Armor All Brake Dust Repellant

[OCDetails]

I'm doing this in Off Topic because it isn't an Autogeek product, but I thought it might be a helpful review for someone. There are actually some pretty good products available off the shelf, but there are five crappy products for every one good one. I still enjoy testing them out and seeing what works for what though. I've discovered some pretty good things that are easy to get and very effective.

Brake dust is something I don't have to deal with much on my Honda and Toyota, but I know a lot of German car owners who deal with it every time they wash their cars. Audis and BMWs are horrible for it. Mercedes can be bad too. Don't even get me started on the 350Z... In the past I've done what most people here would recommend and applied a sealant to the wheels to help make them easier to clean, but the sealant isn't really a repellant. It just protects the wheels until I can get the crap off. I've tried the wheel waxes and found that they didn't do very good at it either. Not well enough to justify the price, anyway. I've tried a number of off the shelf products that say they will repel brake dust and I've been disappointed by each of them. That is, until now.

Enter an unlikely candidate for the project: Armor All Brake Dust Repellant. Armor All got a really really bad reputation some 30 years ago that I don't think they'll ever really be able to live down, but I suppose someone who has only been buying car care products for the past ten years wouldn't have many reasons to avoid them. They aren't the 'best' in many areas, but they do usually offer most of what they promise on their labels. They have their uses. So when I saw this product on the shelf last week I assumed it would find its way to my 'disgraced products' shelf and it would be a $7 bit of knowledge that wouldn't go anywhere. I've got a jet that I maintain several times a month that has horrible brake dust problems. It's those darn carbon ceramic brake pads from what the pilots tell me. So I figured this was a perfect test bed for the product.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video has to be worth more, so here are my unedited before and afters of the wheels.


https://youtu.be/eklx2g8U49U


https://youtu.be/JoD1EtUyLdw

So those were from this past Monday. On Thursday I went back to see how it had lasted. According to the flight schedule it has taken a few trips this week. At least three or four landings and take offs. That is enough to build up some good brake dust, so let's see how it turned out.


https://youtu.be/6q4HuU5vN0Y

I'd say it did a pretty good job of keeping the brake dust at bay. I wiped them down again, which will hopefully even out the application, and we'll see how they look next week. I don't need to keep these sparkling white every week or anything, but if I can get a couple weeks out of them before they are black then that is good for me. There are plenty of other areas on this thing I need to keep looking good and spending an extra hour cleaning the landing gears and wheels is time that could be spent scraping bugs off the flaps or something. For now I'd say this is a win. We'll see how long it takes for it to wear off. The can says a month, but we'll see.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2wogh9t.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/2z7h4zo.jpg

[Eldorado2k]

*nods*
If and when I use it on my exhaust pipes, they stay completely spotless for 5 weeks. Same with wheels. The only thing about it is once you literally touch it, you remove it. So if you did what you said you did, and wiped it down to try and even out the application, you done removed it. Start over. Also, you'll see much better results if you test a whole wheel vs. half a wheel. [but I'm sure you know that]

The product works, no doubt. Imho there's some pretty amazing technology inside that can, the only thing that sucks is having to clean the tires around the wheel every week or so... Getting even coverage inside the barrels is the other tricky thing because you have little time and you must be precise or you will overspray the product and it'll run/drip. But if you've got a tire coat going then you're essentially gold. [as long as your coverage is absolute spot on]

One day I'm gonna gather up the courage to spray that stuff on the body panels of a car, I just gotta find a silver colored guineua pig. Lol.

[OCDetails]

I wiped it down a few days after the application. Do you think that removed it? If so, then this sucks for me. I have to wipe them down every couple weeks to keep them clean-ish looking, so I can't avoid it. But if it is safe to wipe them down after it has dried to even it out, then that's another story. Grrrr... I guess we'll find out next week when I see it again. It will have done a lot more flying at that point, so we'll see if it is still there and if it is capable of withstanding really heavy brake dust.

[Eldorado2k]

Asking it to keep the wheels on an airplane spotless for 2 weeks or more is a pretty tall order, but based on what you've seen so far it looks possible. And yea it sounds like you would've wiped it off by doing what you did.. [keep in mind the dirty half of the wheel can't help but taint the clean part by simply being so close to it]

Once you start with a whole clean wheel and apply it to the entire wheel your results should be better and hopefully you shouldn't feel the need to wipe it down. [that would be highly impressive considering it would've kept the wheels on an airplane spotless for 2 weeks] On a car it does 4 weeks no problem, as long as you don't mess around and touch the wheels..

