Brake Dust Cleaning

[kenski]

Don't suppose anyone's come up with an efficient, wheel friendly way to clean brake dust out of those hard to reach places inside the rims?

I know there's that 'wonder wheels' product out there. Does it work if you dilute/spray it on?

-kenski

[c4koh]

Wonder Wheels is what I use, about every year. It works well in loosening up the caked-on brake dust, but I still need to use something abrasive (one of those kitchen scourers does me, or a toothbrush etc.) to scrub it off...

It's an acid, and pretty watered down anyway, so I use it neat...

[neilcharlton]

you can buy cans of compressed air from computer shops used to clean dust out of cases etc.. might be worth a try .

[te51cle]

I use good old-fashioned car wash/Fairy Liquid. For a brush I use a large bottle brush for reaching behind the spokes and a smaller one for getting between the front brake caliper and the wheel rim, a toothbrush to keep my red calipers reasonably clean, and a sponge cloth for the rest. Elsie's the best person to ask about car cleaning though, his is always well presented.

The best way of reducing the amount of brake dust in the first place is to change the stock pads for an aftermarket pad. I use EBC but Hawk pads are popular in the US.

[C5RagTop]

Thanks for your kind words Tristram (or were you taking the Michael??). I use a sponge with normal car wash in very warm water with a nylon fibre feather duster type thing on a stick for getting inside the front discs. I can just about get my hand between the rear disc and the rim (usually shed a lot of skin on the jagged edge of the disc but, hey, that's the price you pay and I've usually recovered in time for the next clean). Invariably I have to move the car a bit to get at the area behind the front calipers which I couldn't get to first time round. When the wheels are dry, I polish them with Amorall.

However I am toying with the idea of this stuff:

www.wheelwax.com/wax.html

You can get it from Demon Tweeks but I will wait until I go to the US next month. I'm no scientist and am not sure what to make of their explanation of positive and negative particles. Anyone got any views on this???

[c4koh]

That wheelwax looks pretty good stuff (if it does what it says on the tin!)... just bought a jar, and something else - an alloy wax which apparently ionizes the wheel in such a way to repel brake dust (duped again, probably )

£16.95 and £9.95 not too bad.

But anything that can reduce wheel scrubbing is worth it!!