Extreme brake dust - Process & Products

[hurricane56]

I wanted to get some fresh insight as how everyone deals with baked-on brake dust on painted wheels with clear coat. I've got a BMW that has stock brake pads and rotors. They have a reputation for a ton of brake dust. The car has only undergone maintenance washing for the last year and I'm thinking that a wheels off deep-clean and coating might be my next project.

This weekend I did a test spot on one of the wheels and was unable to fully remove the embedded brake dust. My goal is to not use any mechanical abrasive process like scotch brite or magic eraser. In addition, additional online research has people using oven cleaner, but I fear that will just eat through the clear coat.

Here's the process I attempted:

1. Saturate area with Meg's 143 Non-Acid Wheel Cleaner 3:1. Gently agitate then rinse.

2. Lightly spray embedded area with Iron-X. Let product dwell for 4-5 minutes.

3. Lightly agitate with a soft bristled detailing brush and wait another minute. Rinse area.

I repeated the those steps three times and was able to remove most of the brake dust, but parts of the wheels in the corners and cervices are still indicating iron contamination. My guess is that the Iron-X is working as it should, but the product is only dissolving one layer of brake dust at a time.

Is there a better way to tackle this? I suppose I could continue using Iron-X until it breaks through the dust, but it seems like I'd use an entire liter of the product to decontaminate all four wheels.

[GSKR]

There are limitations to using iron x on really extremed baked on brake dust.

[CarolinasFinestDetailing]

I keep Iron X paste on hand for this particular reason. I deal wit a ton of neglected Euro cars (no offense.)

I normally use wheel acid then Iron X on severely neglected wheels.

Try spraying Iron X on a MF towel and blotting specific area. Let it sit a little while longer. Then rinse well. Picture of said spots? Wondering if they are through clear.

[asianisafish]

On BMW wheels that are clear coated?
There is 3 bmws and 3 Mercedes at my house. All with the crazy brake dust made of German power lol. Just use megs wheel brightener

[Rsurfer]

Meg's Wheel Brightner will dissolve the brake dust in no time. Nothing wrong in using an acid once in awhile providing the wheel is in good condition. If you want to end this problem, seal your wheels and clean them more often or change your brake pads.

[hurricane56]

I didn't think of Iron-X Paste. I'm going to try to do a couple more rounds of regular Iron-X and take some pictures soon.

[The Guz]

D143 won't do much at 3:1. You may need to step it up to 1:1 if it's really caked on.

[DapperStyle]

Any chance what you are seeing is tar build up? Have you tried Tarminator or something similar?

[Kody]

I've always had real good luck with Sonax wheel cleaner plus and wheel woolies. If I need to clean them any better I'll take them off and really let them dwell and then clay if need be.

[hurricane56]

Any chance what you are seeing is tar build up? Have you tried Tarminator or something similar?

Haven't tried tarminator, but I do have some Tar-X that I could use.

[Desertnate]

You mentioned not wanting to mechanically scrub the wheels with a scotch brite pad or magic eraser, but if the wheels are painted, have you thought about something like Mother's polishing ball and a mild paint polish like Meguiars Ultimate Polish?

I've not had to deal with baked on brake dust lately, but I do deal with grimy winter wheel and a resent application of tire coating where I carelessly hit the wheel with the product and didn't get it all off in time. I've used both Griots All-In-One Sealant and Meguiars Ultimate Polish by hand with great results. Both have gentile abrasives which are easy on the wheel's clear coat.

Heavy acids and wheel cleaners scare me for some reason. I'm much more inclined to gently polish a wheel vs. hitting it with harsh chemicals.

[Calendyr]

Most of my clients have German cars. All the wheels I do have caked on brake dust. Wheel Brightener eats right through it in no time.

Combined with wheel woollies, you can get wheels 90% perfect in about 5 minutes. If you want them 100%, repeat once or twice and every spec of brake dust will be gone.

[hurricane56]

You mentioned not wanting to mechanically scrub the wheels with a scotch brite pad or magic eraser, but if the wheels are painted, have you thought about something like Mother's polishing ball and a mild paint polish like Meguiars Ultimate Polish?

I've not had to deal with baked on brake dust lately, but I do deal with grimy winter wheel and a resent application of tire coating where I carelessly hit the wheel with the product and didn't get it all off in time. I've used both Griots All-In-One Sealant and Meguiars Ultimate Polish by hand with great results. Both have gentile abrasives which are easy on the wheel's clear coat.

Heavy acids and wheel cleaners scare me for some reason. I'm much more inclined to gently polish a wheel vs. hitting it with harsh chemicals.

I completely blanked on trying to hit it with some compound and gently polishing. Going to keep trying a few more applications of Iron-X as I was making some slow progress and apply it with a paint brush to minimize product waste before moving on to another method.

[Setec Astronomy]

Hopefully you can get the wheels clean with repeated applications of Iron X. Some have suggested Meg's Wheel Brightener, which surely will work, but it's an HF/ABF-based cleaner, and I personally don't recommend that except under controlled conditions as it's rather hazardous.

There are other acid-based wheel cleaners that are not HF/ABF, but I don't think AG sells any, other than perhaps one of the Meg's OTC, or possibly Mothers. I used to know which ones had what in them but those consumer products change all the time.

[hurricane56]

Here's a picture of a test section. It's already been treated with Iron-X three times. I hit it with some Sonax Full Effect this morning, but it's probably going to take patience and a few more Iron-X applications. Good thing this is my own car and I can take my time.
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