RecklessOp

I have a Z51 with factory pads, black factory wheels. It's a given after a trip to the store or work and back, or more like backing out of the driveway for 10 seconds, that I'll have some dust already. I typically will let it go for maybe 2-4 days or a few drives before a good wipe down, but never more than a week will go by before I'll clean them.

I hear people mention how brake dust left to build up will pit or deteriorate the paint on the rims, but I honestly have no idea what my cleaning routine should be to prevent this. Is it weeks and months of dust left to pile up that causes damage, or is it likely with just a little bit in a short time? I've never had a car with painted wheels before so I'm unsure of how OCD I should be about caring for them.

SilverGhost

Be 100% OCD. rust never sleeps. or buy ceramic pads for the car. 2000 miles since install. perfect stopping. 3 weeks (600+ miles) now without a wash and just a lil tan road dust on the wheels from driving, not black brembo corrosive brake dust.

All right gentlemen, pull out your rulers for which ceramic pads are best, I'll start with my Powerstop Z26 Extreme performance, absolutely (next) to the cheapest. The cheapest is Powerstops Z23. But hey, my vette is worth the splurge

Next OCD worry, paint chips on the black painted wheels. Worry never sleeps.

Billy346

JerryU

My 2014 C7 (as well as my Grand Sport) are DDs. I live 17 miles from town so depending on what I'm doing typically a ~50 mile round trip. They looked bad after a week so I was cleaning the of the dust and found t was pitting on my black wheels. I lived ~6 months with cleaning about every two trips. Stupid! Finally bought Carbotech 1521 ceramic street pads. 85% less dust and what is there does NOT pit the wheels. Wash the wheels when I wash the car! It's an easy DIY job to change. Another high quality pad is made by Hawk and they cost about the same as Carbotech and several times what you can buy from China.

Tred the Chinese pads because of price and installed when I got the Grand Sport home! Removed after 900 miles mostly for a unique stopping requirement I have which is an aggressive stop with cold pads soon after I leave the house.

Details of what I found and how easy it is to change are in this pic/text PDF: http://netwelding.com/Ceramic_Pads.pdf

JerryU

Unrelated to brake dust, rocks caused marks in the GM heavy plastic rocker panel "protection" soon after I got my 2014 C7 and caused me to add side skirts.

DETAILS:
Having had rock related "ding issues" with rocker panels and the panel behind the rear wheels in my '88 and '93 Vettes, for my C6 Z51 I bought aftermarket contoured painted splash guards that looked fine and worked great. Before the C7 arrived I bought the GM splash guards and installed them as soon as I got the car home. However in our rural area the heavy GM rocker panel "protection" was quickly marked! Decided I would add aftermarket side skirts. After several months, to be sure they worked (they did- no more marks) I removed the marked, discolored on the edges GM plastic "protection." When I sold the 2014 - 3 1/2 years later, the rocker panels looked new!

When I bought my Grand Sport, no question I would get full length side skirts and ordered that GM option when I bought the car. At forum recommendations I also ordered ACS front splash guards that are ~1/2 inch wider and deeper than the GM splash guards. After a year, I have no marks on the rocker panels or the rear fender brake ducts, which some GS owners say get dinged by roacks.

I live on a narrow, two mile twisty paved road from the highway. There is a gravel road that intersects not far from my home. Gravel is pulled onto the paved road. When I pass that area at ~25 mph it sounds like a tambourine! Gravel hits the bottom of the GM carbon fiber side skirts but not a mark on the sides or top! Also many of our rural roads have no shoulders and pebbles and sand get pulled on to the paved road. Frankly I would not own a C7 without full length side skirts.

This is a pic/text of my install: http://netwelding.com/Side_Skirts.pdf

Below is a pic of my 2014 with aftermarket side skirts.

Red C8 of Jax

OP, just change out the OEM pads to a pad that does not give off any or very little brake dust. I have a Base Stingray with OEM pads and they give off very little brake dust. Life's good. Make sure you wax those painted wheels and the brake dust will come off easier.

Glennm27

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

It sounds like you are not tracking the car. So, I would change your brake pads to the Carbotech 1521 pads. The 1521 is a low dust performance street pad that is 100% non-corrosive dust will not harm your wheels or paint 100% made in the USA.


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.





If interested you can order by calling me at 216-780-8825 or direct at http://ampdautosport.com/brake-pads/corvette/ Use promo code z28 at check out and receive 5% forum discount.

Part numbers base/Z51
Front CT1001
Rear CT1718

GS/ZO6
Front CT1405
Rear CT1718

Flame Red

Just search this forum for Dust and you will find a hundred different threads on this topic. My painted wheels were pitted and peeling with 1000 miles on the clock.

The CarbonTechs are not much better than the stockers as far as dust goes. Some people track their cars and swear buy them.

