Please help me not pull my hair out over this brake dust.

If you want to apply something caustic, but in a controlled manner, use nitrile gloves and add the product to a sponge and then apply. This will keep it off the front of the rims.


Discard sponge after use.
 
I has this same issue in my Pathy. No good. I tried everything. Iron X, PB's Wheel Acid, all type of surfactants - even mineral spirits. While I did improve it - it wasn't removed. I scrubbed and scrubbed.

I'm thinking the brake dust gets embedded in the aluminum of the wheel over many years of hearing and cooling. I'm not sure anything short of grinding the surface would remove it.
 
I am thoroughly getting frustrated with these wheels. This thing must put out brake dust from hell. They are the hardest things to clean. I watch videos on YouTube of people using iron x, p21, and even wheel clay and it instantly sucks stuff right off. Never once have I had a single product work on my wheels like it seems to work for others.

I had a few little tiny raised black dots on the inner wheel which I know are either tar or iron deposits. Watched those get sucked right off a BMW's wheel on YouTube using iron x and wheel clay.

Didn't even budge them on mine. And my car is not a DD, in better condition than 90% on the road, and only has 38k miles. So it's not like it's had a long life of baking on brake dust.

CORRECTION: I'm talking about the wheel barrels. The outside, visible parts clean up like glass. But I cannot budge the inners.


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If you want them perfect again, you might consider sanding and painting them with a dedicated wheel paint, just on the inside barrels. It might be your only option to get them like new again.

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I just worked on some inner barrels with a similar problem. Never could completely remove it (they'd never been cleaned). I did Iron X three times (scrubbed with a stiff brush after each application), used fine steel wool, several metal polishes (Turtle Wax Chrome polish removed the most believe it or not), polished with the DA, and finally said that's about the best it's going to get and did the prep for Opt-Coat, and coated them. They look a lot better, but they'll never be totally clean, so I brought them to an "acceptable" level (for me) and called it a day (after about 10 hours working on them). Here's a pic of one wheel before and one after (unfortunately not the same wheel). The after one was the most difficult because it was the worst of the four. The other three cleaned up fairly well, with two coming out pretty nice.

wheelbarrels.jpg
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Spray some wheel cleaner on and use a scotch-brite pad to scrub. It should come right off. I've had the same problem before (more than once) and the scotch-brite has worked every time.

(fyi....never use scotch-brite on the face of a wheel or if the barrel is clear coated.)
 
Rockeey said:
Spray some wheel cleaner on and use a scotch-brite pad to scrub. It should come right off. I've had the same problem before (more than once) and the scotch-brite has worked every time.

(fyi....never use scotch-brite on the face of a wheel or if the barrel is clear coated.)
Click to expand...


I used a pretty heavy duty scrubbing pad on them and it did very little


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You can also try a brass brush made to be chucked into a corded or cordless drill. Work this method slowly without much pressure, it will take off the brake dust stains or maybe anything else stuck on the barrel. If you use a slow speed there won't be any damage as the barrels of most wheels are bare and not coated from the factory. I would think about coating or maybe painting the surface after the cleaning. Before anyone bashes this method think about what everyone has said they have tried to no avail, this has worked for me with no ill effects. And no I don't have any pictures.
 
Hello everyone,
since we're all giving suggestions here, I thought I share my solution to baked on brake dust. Hopefully this won't be frowned up and we'll keep an open mind.

I had the same issue with my wife's 07 X3. Previous owner(s) rarely took care of the vehicle. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
View attachment 24128 View attachment 24129

View attachment 24130 View attachment 24131

Removed the wheels to clean the inside.
Before
View attachment 24132

Regarding the cleaning process, I didn't try anything other than using Meguiars car wash and a sponge to scrub this stuff off. This was before I found out there were products best suited for this issue.Also, I had other things in mind for the wheels...
After.
View attachment 24133

After a few coats of Anthracite gray plasti-dip and glossifier.
Final result
View attachment 24134 View attachment 24135

On Vehicle
View attachment 24136 View attachment 24137

View attachment 24138

This project was completed June of this year and this product has held on great. I can peel it off at any time but honestly I prefer the darker look over the original. This particular color is extremely easy to clean.
 
After awhile there is no paint on the wheel and you have to repaint/strip the metal. If acids, ironx, and the strongest tricks don't work just pass, you're harming yourself far too much.
 
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