car wash soap that I am using on the car. If necessary, I will spritz the tooth brush with Simple Green for tough stains. I then use a sponge to wipe down the entire caliper as well as the inside of the rim. Finally, after chamoising the car, detailing the wheels, and dressing the tires, I QD my calipers to get them a quick shot. Sometimes, a light AIO is also needed with some Carnuba Moose topper...mine have been done for 2 years and still look great!

DSC00538-vi.jpg




My BMW calipers are maintained the same way, and this is my daily driver...no issues.

DSC01597-vi.jpg




I hope this helps.

~Darren
 
Yeah, brake cleaner followed by a paint cleaner/polish. The hubs might be all rusty though, so see if they need further attention (wire brushing, rust removal, painting, etc.) once you get them clean.



My painted calipers clean up just fine with normal wash solution/wheel cleaner, but every now and then I polish them like any other paint and apply a sealant that's supposed to hold up under high temps (BlackFire). Seems to work fine as the S8's black front calipers are still looking great (including the yellow inspector's mark from the initial assembly). The unpainted rears (maybe silver cad plated :nixweiss ) aren't quite new-looking, but they look good enough that I'm not doing anything else to them.



Once you do get things clean, IMO the big thing is clean them often so as to not let them get too bad again.
 
Dont use brake cleaner on Hammerite painted calipers it dulls the finish.



Autoglym Engine and Machine cleaner here with normal car wash soapy water and varirty of. brushes.



I also pained the hubs with hammerite to, so they clean up easily.
 
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