How to Stop Brake Dust on Rims?

Brake dust is a common thing for car owners. You clean the wheels and after 4 or 5 days, the rims start looking all dirty again. Why? Because of those stubborn brake dust. They might be a little too unsightly, but their presence means that the brakes of your car are doing fine. I’ll be explaining the reason behind it in this article. I’ll also walk you through some measures that can help learn how to stop brake dust on the rims.

What Causes Brake Dust?

Brake dust is caused by brake wear. When you press the brakes, the brake pads get heated up due to friction. As a result, the metallic parts of the brake pads get a static electric charge, wear off, and get stuck to the rims, wheels, and other parts of the car. Brake rotors that consist of cast iron also cause brake dust.

Brake dust is quite an unavoidable situation. If there’s no formulation of brake dust on your car wheels, it’s an indication of the brakes being damaged. Therefore, it’s a good thing that the dust keeps producing. However, you can prevent it from reaching and sticking to the rims. Let’s see how we can do that.

Using Brake Dust Shields

When it comes to making brake dust to fall under the car instead of sticking up to the wheels, brake dust shield is a good thing to start with. This thing fits between the wheels and brake rotors. They are usually made of aluminum or steel. The function of dust shields is almost like dust repellants. The only difference is that these shields come in the form of a frame.

Installation of brake dust shields requires no guidance or help from professionals. Reading the manual, you can set them up in no time. They are affordably priced. Brake shields come in different colors, sizes, and designs. So, whoever of you like your cars looking always like new can have a variety of options to choose from. One thing you must note down is that these shields come in pairs. Therefore, you’ll need two pairs for a four-wheeler.

The brake dust shields contain air vents to ensure brake cooling. This increases the efficiency of the brake and also makes the brake dust fall on the ground instead of sticking to the rims. The shields are customizable. Therefore, you can paint them to make your car look better.

Replacing Brake Pads

The brake pads of your car might be containing cheap-quality materials. This makes them cause more friction and brake dust. Some aftermarket pads are labeled as ‘low dusting’ pads. You can try those. They consist of ceramics, Kevlar, carbon fiber, or synthetics. These materials provide your wheels with more efficient stopping power and timing. As a consequence, your car will halt sooner and will produce less dust than before.

You can opt for the ceramic brake pads initially. They work just fine. It’s not like they don’t produce dust, but it’s just that the dust they create is much lighter than dust created by the metallic brake pads. Therefore, their appearance is hardly noticed.

Replacing brake pads won’t give you zero-dust guarantee, but they’ll certainly reduce the amount of dust production. If you collaborated new brake pads with dust shields, you won’t have to worry about brake dust for a long time.

Using Brake Dust Repellant

Brake dust repellants are specialized spray-like things that make your car’s rims’ surfaces smooth and slippery. Upon application, you’ll notice that brake dust is no further sticking to the rims, and they’re sliding off the wheels instead.

These repellants usually contain silica soap. It makes the surfaces slippery. You can use the whole thing to coat your entire car. The brake dust will no longer stick to the wheels, let alone the other parts of the car.

Products like hydrosilex, non-sticky Teflon spray, etc are some of the amazing brake dust repellants. You have to apply these to your car a couple of times a month. The car will shine brighter than before, and the brake dust will stop bothering you.

Conclusion

These were some of the easiest ways to prevent the build-up of brake dust on the rims. Follow one method consistently, and your car will keep looking like the same store-bought car. Keep your car inspected on a regular basis to avoid any further problems.