[Cruzscarwash]

ive been using that product for a few years now and its not that bad, its probably one of the beset products that ive used from their line . granted there are better but for a walmart special its not bad

[Eldorado2k]

ive been using that product for a few years now and its not that bad, its probably one of the beset products that ive used from their line . granted there are better but for a walmart special its not bad

*nods*
I've had the same 2 cans for like 2 yrs.. It works, but at the same time it's so dang touch sensitive that I sort of tend to forget I even have it on my shelf.. In the ideal situation it's cool, but usually it's the whole "How am I gonna clean the tires without removing the wheel stuff" that's the turnoff.

[OCDetails]

ive been using that product for a few years now and its not that bad, its probably one of the beset products that ive used from their line . granted there are better but for a walmart special its not bad

I'm interested to know what you've used that is better. I've pretty much given up on finding anything to work really well, but these are the best results I've seen from anything in a long time. I'd be all over something that works better than this without the problem of not being able to touch the wheels afterwards.

[Cruzscarwash]

sonax products ive used are better, wheel coating is better, the M37 wheel coat is low in price, coats like 50 or something wheels and works great

[GSKR]

I'm doing this in Off Topic because it isn't an Autogeek product, but I thought it might be a helpful review for someone. There are actually some pretty good products available off the shelf, but there are five crappy products for every one good one. I still enjoy testing them out and seeing what works for what though. I've discovered some pretty good things that are easy to get and very effective.

Brake dust is something I don't have to deal with much on my Honda and Toyota, but I know a lot of German car owners who deal with it every time they wash their cars. Audis and BMWs are horrible for it. Mercedes can be bad too. Don't even get me started on the 350Z... In the past I've done what most people here would recommend and applied a sealant to the wheels to help make them easier to clean, but the sealant isn't really a repellant. It just protects the wheels until I can get the crap off. I've tried the wheel waxes and found that they didn't do very good at it either. Not well enough to justify the price, anyway. I've tried a number of off the shelf products that say they will repel brake dust and I've been disappointed by each of them. That is, until now.

Enter an unlikely candidate for the project: Armor All Brake Dust Repellant. Armor All got a really really bad reputation some 30 years ago that I don't think they'll ever really be able to live down, but I suppose someone who has only been buying car care products for the past ten years wouldn't have many reasons to avoid them. They aren't the 'best' in many areas, but they do usually offer most of what they promise on their labels. They have their uses. So when I saw this product on the shelf last week I assumed it would find its way to my 'disgraced products' shelf and it would be a $7 bit of knowledge that wouldn't go anywhere. I've got a jet that I maintain several times a month that has horrible brake dust problems. It's those darn carbon ceramic brake pads from what the pilots tell me. So I figured this was a perfect test bed for the product.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video has to be worth more, so here are my unedited before and afters of the wheels.


https://youtu.be/eklx2g8U49U


https://youtu.be/JoD1EtUyLdw

So those were from this past Monday. On Thursday I went back to see how it had lasted. According to the flight schedule it has taken a few trips this week. At least three or four landings and take offs. That is enough to build up some good brake dust, so let's see how it turned out.


https://youtu.be/6q4HuU5vN0Y

I'd say it did a pretty good job of keeping the brake dust at bay. I wiped them down again, which will hopefully even out the application, and we'll see how they look next week. I don't need to keep these sparkling white every week or anything, but if I can get a couple weeks out of them before they are black then that is good for me. There are plenty of other areas on this thing I need to keep looking good and spending an extra hour cleaning the landing gears and wheels is time that could be spent scraping bugs off the flaps or something. For now I'd say this is a win. We'll see how long it takes for it to wear off. The can says a month, but we'll see.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2wogh9t.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/2z7h4zo.jpgI use gtech wheel armor for landing gear and rims.you can go 5 months with easypeasy cleaning.That landing gear needs a citrus wash to remove all that grime,then use alcohol for reinsurance.Done it on all the planes I do.

[Octopiston]

I used it on my wife's car the has polished and clear coated wheels. Worked great. On my car with dark gray wheels, you could see it. It make a dingy oil on water looking film. So while it does well on light colored wheels, it decreases the looks of darker wheels.

[OCDetails]

It's tough to do a lot of 'washing' when the plane is in the middle of the hangar. They only put one drain in their hangar and it it is clear on the other side. The other hangar I work in is much nicer with a nice long drain down the middle. makes getting things really clean a lot easier. There are a lot of things that would make cleaning them easier, but I need that drain to avoid leaving a flood in the middle of the room. Maybe I'll have to raid the kitchen for some pans to use as collectors and then use my slave labor to run them back and forth to the drain to dump out. ;)