[HP11416]

Bought the car last year....I have stains from years of brake dust on my rims. I've tried EVERYTHING....brushes, cleaners, etc. I can get the surface dust off, but not the "caked on" areas....What's the secret?

[HP11416]

I will try anything at this point....thank you !!!!

[walendvay]

use wd40 or brake cleaner. it'll get the filth/muck off of your wheels! good luck!

[tank531]

Since I got my X3 (end of Sep) I have been using the kit below to clean my wheels. I bought the wheel brush, seen on top of the fuel tank for the jet wash online. I use the jestwash after manual brushing with hot water and suds.



I can actually get right to the back of the wheels with the brush through the spokes then the jet wash to remove remaining grime.

[cadman50]

In the past, I've waxed my wheels to help wash away the brake dust easily. Of course this is on a FX35 and not a BMW. Will waxing the wheels of the X3 help to minimize the brake dust? How about some sort of sealer? I've never had a BMW or any German made car that are notorious for brake dust. What about changing types of brake pad material?

[cadman50]

Originally Posted by Lotus7

BMW wheels, like most OEM wheels have a hard, clear coat finish. Therefore, anything that's not safe on paint should not be used on the wheels.

Some owners have reported good results with "wheel protectants" , but my personal experience with the (2) brands I've tried has not been good. I've tried using "Armor All Wheel Protectant" and carefully applied it as per instructions (wheels completely cleaned, completely dried and ambient temp. above 65 deg. F.). I've also tried "Rain-X Wheel Protectant". In both cases, the "protectant" did nothing to prevent the BMW brake dust from sticking to the wheels, and in my opinion, the "coating" actually made it harder to clean the wheels. The Rain X stuff actually left a "tacky" coating on the wheel that looked dull, was very hard to clean and also hard to remove.

The only way I've found to keep the wheels reasonably decent looking on our current X3 is to first apply (2) coats of a long lasting liquid wax (I've found Meguiars Gold Class works best for me). and then wash the wheels AT LEAST once each week using Rain-X orange windshield washer fluid applied with a spray bottle and then wiped dry with paper towels. It takes about (10) minutes to do the four wheels, and removes every bit of the brake grime.

Using Rain-X orange does not remove the wax, which lasts about 6-months, before needing re-application.

Most BMW's and Audi's come with OEM brake pads that contain a lot of carbon. That makes for very smooth, quiet and predictable brakes, BUT makes for an ungodly amount of smeary, greasy black brake dust.

On other German vehicles, once the original brake pads are worn out, I've replaced them with EBC ceramic Low Dust pads. The difference is dramatic. the EBC pads produce about 1/10th the amount of brake dust, and the dust is grey-white in color. Additionally, the EBC dust is not greasy or smeary like the OEM BMW or Audi material.

The EBC "green" pads are slightly more aggressive than OEM pads, are smooth and predictable, but can occasionally squeal. They have good high-temperature performance and are a good "street" pad compound. I've used EBC "Red" pads on a highly modified Subaru Legacy Turbo, and a hot Audi A4 2.8 and liked the results on both cars.

The "Red" compound also makes very little dust, but is significantly more "aggressive" than the stock pads. That means the brakes tend to "bite" quicker on initial application, take less pedal pressure for hard stops, and will take much more heat before fading than the stock pads. The "Red" ceramic pads also can make a very slight, almost "grinding-like" sound under hard braking, as well as more squealing under light loads (goes away when they heat up a little). They also are more abrasive, so will wear out the brake disks slightly faster.

I have also used Wilwood and Hawk brand pads, but do not recommend them for street-only use. The more aggressive Wilwood pads are fantastic for track use, but don't perform well on the street. Most Hawk pads work great when hot, but make even more dust than the OEM pads!

Please note: If you change to a different, non-OEM pad compound, It's critically important to do all (4) brakes at the same time. Having different compounds on the two axles is not a safe combination.

Now I know why so many BMW's and Audi's have dirty front wheels....too much time to wash them. I used to be a wash once a week guy but don't do that anymore, especially in New England in the winter. I guess I'd have to see how long it takes to build up to a point where I can't stand it. Or use the paddle shifters and no brakes. I'd probably change the pads to one of those you mentioned when it comes time to do it. I guess that would be around 30k miles or so. For me that's 2 years. Thanks.