Brake dust shields?

[skiers33]

Anyone have any experience with brake dust shields. I love driving my BMW but man do the brakes generate a lot of brake dust. I've read some great reviews about the dust shields, but just wondering if anyone out there has used them before, any pros/cons and do they really work? Thanks

[opie_7afe]

imo i hate the look of them, a big black peice of metal or plastic behind the wheel i dont like, i like to see the nice calipers and rotors. i would just opti-coat my wheels and rinse them off every couple of days, then charge to do friends wheels as you will probably only use 2ml to do all 4 wheels. thats what i would do and opti-coat might be cheaper.also from my reading change your pads to akebono pads(spelling is wrong i know it) or do some searching on the bimmerforums for the best low dust pads. as alot of oem and other brakes dust alot.go to the source of the problem. would be like having a hole in a water retaining wall and they just plumb a pipe to redirect the leak instead of fixing the hole ;)

[OZD 35]

I agree with opie_7afe, you will be much better off with different brake pads. The stock brake pads on my Z would dust like no other. When it came time to buy new pads, I went with Hawk HPS pads and they've been great! Very low dusting. I use sealant on my wheels twice a year and when it comes to washing my car, the wheels clean up extremely easy. I don't even use any special wheel cleaner, just my car wash soap and a wheel brush!

[Setec Astronomy]

You spelled Akebono right, Opie. They are great pads, I dunno if the BMW formulation is a wonder-worker or not, but the cars I have seen the Akebono's on are very good.

[skiers33]

I agree with opie_7afe, you will be much better off with different brake pads. The stock brake pads on my Z would dust like no other. When it came time to buy new pads, I went with Hawk HPS pads and they've been great! Very low dusting. I use sealant on my wheels twice a year and when it comes to washing my car, the wheels clean up extremely easy. I don't even use any special wheel cleaner, just my car wash soap and a wheel brush!


Thanks guys, great suggestions. I'll probably just deal with the dust for the time being with frequent cleaning and upgrade the pads to the Hawks when the time comes.
Thanks again

[LegacyGT]

I bought black wheels :D

The Hawk HPS pads do pretty well, but I just stepped up to the Z compound for autocross, will report back on how dusty those are.

[embolism]

don't these shields also trap heat which is not good for the brake/suspension components?

[Conan]

don't these shields also trap heat which is not good for the brake/suspension components?

I was just about to say the same thing. They would probably reduce the air flow going to the brake rotors.

[skiers33]

don't these shields also trap heat which is not good for the brake/suspension components?

On the products web site, they claim that heat trapping is not an issue as the shields are vented, but I've read otherwise. This is why this is such a great forum, thanks again for the feedback.

[A-train]

As far as products go you could coat then with opti coat, c quart, or element 119, then I would layer that with a 10% solhtion of Permanon. It's a dream to keep clean.

[sscully]

Might want to try Poorboy's Spray & Rinse wheel cleaner

I have been using this for some time. I 1st got a sample, and gave it to dad without trying it. At the time, I was of the thought that if you want them clean, you have to get in there and scrub them.
Dad used it on mom's Mini van, which is almost a cast wheel, and about the worst for brake dust. When I went over there the next weekend, he told me to get more of that, it cleaned them without touching them. I looked ( expecting dad's clean and mine to be 2 different things ), and I was shocked, the wheel had not looked that good in years.

Just got a chance 2 weekends ago to get before and after pictures on the sister in law's new to her ( used-03 ) Mustang. The car is in rough shape, and I have not clue when the last time the wheels had been cleaned.

Before

Front
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fK4gHLwPxc8/T1vq9mQS0-I/AAAAAAAAAF4/ztgTvGpTqro/s720/03%2520Must-16.JPG

Rear

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--evM2JNdDfg/T1vq-Flbn6I/AAAAAAAAAGA/KQsfgF2jtUc/s800/03%2520Must-17.JPG

After

Front

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jchUTqwXhU0/T1vq-X4ItHI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/WoV_O7SRPis/s720/03%2520Must-18.JPG

Rear

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-NQpYbrLcQSs/T1vq-5o9PeI/AAAAAAAAAGY/BxTpIXt2rjE/s512/03%2520Must-19.JPG

All I did was spray down a cold wheel with water.
Walk around spraying PB SnR on them.
Once I got done put down the bottle and put the correct end in the PW lance, and rinsed them off.
did not touch them, total dwell time ~ 7 mins

The rear wheel needed to be scrubbed, but I was not getting in there with a brush to get the little spots left on it.

I did not even dry them, air dry only ( can still see water on the front wheel in the after shot )

if you use a wheel sealant, you need to dilute the SnR to i think 50-50, PB's forum ( or I am sure it is on AG somewhere ) has the ratio. I gave up on using wheel sealant with how easy SnR is to use.

[Rix6]

On the products web site, they claim that heat trapping is not an issue as the shields are vented, but I've read otherwise. This is why this is such a great forum, thanks again for the feedback.
Not an issue maybe for grandma, but even that I doubt. Of course they say heat trapping is not an issue, they want to sell those plastic pieces of poo, non? Those heat traps are a good way to warp rotors.