Worst Case scenario for Brake Dust! Need Advice

[TheLearningMechanic]

Hey everyone, joined about a week ago and this is my first post. I am really thankful if someone could educate more than what I could search on the internet.

I have a 2003 Toyota Sequoia as my daily driver and the rims are stained bad with brake dust, rust and flaking.


I am new to car repair and detailing so I would really appreciate some guidance and help on this.

All I know is that I have to wax the rims after a good cleaning to seal the finish (not sure if my rims may need an extra step). At worst, I understand if I need to get new rims entirely but wanna see what I can do before that.


Firstly, what type of cleaner should I use because of the flaking: Aluminum coated or non-aluminum coated?


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[IH8SPM]

Welcome to forum. Ill leave the recommendations for someone else but man what a great before and after this is going to be. Don't rush, get all the supplies and take pictures galore.

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[Klasse Act]

I haven't had to use something as powerful as Mequiars wheel brightener but this looks like a GREAT candidate Once you clean them really good, get yourself some 303 Touchless Sealant to spray on them after you've rinsed them. After the wheel has been cleaned really good and the wheel is still wet you simply spray some on the rim, enough for coverage, wait about 20-30 seconds and rinse off. You'll be amazed at the water beading and the next time you wash the truck and get to cleaning the rims, it will be that much easier, well, as long as they don't get THAT bad again. Finally a great wheel cleaner for maintence cleaning is called Brake Buster and the preferred method for use is through a foaming sprayer and works great at 4:1.

Welcome to cult... urrrr, forum

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[Rsurfer]

I haven't had to use something as powerful as Mequiars wheel brightener but this looks like a GREAT candidate Once you clean them really good, get yourself some 303 Touchless Sealant to spray on them after you've rinsed them. After the wheel has been cleaned really good and the wheel is still wet you simply spray some on the rim, enough for coverage, wait about 20-30 seconds and rinse off. You'll be amazed at the water beading and the next time you wash the truck and get to cleaning the rims, it will be that much easier, well, as long as they don't get THAT bad again. Finally a great wheel cleaner for maintence cleaning is called Brake Buster and the preferred method for use is through a foaming sprayer and works great at 4:1.

Welcome to cult... urrrr, forum

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Meg's WB might be to strong for those pitted wheels. If the acid gets under the clear and paint, it may start to delaminate. Iron X might be a safer cleaner.

 

[Klasse Act]

Meg's WB might be to strong for those pitted wheels. If the acid gets under the clear and paint, it may start to delaminate. Iron X might be a safer cleaner.

Great point, didn't realize how strong the acid was in there

OP, your going to want to get yourself a couple good wheel brushes as well. The Speed Master and Mother's wheel brush are 2 good ones to start with

Btw that Brake Buster also works on your tires as well

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[TheLearningMechanic]

Thanks for the advice and Im gonna make sure to get a good picture each step of the way.

Question: If the Mequiars Wheel Brightner for whatever reason does not work, should I retry with the same product or different product before even attempting to put on the sealant?
I would think that I trying to perform another cleaning over the sealant would be difficult, please correct me if I am wrong?

 

[Rsurfer]

Meg's WB is a strong chemical, so wear protective gear. If you are going to use MWB try diluting it first. You can always increase the ratio as needed.

You won't find anything stronger for wheels OTC than Meg's Wheel Brightner.

 

[Klasse Act]

Clean them to the best of your ability before applying the sealant and something like 303 Touchless Sealant is one of the best easiest to use and the bottle will last you quite a while.

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[Bruno Soares]

If you have rust and flaking of the finish, those wheels need to be refinished first, then you worry about a cleaner to handle the brake dust. I like Wolfgang Uber Wheel Cleaner for very dirty wheels, if just lightly dirty, I use Brake Buster.

Wax won’t do anything to protect wheels, at least not more than a few days. If you get the wheels refinished you’ll want to ceramic coat them. Then you have a year or more of protection.

 

[Klasse Act]

If you have rust and flaking of the finish, those wheels need to be refinished first, then you worry about a cleaner to handle the brake dust. I like Wolfgang Uber Wheel Cleaner for very dirty wheels, if just lightly dirty, I use Brake Buster.

Wax won’t do anything to protect wheels, at least not more than a few days. If you get the wheels refinished you’ll want to ceramic coat them. Then you have a year or more of protection.

