When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Anyone else have problems with brake dust permanently staining their wheels? This is my first car with black wheels, but on two different brake compounds (Ferodo DS2500 and Hawk DTC-60), the spokes have been completely ruined with huge silver bands that line up perfectly with the calipers. Is this just a side effect of the big caliper positioned right by the spokes?
I have tried Iron-X and Sonax Wheel Cleaner Full Effect with no luck. The wheels are coated with Cquartz and the shop that did it said there's no way it will protect against 1000F brake dust -- they're guessing it's etching right into the paint.
Here are two photos after multiple attempts to clean them.
It definitely happens where rotor and/or pad material becomes embedded in the wheel paint. It seems that some pad compounds are better than others in this regards. And some don't like to get wet and then dry without being wiped off. I didn't search too much, but here are few threads which talk about it.
I can't tell for sure from the pictures, but are you talking about the silver lining right before the barrel of the wheel? From the pic it looks like the paint is gone and the substrate is showing through. Hard to tell from the picture though.
I also run ds2500 and 1.11(more 1.11's lately) on oem c5z wheels and haven't had this kind of issue. I did two track days in 90+ heat and ended up washing the car a little over a week after the event with regular soap and had no issues. Mine are also ceramic coated and that helps with the cleaning.
If you have a better picture, maybe I can get a better idea.
A possible future solution with replacement wheels--I had both my track and street wheels coated with Modesta BC-06 (http://www.modesta.co/products.html) that is supposed to protect the wheels from hot break dust up to 1300*F. So far running Ferodo DSUNO pads on track and Carbotech 1521's for street has worked fine.
I try to wash my wheels with a high power spray as soon as possible after a track event, especially if I have a long commute back to home.
I've heated up BMW M front rims at track so the paint gets tacky, then the dust kind of fuses into clear coat, I had to repaint mine, buffing compound,cleaners wouldn't touch it.
I can't tell for sure from the pictures, but are you talking about the silver lining right before the barrel of the wheel? From the pic it looks like the paint is gone and the substrate is showing through. Hard to tell from the picture though.
I also run ds2500 and 1.11(more 1.11's lately) on oem c5z wheels and haven't had this kind of issue. I did two track days in 90+ heat and ended up washing the car a little over a week after the event with regular soap and had no issues. Mine are also ceramic coated and that helps with the cleaning.
If you have a better picture, maybe I can get a better idea.
I am talking about the huge bands of silver on the spokes. Those are NOT reflections, the wheels are actually silver colored there now. It's right there in the photos.
The surface feels exactly the same, and no, the wheels are not getting wet after being exposed to the hot pad material.
Originally Posted by arturox2
A possible future solution with replacement wheels--I had both my track and street wheels coated with Modesta BC-06 (http://www.modesta.co/products.html) that is supposed to protect the wheels from hot break dust up to 1300*F. So far running Ferodo DSUNO pads on track and Carbotech 1521's for street has worked fine.
I try to wash my wheels with a high power spray as soon as possible after a track event, especially if I have a long commute back to home.
The wheels actually have the high-temp ceramic coating -- as do the calipers. I believe it is BC-06. The rest of the car has Cquartz, so I apologize for not being more specific in my first post.
I am talking about the huge bands of silver on the spokes. Those are NOT reflections, the wheels are actually silver colored there now. It's right there in the photos.
The surface feels exactly the same, and no, the wheels are not getting wet after being exposed to the hot pad material.
I'd be really surprised if brake dust made your wheels a significantly lighter color, given that most track pads produce pretty dark dust. Since it's localized to the area that passes closest to the caliper, it's more likely to be heat-soak related.
07-05-2018, 01:01 AM
Brake dust permanently staining wheels
