baked on brake dust - help

[JimD]

The other options may be easier or better but NuFinish scratch doctor is a mild abrasive I use for things like this. It will definitely not hurt anything.

I also now use ceramic pads. I am tired of all the brake dust.

[Sliver_Legend]

an iron remover. that ironx is good stuff. there are many out there. don't use oven cleaner.

[Gray_Panther]

My process is Sonax with wheel brushes. Then iron remover. Finally I take old t-shirts or socks and hit it with heavy compound.

After three years of doing this annual cleaning of the wheels, I just got sick of it and plasti-dipped the wheels black.

White looks great on a white car, but the cleaning maintenance is a nightmare for wheels, especially in the winter when the salt stains the brake dust orange.

[tracer bullet]

NIce. I'll just chime in with being careful what cleaners you use. I grabbed a random "wheel cleaner" off the shelf at an auto parts store, and it dulled the finish on them all. Lesson learned.

[tsk94]

IronX. Been using it on track wheels for a few years now and it works fantastic.

[Converted1]

I can highly recommend the armor all wheel protectant. It’s one of those products that you don’t expect to be as good as it is.

[ThatRWD]

Heavy duty easy off worked really well on my Apex wheels. Sprayed and after 30 seconds I scrubbed it off with a new clorox toilet wand. Will report back if I have any problems.

[fotontom]

If one’s color scheme is right, it might be a good idea to switch to black or anthracite wheels. For years I drove myself crazy looking for solutions to baked on dust for silver wheels. I had to go with 18’s to deal with the brake setup I wanted. Since the car is gray with black line trim, black wheels, which I was never a fan of, suddenly looked decent.

[WrathOTM]

FWIW I've been using Akebono euros on the front and they are surprisingly dust free. My rears are centric and holy hell the dust is an issue as they make my yellow calipers look like crap

[cerealwars]

Originally Posted by ThatRWD

Heavy duty easy off worked really well on my Apex wheels. Sprayed and after 30 seconds I scrubbed it off with a new clorox toilet wand. Will report back if I have any problems.

Glad this worked for you. I've used this on a few different wheels and while it certainly takes the brake dust off, sometimes it takes my paint too. Luckily the wheels I was using it on (1994 Lexus LS400 gray painted alloys) weren't worth much.

I'd recommend easy-off as a last resort, possibly try cutting it with water at first, and don't let it set forever. Quick on, quick scrub, quick rinse.

[bbnks2]

interesting. I recently tried the oven "easy off" heavy duty and it really didn't do much of anything at all compared to meguires wheel cleaner. It also left an oil on the wheels requiring and additional wash. Not sure how this gets so much praise as the solution to baked on brake dust. Only thing I've really found to work on the tough track deposits is manual scraping which scuffs up the paint, unfortunately.