Extreme brake dust from hell

B

Bbasso

New member
I picked up some rims from a friend who used them for competition events, But he used some race brake pads that have left brake dust like I have never seen before.



The rims are I guess painted or powered coated from the factory. and I don't want to destroy the finish if possible.



I have used eagle one crome and wire cleaner and it does get dust off but incredible slow rate, it took three days to get them semi clean.

Anthing that might get it done faster ?
 
The A2Z wheel cleaner is very potent. You may want to try that if the wheels are in excellent shape (apart from the brake dust).
 
Have you tried the clay bar yet? I did some rims like that before..i tried everything.. Finally I broke an old piece of a clay bar off and keep giving it a ton of lube and eventually it all came off.
 
Use a good paint cleaner and scrub. A2Z is a very strong rim cleaner that might help you.
 
Bbasso said:
Here is a picture (the only one I have right now).....
Click to expand...

To answer your earlier question, A2Z wheel cleaner is made by Eagle One and is available almost anywhere (I got my last bottle at Wal-Mart). Try some of that (or another good wheel cleaner) first. You have to be careful with it also, don't leave it on very long and follow the instructions.



I've seen some members have very good luck with P21S Wheel Cleaner:



http://www.autopia-carcare.com/p21-105g.html



Here are some pics from White95Max of his results:



http://autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47874&highlight=p21s+wheel+cleaner
 
If you go the clay bar route, consider the clay a throw-away item so use an old bar if you have one.



I had pretty good luck removing some tough brake dust using 409 Pro (green stuff) and a green ScotchBrite pad. Just abrasive enough to remove the residue without scratching.



If the ScothBrite pad won't touch it you might want to try some 0000 steel wool on a small area & judge if it's damaging/marring the surface.
 
Don't underestimate the claybar. I used clay, with undiluted EFHI as a lube, to clean the *back* side of some rims that had *never* been cleaned before. They came out very nice. Took a very long time though, many hours per wheel, and many claybars.
 
I wonder if one of those steam shooter machines would work. Scunci or something. Might soften the brake dust enough to remove it. The only thing I'm thinking is whether it'd be too much heat for the clear?
 
After the claybar, you might also want to look into a polish/rc to finish up. I definitely wouldn't use it first, but when the rims are in good shape, the polish might work on anything leftover.
 
For badly soiled surfaces use an undiluted citrus-based APC (P21S Total Auto Wash), then use detailerâ€â„¢s clay followed by a gel-type wheel surface cleaner (P21S Wheel Cleaner) apply a polymer surface protection to ensure easier future cleaning (Klasse All-In-One)



JonM
 
I'll get a better pic of the uncleaned rims tonight, the amount of brake dust on them is something else. Like I said it is a racing brake pad and when that dust comes in contact with water it bonds like cement.
 
Bbasso said:
Way past clay bar help :(

Is A2Z a cleaner that is found at autozone or normal autopart stores?
Click to expand...





Yes, Autozone. I think Pepboys has it as well.





Another plan for radical wheel funk: Spray the cleaner and let it sit overnight. i've had good luck with this on Benz wheels that had never been cleaned. We were using P21S Gel cleaner.
 
I would try some Poorboys Wheel Cleaner, much better than A2Z, the PB removed the brakedust from my Acura rims and WRX rims better than I have ever used.



Good luck
 
I can't get pics of the dirty rims tonight.. I need to charge the camera :P



But I picked up Castrol all wheel cleaner and it worked well on the cleaner rear rim... I'll try it on the front wheel tomorrow.
 
These three pics were after soaking them in the castrol cleaner for 60 mins and brushing them...

dsc02570small0ez.jpg


dsc02569small8dn.jpg


dsc02568small4gi.jpg
 
If claying and normal wheel cleaner doesn't do the job, then I would look at using something like Klasse All-In-One.



I've had great results with this, removing baked-on brake dust from the wife's Passat wheels.



I know I'll get jumped on here, but NuFinish also does a good job. It seems to have some type of solvent in it that does a decent job cleaning. AIO is better, but NuFinish will do in a pinch.



To get something like that off is a little hard on the fingers (a lot of manual work involved) but it should come off eventually.



Good Luck.
 
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