Can Iron chelate based wheel cleaners cause braking issues

[shadwell]

Quick question, can these iron chelate based chemistry wheel cleaners potentially cause issue with differential braking performance if applied to the disc and the brake calliper portion goes / untreated uncleaned?? Particularly on cars with high performance callipers ie larger covering a 1/4 of the disc or so...

I have noticed brake pulsing on a relatively new car, usual high way usage with light braking, OEM system, which didn't start to have issue until these types of brake cleaners were used...barter about 10k kms...
wasnthinkung the removal of ferrous on 3/4 of the face but not the other 1/4 might cause this issue?

thanks in advance.

 

[TTQ B4U]

Quick question, can these chemistry wheel cleaners cause issue with differential braking performance if applied to the disc and the calliper covered portion goes unleaned??

I have noticed brake pulsing and this is the only remaining variable unchecked.
usual high way usage with light braking OEM system didn't start to have issue until these types of brake cleaners were used...
wasnthinkung the removal of ferrous on 3/4 of the face might cause this issue?

IMO and experience No. Been using Iron-X for a long while now.

Most OEM brakes aren't the best and can warp easily if the car is driven hard. I've seen people wash cars while steaming hot brakes are hit with cold water....literally steaming. That's a no-no and can cause damage too.

 

[shadwell]

Yeah, never had an issue when I was driving hard...
This is a highway commuter and is babied...

It's not a heat warping issue, and it has no brake drag issues..
I feel It's a pad /disc material deposition issue,
A lot like when brakes aren't bedded in properly... You get spot of
Pad material deposition but it's varied..

Weird but is it only started after 10k kms if highway commuting...
And not long after I started using iron chelate type products..

I just came back form washing all four wheels again, applied red7, moved the car forward, did the hidden portion, then rinsed with water then washed with auto glym pro series car wash, blow dried....

I 'll see over the next 2 days if any change / improvement..

Thanks for your anyone's thoughts..

 

[vobro]

I've never had any issues

 

[FUNX650]

There are OEMs that recommend
to only use car-wash shampoo
solutions on "certain composites"...
from which some braking-systems'
braking-components are made.

Safety; and, Warranty issues
are often cited as the reasons.


Bob

 

[expdetailing]

I've noticed under-paint corrosion starting to form, i.e. the paint is starting to lift around the small center cap on my wheel face. I used harsh cleaners because it's what I had and didn't want it to go to waste. Now, I use just car soap if I can get away with it.

 

[shadwell]

thanks for the feedback guys !

OK so I did a little experiemnt.
The car was exhibiting the brake pulsing, low amplitude high freqency at approx 50mph under light brake force.. (eg exiting a highway off ramp and slowly pulling up).
And this had been verified by Mercedes lead tech at dealership. They were happy to look in to replacing rotors etc BUT i wasn't happy that we understood what was going on ie actual cause...

SO i figured lets test the varied rotor surface condition theory, (after rechecking wheel bolt torque and suspension condition as all OK).. I re cleaned the wheels spraying the faces barrels and rotors with Red 7 cleaner (could have been iron x or any other makes little odds), very little bleeding as the wheels were pretty clean anyway, I then rolled the car foward and apllied same to hidden part fof the rotor... then did the usual rinse, shampoo wash and re rinse. Then blow dry with leaf blower, then a quick wipe of OCW on the rim faces (not sprayed as i wanted none on the rotors..)

Drove to work today and the pulsing has gone... !!!

My conclusion, the partial cleaning of the rotors on some cars with high perfromance large callipers CAN lead to differential brake force evident as light pulsing for other this was a 2015 mercedes C AMG line ...
SOLUTION is to ensure you clean the rotor face evennly...

Hope this information is usefu to other which may discover the same issue and avoid wasteful trips to deaelrs when the fix is very srtaight forward....