All the pads dust. I went with the much poo-poo'ed PowerStops and have been most happy with them. Yes, they still dust. But at least you can clean your wheels and drive them around the block and they will NOT be caked in dust. And no Corvette Tax (Flame on). For street use they are good.

RecklessOp

Thanks everyone for the input. New pads are definitely being considered. I guess part of the question for me is still, regardless of pads: how long can a coating of dust stay on a painted rim before it starts to go to town on the finish? I know there's no one answer, but is it days, weeks, or months before damage sets in?

Billy346, yes I'm getting rock marks pretty regularly as well, although nothing that's removed paint yet, just a lot of little dings.

Glennm27, sounds like a ceramic coating is a good idea regardless of which pads I go with. I'm a little scared of messing them up though applying it- what system/brand have you used with success?

bjones7131

I ceramic coated my chrome wheels on my 17 GS and after a ride I take my shop compressed air hose and blow them off as well as the entire car and it does pretty good, takes about 2 minutes. Prob change to 1521 later.

kennyjames21

I changed my pads to power stops and did my first wash since the change yesterday and there was almost no dust on my wheels, where with the factory pads there would be a thick, hard to remove coating. Unless you track your car, just change the pads ASAP.

Glennm27

JerryU

My OEM Z51 pads were pitting my black wheels if I did not clean them on a week.. If I cleaned after two trips into town, ~100 miles they were OK. When I sold it 3 1/2 years later having used Carbotech 1521 pads for 3 of those years they looked fine. No coating other than Zaino, which use on the whole car.

My experience with Carbotech 1521's on my Z51 and Grand Sport is about 80/85% less dust and what dust is there is light and DID/DOES NOT PIT MY WHEELS. Have them on my Grand Sport for a year. Machined Faced Gray Painted Wheels look perfect. Only wash the wheels when I wash the car. No dust that looks bad and NO PITTING!

Deweyox

Precisely why I say these black painted wheels look cheap as hell, especially on the Corvette...I could Paint them with a spray can of Rustoleum and make them look better. PERIOD

redman76

What???? Night and day difference. Maybe it's different on a Stingray, but my GS w/ bigger brakes would be flat black after a couple of days. I put 1521s on and I clean them when I clean the car every couple of weeks. 9,000+ miles and my wheels look brand new.

For the track, you use different CarboTech pads and they are very dusty (non-corrosive) but they perform great - good bite and no fade.

Gearhead Jim

We've been driving Z51 Corvettes (2001, 2006, 2009, now 2017) with factory brake pads and silver painted factory wheels for 17 years. Each car had two set of wheels: summer tires and winter tires.
I'm not OCD about clean wheels and occasionally put one set away dirty for ~6 months until it's time to switch again. On a trip to Texas, a friend there got down on his knees and washed my wheels in his driveway because he was so embarrassed to be seen with us.

In all that time, we've never had any deterioration or damage from the brake dust on the factory painted wheels. It may take a lot of effort to get them clean if the dust has been on them for a long time, but the end result has always been wheels that look brand new except for the few stone nicks and sandblasting. YMMV.

JerryU

That has been my experience. As you say night and day. Yep, it's not zero and guess if you're OCD there is some dust. But unlike the OEM pads it's much less and light colored. Been about 3 weeks since I washed the car as it's been so hot and too much sun. It was cloudy the other day and washed the car and the wheels (I have only washed the wheels when I wash the car with the Carbotech 1521s on my 2014 Z51and now my Grand Sport.) I would say the wheels looked clean before I started. Washed them as I do the car with the same car soap and a long handled cleaner to get to the barrels.

RecklessOp

Thanks for sharing that- it's good to hear that I might be too OCD rather than not enough!

SilverGhost

here's a pic of brake dust rust on black POWDER COATED wheels, ca. 2011. never had a z51 back then, but the C6 Z06's i had for 10 years (2007-17 - my avatar) , and a 2010 c6 GS all with chrome wheels it was like the black dust glued itself to the wheels. Maybe it was the humid air in SoFlo that accelerated the etching. At that time Armor all came out with a wheel protectant that kept that from happening. but it only lasted about a month before you needed to respray. In 2007 i got an FJ cruiser with TRD (toyota) black satin rims, I had them on 3 more FJ's through 2015 and never had a single chip or trace of rust on any of the 4 sets I had, one set still in my garage. in 2015 i got some TRD gloss black wheels for my tundra. 40,000 miles later they still look like new. Toyota figured out how to make black wheels that didn't rust or chip out , and I was spoiled by them thinking Corvette tech was at least as good, if not better. Well, I guess Corvette tech is better than ca '80's rust bucket cars that Detroit produced back then, but not much. Makes a blackout guy start rethinking paying that $1995 Corvette chrome tax again.

brake dust rust on black powder coated wheels