If Mini's are anything like BMW's, the brakes create gobs of dust on the wheels. Help may be just a polymer coating away! Check out the latest Car & Driver, page 139 where they review a product called RejeX that coats your wheels with a wipe on-wipe off polymer coating. The dust comes off with just plain water! Check it out, or go to http://www.corrosionx.com. Anyone tried this stuff?

 

I do the same thing with wax. Remove all the brake dust, wax the wheels, and for the next couple of months you can remove the brake dust with water. The wax helps create a barrier for the brake dust in getting into all the microscopic pits that exist in the surface of the wheel.

Moving to Detailing 101....

Mark

 

>>If Mini's are anything like BMW's, the brakes create gobs of dust on the wheels. Help may be just a polymer coating away! Check out the latest Car & Driver, page 139 where they review a product called RejeX that coats your wheels with a wipe on-wipe off polymer coating. The dust comes off with just plain water! Check it out, or go to http://www.corrosionx.com. Anyone tried this stuff?


I had Kleen Wheels dust shields installed and am darned happy. No noticeable dust. :smile:

 

>>I do the same thing with wax. Remove all the brake dust, wax the wheels, and for the next couple of months you can remove the brake dust with water.

Mark, I wish my wheels behaved like yours. I can put two or more coats of carnuba wax on the wheels and water doesn't remove but a tiny portion of the brake dust. I just got a Zaino kit and will try some Zaino on them to see if that helps.

 

I used RainX quick wax and the dust wipes right off with a paper towel....

Rocketboy_X

 

I wax the outside of the wheels and use Pam cooking spray on the inside (Makes them easier to clean) but when you are doing allot of stop and go driving just water will not cut it.

 

I apply a coat of wax (something cheap like Turtle wax, as its job is to sacrifice itself, not increase the glossy shine) every other week, and then Simple Green on each wheel prior to a hose down / wash. Keeps my pearly whites looking good.

 

>>I wax the outside of the wheels and use Pam cooking spray on the inside (Makes them easier to clean) but when you are doing allot of stop and go driving just water will not cut it.

No kidding... the break dust on my rims laughs at me when I try to clean it with water... the water just bounces right off... but agan, if I use a dry paper towel, or other cloth, it comes right off... maybe I should use compressed air... heh heh

Rocketboy_X

 

How do you clean the inner area of the wheels...or is it completely impossible? I can't get inside there with the R90s, and it's not too easy with S-Lites either. Thoughts?

 

I tried a product that I impulsebought at Pep-Boys called "Orange Blast." I wasn't too optimistic as I've tried other products with zero results. But, applied it to my cool wheels before I washed and rinsed it off when I rinsed the rest of the car and it worked! Took off 95% of the brake dust and grime. Just had to wipe off a little bit.

 

Wheel wax is OK
Clean with simple green
Get some EBC green brake shoes- best for less brake dust but not good for the track

 

>>I tried a product that I impulsebought at Pep-Boys called "Orange Blast." I wasn't too optimistic as I've tried other products with zero results. But, applied it to my cool wheels before I washed and rinsed it off when I rinsed the rest of the car and it worked! Took off 95% of the brake dust and grime. Just had to wipe off a little bit.

i have orange blast and it hasnt helped at getting off brake dust..

 

>>Get some EBC green brake shoes- best for less brake dust but not good for the track

Still better than OEM, no? I was planning on gettting them VERY soon for the whole brake dust issue, but I seem to recall a thread where Randy pointed out that they're actually a pretty nice upgrade from OEM for braking power alone.

 

As you all know, the front brakes do most of the work so they get far more brake dust on them than the rears.

I put Greenstuff pads on the fronts and now when I go to wash, the fronts have much less dust on them than the rears. And they were really easy to install too.

Do any of those spray-on/let sit/spray off wheel cleaners really work?

 

Scooterboy,
I have used Griots Garage Wheel Cleaner. Just spray onto a wet wheel, let sit for 30-60 seconds, wipe with a sponge and hose off. It works for me.

 

After reading about RejeX in C&D I order a bottle. Used it on my wife's Volvo which has considerable brake dust build-up week to week. It worked great. As soon as I got my Mini home I removed the wheels and applied RejeX inside and out. At wash time most of the brake dust rinses off. The rest easily comes off with soap and water. No more of the harsh wheel cleaners for me. RejeX is also supposed to last for a couple of months before re-applying. We'll see. Only thing is, you are supposed to give RejeX 12 hours to "cure" before using the car. Put it on in the evening and you're ready to go next morning.

