Went to Deals Gap last weekend - 10 hour drive there and back and I've been cleaning my car ALL day. I did a quick wash when I got back from the trip, but today is the only day I've had to spend all day on the car. The rust spots all over the car are now gone, but the wheels are horrible.

These wheels are only a couple of weeks old (5Zigen FN01R-C) and I don't think they'll ever be as good as new. I've been scrubbing for HOURS on one wheel and it only looks marginally better. Does anyone have a recipe for getting the brake dust off these wheels? They are quite horrible and I didn't think the Blacks would kill a wheel over a week's time.

Can wheel repair companies remove this crap?

 

what i did was take a soft scotch pad, not like the hard bristle kitchen ones, but ya...u know what i mean, just something that wont be scratching the clear coat like mad or anything, and just took some orange soap (lava soap) and pumped once onto the pad and started rubbin, while keeping the wheel wet. ive was rather amazed how clean my wheels turned out.

 

You don't run Hawk Blacks on the street! Ever! The Blacks and Blues will both eat rotors hard core in street driving and both produce an extremely nasty dust. Switch to streetable Hawk pads or go with another brake pad company.

Wheels are painted, you can try to use some automotive paint cleaner. Maybe even a clay bar.

 

Well, I knew that These are my tack pads and I decided to throw them on before the trip so it would be less tools to carry. I carried one multi-screwdriver and an adjustable wrench and was still cramped for space!

This isn't my first experience with the blacks. This is just the worst.

I'm going to try some harsher chemicals tomorrow (on the back side of course) and see what happens.

 

dont use "harsher" chemicals or acids. they can eat away at your clear coat or acrylic coat if u dont use it right, such as leaving it on to long. i tried a specific wheel cleaning agent and didnt even get that good of results from it. of course, it wasnt a high quality 15 dollar bottle (?...haha) either, but it wasnt like a cheap generic cleaner either. you can do it if u want.....but im telling ya, my little technique worked like a CHARM

 

Good luck, I would try limbar's method, you dont' have much to lose at this point. That Hawk race pad dust is just horrible. I know a few track guys running Hawk Blues that have had the paint on their doors ruined because the dust drifted back and "became one with the paint".

 

I'd try clay bar first.

 

After cleaning that crap off (if you can), I would switch to Carbotech brake pads. Just as good (if not better) and the brake dust is NOT corrosive.

 

On the hawk website, the tech guy says that if you are going to run your car on the track or something put a light coating of vasoline on the rims. He said that it makes clean a lot easier. We used orange cleaner with a shoe brush and it seemed to get a lot of the dust off.

 

rock on poo on u...just like i said...........ORANGE CLEANER!

 

Thanks. I'll give that a shot. I had no motivation to touch the car at all today. I'll work on it this week and post before and after pics.

 

Mahjik... does this include the Carbotech Track/race pads too? If yes, that great news and information.

David

 

I not familiar with the wheel finish you have but you may want to try some NuFinish polish. I had the same problem a few years back and basically polished/waxed my SSRs back to health.

I agree with you... the Hawk dust is just plain nasty.

David

 

IMO, that's pointless. There are MANY other pads available that are just as good and /or better, without being corrosive.

 

Yep. Actually, Hawk pads are the only ones I've seen which are actually that corrosive. I run the N-Tech Lapping pads; while they dust like all the other track pads, they don't cause any harm to rims or any other part of the car.

I have several friends that use the Carbotech pads on the track and love them (not all FD's).

 

HOT TIP:

The key to ketting nasty stuff off is finding the right solvent to match up chemically with the offending gunk. I went through this same thing with Hawkl Blues, and will never run them again. HOWEVER, I found that the best product for getting it off was FANTASTIC brand kitchen/houshold cleaner... regular wheel products and Simple Green didn't even touch it. I bet it's the same as the blacks.

P.S.
Everybody who uses Hawk track pads generally coats their wheels with PAM nonstick cooking spray before running on track. It will collect a ton of ust, and your wheels will be black after one run, but it will wipe off with a sponge after.

Good luck.

 

Good luck getting the goo off your new rims. Hawk Black and Blue pads have a high ferrous (iron particle) content, which is why they're called a ferro-carbon compound.

If you switch to a non-ferrous pad you'll have just as much brake dust but it will be much less corrosive to your rims, rotors, and paint.

I switched from Hawk Black to KFP Gold (carbon-kevlar) a couple of years back, and have been much happier with the cleanup results. They are more expensive than Hawks, but rotors last longer and the on-track performance is very comparable to the Hawks. KFP's are pretty streetable, as well.