Several Year Old Brake Dust ??

C

Crossed Flags

New member
This is my first post to this forum. There is quite a bit of knowledge on the forum. I have an automotive and marine detailing business out of Fairlawn, OH.





I just finished a detail of a 2000 Passat that had brake dust embedded into the corners of the wheels. My traditional brake cleaner would not even touch it, I had to resort to using 000 Steel wool with a polish. The dust would not come out of the corners and I was afraid to apply too much pressure and possibly harm the paint. This is not your normal everyday brake dust...this is old stuff that has been on for quite some time. The backspacing on the wheels was covered with road grime, grease and brake dust which took a stick of dynamite to remove.



Any ideas?



Jeff

Crossed Flags Detailing
 
Yeah, an acid will burn that stuff out, the HF (hydrofluoric acid) or ABF (ammonium biflouride) cleaners will work the best (there are some serious safety considerations with both of these; I personally don't use them but others here use them regularly). Other acid cleaners (phosphoric, hydrochloric, sulfuric, oxalic) may need some agitation to remove the brake dust. There will likely not be a perfect surface left as the brake dust will have etched into the wheel coating.
 
Hi Neighbor! I'm in Medina...

Clay bar or wheel brightener, if not it's probably etched in like others have said. Maybe go with a little stronger compound and rub it in with something more gentle then steel wool?
 
SHICKS said:
I have detailed the same car with the same exact situation. I used Meg's WB 100% and it still would not come out.
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But did it improve? It may be that the brake dust was removed but the wheel coating has been damaged. That has been my experience, but I don't have experience with the VW's.
 
Most baked on brake dust is permanently bonded to the surface, much like a powdercoated paint fiinsh. Using an acid based wheel cleaner and scrubbing ht ecorners with an old hard bristled toothbrush might help.
 
I've yet to find the wheel WB won't at least help. Just wear a mask when you use it; we've had a lot of conversations about that stuff and the bottom line is while it works, it's bad sauce for your lungs.
 
Thanks for the replies. The small amount of rubbing that I had done removed some paint. So it seems the stuff isn't coming off.



Jeff

Crossed Flags
 
Howdy! I work in Fairlawn and live in Akron!



You might want to use something more serious than the WB, maybe you want to try Poorboys Wheel Cleaner. It's pretty strong stuff, so be careful with it. it does not require scrubbing, but in your case, I would scrub. If you want to go on the safer side, P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner will do the job and you can leave it for up to 2 hours without worries. This one requires scrubbing no matter what. Hope it helps...



Joey
 
I use p21s gel on expensive rims, and any wheel that is not chrome or clearcoated. For nasty wheels, I use megs WB however I do NOT recommend p21s for very bad wheels.



The cleaning propeties of the p21s gel are next to nothing. It barely cleans more than car soap even when left to dwell (I let it dwell for 45 minutes once and still did very little). However, I will still continue to use it when I need the ultimate in safety, but it won't help your situation.





I would go with wheel brightener and then follow with clay.



And be careful with poorboys spay and rinse wheel cleaner, it is REALLY strong.
 
bigfoot said:
Howdy! I work in Fairlawn and live in Akron!



You might want to use something more serious than the WB, maybe you want to try Poorboys Wheel Cleaner. It's pretty strong stuff, so be careful with it. it does not require scrubbing, but in your case, I would scrub. If you want to go on the safer side, P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner will do the job and you can leave it for up to 2 hours without worries. This one requires scrubbing no matter what. Hope it helps...



Joey
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Have you used Meg's WB? It is some serious Sh!t. Gloves, mask and eye protection needed! Hydroflouric Acid!



Steve
 
SHICKS said:
Have you used Meg's WB? It is some serious Sh!t. Gloves, mask and eye protection needed! Hydroflouric Acid!



Steve
Click to expand...



No, I have not used WB, for some reason I thought it was milder than what it really is!Thanks for the info on it!:bigups
 
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