 

I use PS21 which you apply with a spray bottle. Let stand about 20 seconds, then use a soft nylon wheel cleaning brush ($3 at Wal Mart) to scrub the nooks and crannies and finally hose off with clean water. Looks great. You probably don't even have to use the nylon brush, but I like to do a thorough job. There's a couple of good web sites on car care: http://www.properautocare.com/ and http://www.carcareonline.com. read what they say about PS21, Simple Green and other cleaners.

Got EBC Green Stuff pads, so I'll be installing them soon.

 

>>>>I do the same thing with wax. Remove all the brake dust, wax the wheels, and for the next couple of months you can remove the brake dust with water.
>>
>>Mark, I wish my wheels behaved like yours. I can put two or more coats of carnuba wax on the wheels and water doesn't remove but a tiny portion of the brake dust. I just got a Zaino kit and will try some Zaino on them to see if that helps.
>>


Any luck with the Zaino? My Mini just arrived last Thursday, and ordered a Zaino kit this weekend. Which wax am I supposed to put on the wheels? Z-2? Z-5? How many coats....this dust is driving me nuts, last car was a Honda.

 

The first step in keeping your wheels clean or cleaner from brake dust is to reduce the amount of brake dust being created this approach also makes cleaning off whatever dust does appear very easy.
Install a set of low dust brake pads, when I did I could not believe the difference it made. I installed Greenstuf from the Tire Rack although there are a few other manufacturers that produce a similar type of product. I have pwoder coated white wheels and they always look great!
Other steps you can take are just like what previous people have mentioned like waxing will make cleaning faster and easier.

 

For those with aftermarket rims or considering upgrading:

The other thing I noticed about brake dust from the stock brake pad is when I changed my wheels to
Centerline RPM polished finish either the more open 6 spoke pattern or the smoother polished finish really helped to cut down on the perceived brake dust problem. The dust is still made but it isn't sticking as much-maybe reduced about 60% and what little does get on the rim is easily wiped off with a dry cloth, plus with the open design I can get into the inner side of the rim very easily. So instead of cleaning my wheels daily I might do it now twice a week.
I'll also be changing my brade pads to Mintex soon. That should help some.

_________________
ALOHA

 

If you want to see my rims (non cleaned- just driving around) then click on the picture above and select open in a new window. change the address bar to read ".sized." rather than ".thumb." and then hit return. The wheel pic should be bigger.
Or try
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co.../fcd.sized.jpg
(maybe that is too hard to do all that)

_________________
ALOHA

 

>>Any luck with the Zaino? My Mini just arrived last Thursday, and ordered a Zaino kit this weekend. Which wax am I supposed to put on the wheels? Z-2? Z-5? How many coats....this dust is driving me nuts, last car was a Honda.

Howdy!

I would first suggest you using the same procedure in cleaning the paint as you would the rims. Make sure to read the Zaino instructions in paint prep and apply it to cleaning the rims before using Zaino 2.

First wash the rims with Dawn and a soft sponge or micro fiber towel. Then clay bar the rims, careful not to drop the bar on the ground. Re-wash the rims with Dawn and dry with terry cloth towels. Apply a coat of Zaino and let dry between-30 mins. to an hour. Remove the Zaino with a terry towel. If you didn't purchase the ZFX accelerator (Zaino polish additive-quick bonding), you must wait a few hours before applying another coat of Z2.

I used two coats on my rims and now takes 3 days to start getting real dirty, whereas before Z2...my rims were filthy with a day's worth of driving.
:smile:

Good luck!

 

Pooky13,
I finally got Zaino so I will try out your suggestions on my wheels!
Yours look great and with the Zaino 2 you only have to wash wheels twice a week.
Don't scrape those nice rims! Be careful. No turns at 90+mph!

 

Minihune,

I'm glad you've gone ahead and purchased the Z2 product, did you get the ZFX (awesome stuff) and or the Z6 detailer? The ZFX allows you to put up to 3 coats of Z2 in one day by allowing the Z2 polish to "cure" ultra-fast.

Your centerlines are great looking, make sure to take pics after the application of the Zaino and let us all see. :smile:

Sorry I'm getting out of hand here, let me calm down.

 

I'm in the wax and Simple Green camp

Wax the wheels when clean (I use AURI), that really makes future cleaning easy...

Then a few squirts of Simple Green at wash time, and the white wheels look like new with a quick sponge wipe and rinse off.

Always use a seperate 'wheel' sponge of course

Also found the Autoglym wheel brush to be useful for getting in around the wheel nuts

Chris.