I agree after reading these comments and it leads me to something I'm very good at...spending OTHER people's money May I suggest a set of the 1552 rims that are for trucks that look off road cool as hell

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[spazzz]

I would grab some Meguiars Hot Rims all wheel and tire cleaner locally and go from there.
The stuff is so cheap and pretty good you will be able to assess the situation better.

If you want to go for the gusto get Meguiars wheel brightener, Sonax wheel cleaner and Meguiars D143(which is the detailer version of Hot Rims).

Should have seen these train wrecks before. Real curb jobs.
Previous owner or some other dink used sandpaper on one of them to clean(about 50 grit)
That old front wheel BMW brake dust is a real baker.

 

[IH8SPM]

Thanks for the advice and Im gonna make sure to get a good picture each step of the way.

Question: If the Mequiars Wheel Brightner for whatever reason does not work, should I retry with the same product or different product before even attempting to put on the sealant?
I would think that I trying to perform another cleaning over the sealant would be difficult, please correct me if I am wrong?

From the looks of the wheels it seems your looking to improve not perfect the look. If so, you can use any of the recommended products to achieve that. Clean once, clean twice, just be happy when you say done and add that spray on protection.

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[The Guz]

Are you agitating the cleaner or just spraying on and rinsing off? I don't see you mentioning this.

 

[IH8SPM]

He hasn't started yet.

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[The Guz]

He hasn't started yet.

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That's just as important as the cleaner used. Spray and rinse ain't gonna cut it.

 

[hamajang]

IMHO, clean them to the best of your ability and live with it. Take the wheels off and clean them thoroughly with a good wheel cleaner like sonax, p&s brake buster, or similar. It’s probably going to take a lot of effort.

If you don’t want to buy new wheels and put some effort into it, you could always use a paint stripper and polish them out (if you like the polished aluminum look). Caring for polished aluminum is quite tedious though.

Another option is to take them to a reputable shop and get them refinished. Painted, powder coated, etc. it’s up to you.

I’m cheap, so I’d just clean them and live with it since the truck is 17 years old.

 

[PaulMys]

IMHO, clean them to the best of your ability and live with it. Take the wheels off and clean them thoroughly with a good wheel cleaner like sonax, p&s brake buster, or similar. It’s probably going to take a lot of effort.

If you don’t want to buy new wheels and put some effort into it, you could always use a paint stripper and polish them out (if you like the polished aluminum look). Caring for polished aluminum is quite tedious though.

Another option is to take them to a reputable shop and get them refinished. Painted, powder coated, etc. it’s up to you.

I’m cheap, so I’d just clean them and live with it since the truck is 17 years old.

My thoughts exactly.

"Don't chase perfection on a Daily Driver" is a well known phrase here on AGO coined by Mike P.

You have what you have unless you are willing to go to extremes.

 

[Klasse Act]

My thoughts exactly.

"Don't chase perfection on a Daily Driver" is a well known phrase here on AGO coined by Mike P.

You have what you have unless you are willing to go to extremes.

Did someone say extremes and daily driver

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[Eldorado2k]

I haven't had to use something as powerful as Mequiars wheel brightener but this looks like a GREAT candidate

Contrary to popular belief, Wheel Brightener isn’t all that effective in cases where you’re dealing with years and years of baked on brake dust. It excels as a maintenance wheel cleaner, where if used with a power washer can be used as a touchless way to clean most OEM wheels.

But when up against what OP is dealing with you better be ready to put in some work as far as the brushing because you’re going to be there for a while and probably won’t get it completely clean.

When dealing with the super max caked & baked wheels you need something like Brown Royal or even that Auto Fanatic wheel cleaner used at maximum strength [since he claims it’s near or as effective as Brown Royal... I’d have to see it to believe it]

-Almost 20yrs. of baked on brake dust.

Even with full access, Wheel Brightener couldn’t get it fully clean. Try to do this with the wheel on the car and you’ll be scrubbing for maybe an hour or more.

Meanwhile Brown Royal. Spray, dwell, quick scrub...

Completely clean in 1 quick scrub & rinse.

And if Wheel Brightener can’t do it, that means there’s no way the Sonax Wheel Cleaner can. There’s videos proving it can’t handle real baked on brake dust.

@OP. If you want to get an idea of what Wheel Brightener can do, pick up a bottle of Meguiars Hot Wheels Chrome Wheel Cleaner. It’s basically the OTC version of Wheel Brightener and its safe on clearcoated OEM wheels.

 

[Klasse Act]

Forgot all about Royal Brown, good job Ric

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