First time user so not sure how this all works out. I just bought a 2005 Z51. After driving it for about 900 miles I noticed a black dust on the wheel well fender, as well as the wheels. I'm assuming this is brake dust. Hard to believe that this is a common problem, but from what I read, it may be. What do people recommend to deal with this issue?

 

If you don't track your vette, a set of ceramic brake pads will fix it

 

Ditto what Seadawg told you ...

You will never totally get rid of the brake dust problem these cars have, but switching to ceramic pad will lesson it a pretty good amount.

Which brand of ceramic pads are the cleanest? ... I don't have a clue. I installed 'Hawk' ceramic pads on my 2011 GS. They still get the front wheels a little dirty after awhile, but still much cleaner than the OEM pads that came on the car when new.

 

Ceramic pads will be your easiest fix.

 

Welcome to the forum if your not tracking the car get some ceramic pads.

If you want a quality aftermarket pad I recommend the Carbotech 1521 pad. A low dust pad that is rotor friendly and performs like OEM if not better under thresh hold braking and last longer. 100% non-corrosive dust will not harm your paint or wheels. This pad also contains NRS technology. Carbotech uses NRS technology on all C4, C5, C6 & C7 front and rear brake pads.

Here is a link to explain further what NRS technology is exactly: http://www.nrsbrakes.com

If interested let me know I will be happy to help you.

Carbotech™ Bobcat 1521™ The Carbotech Bobcat 1521™ is our high performance street compound that is our most successful compound. The Bobcat compound is known for its awesome release and modulation, along with unmatched rotor friendliness. Like our AX™ & XP™ line of compounds, Bobcat 1521™ is a Ceramic based friction material offering minimal rotor damage and non-corrosive dust. Bobcat 1521™ offers outstanding performance, even when cold, low dusting and low noise with an excellent initial bite. This compound’s virtually perfect linear torque production provides incredible braking force without ABS intervention. Bobcat 1521™ operating range starts out at ambient and goes up to 900°F. Bobcat 1521™ is suitable for ALL street cars, perfect for your tow vehicle, police cruiser. The Bobcat 1521™ compound has been found to last two-three times longer than OE pads you can purchase at a dealership or national retailer. That’s one of the beauties of Carbotech Ceramic brake compounds. Bobcat 1521™ is NOT recommended for any track use.

 

I switched to Hawk ceramics and that was a mistake since they squealed. For daily driving, I switched to Auto Zone's Duralast Gold padlets and they do not squeak and dust is minimal. Went with Duralast Gold since numerous people on the Forum have recommended them.

 

Brake dust? Wipe your wheels with a rag. I mean, I can't for the life of me see why there are so many threads about this. The only thing I can think of is some owners are just too freaking lazy to clean their cars. There is no other possible reason to be so deathly afraid of brake dust. When I parked my car it's wiped down with a microfiber towel and detail spray.

 

I bought a California Wheel Duster. Works great and I can have all four of my wheels clean in a minute or two.

 

If I set a requirement upon myself to wipe it down with a microfiber towel and detail spray after every drive, the car would be driven even less than it currently is. Fact is, I drive mine and don't always have time. I do, however enjoy the car staying clean as possible and ceramic pads greatly reduce brake dust. Unless you are tracking the car or of the mindset of ultimate braking in any environment...why wouldn't you??? It's all about spending time behind the wheel.

 

Autozone has ceramic brake pads that do the trick and don't cost a fortune. Since it's for a vette everyone seems to think you should pay a lot! Compare different pads, it's ridiculous what some of them charge! There isn't that much difference and they all do the same thing.

 

Haven't had time yet since I bought the car.

 

If you have time to circle the car with a California Duster, then you have time to change the pads....


20 minutes max per wheel...and that's including beer time.

 

Duster takes less than 2 minutes. I'll worry about the pads when I buy new rotors and powder-coated calipers, which will be installed by a shop instead of doing it myself. Last time I did the job myself it took me two days of beating on a wrench with a sledge to break the bolts loose, and I had to replace the wrench when I got done. I don't have an air compressor, nor have anywhere to put it if I went out and bought one, so an impact wrench isn't an option.

 

It's not a question of being lazy... It's more of why it's there to begin with. None of my other cars seem to have this problem. I was a bit curious why the vette does. And there's just a little more than just the wheels. It's all over the wheel wells and fenders.


Anyway, sorry to ruin your day by asking this question. "For the life of me", I really don't understand why you would take the time to reply if it irritaed you so much to read about this topic. The other folks didn't seem to mind so much. Have a nice day Don !

 

The Z51 is a corvette that is advertise as track capable , track pads do produce dust. That being said GM has to put a pad on the car that can do track days. Your Car being an 05 who knows what pad is on the car...

 

I just went through the ceramic pad update and happy to have less dust. You can also look into having your wheels ceramic coated. Then they just spray of.

I won't miss the excess dust from the pads as I have black wheels and after one day of driving I'd turn my black wheels to brown.

 

Yep and haven't looked back since doing it almost 2 years ago with Duralast Gold pad-lets, but I understand that everyone has a different need so please yourself
They are NOT dustless thou, I don't think any are
NSF

 

[QUOTE=sjwellcome;1593234062]It's not a question of being lazy... It's more of why it's there to begin with. None of my other cars seem to have this problem. I was a bit curious why the vette does. And there's just a little more than just the wheels. It's all over the wheel wells and fenders.


wheel wells and fenders ? Normally just switching to ceramics would reduce not eliminate the dust problem, are you sure you don't have a frozen caliper problem, my Vette even with non-ceramic pads never had it on the wheel wells and fenders, something else here is going on.

 

Didn't mean to be so harsh, performance pads wear faster, the material has to go somewhere. Ceramic will give you less dust, but also less braking power than OE pads. (semi-metallic which I use,hardly any dust)

 

Learn to Down Shift more often,.. that helps..