The battle against Brake Dust

Laugh if you must, but last season I decided to purchase yet another set of Team Dynamics wheels, this time in Alpine White. In retrospect, this might not have been the *smartest* of decisions, but they do look “hellagood” on my vehicles.

Folks have been teasing me about the maintenance of these wheels – relentlessly – and normally my reaction (and i’ll bet that of others) to cleaning wheels, especially those on my track toy is…

But having white wheels has definitely changed my opinion about the appearance of my Track car. #becauseracecar #becauselazy

But a larger, unnoticed problem with my wheels surfaced while I was prepping for the start of this season. After the long winter hibernation, I pulled out my other set of wheels, my black set of Team Dynamics… and they were showing signs of corrosion.

This perplexing discovery led me to send an email to our GTM sponsor at Radial Tire Co, who is a dealer for Team Dynamics Wheels (now owned by Forgeline). The friendly folks at Radial contacted their Forgeline representative to see if there was a defect with the coating on these wheels, as they too had never seen this type of issue before. #warrantyclaim

Forgeline responded with confidence that this was no defect, but the result of improper cleaning. Something they see often with track cars.

Thinking back over the later part of the season, I pled guilty to having had the car at a few events where it rained (Shenandoah, VIR … for those that remember); the thought never crossed my mind to tend to the wheels after those events. Higher end brake pads like Hawk DTC-60s and Porterfield R4s are amazing pads, but they don’t leave much in the way of “cleanliness” and the dust they give off is sticky, fine and rather costic – especially compared to Street Pads. It turns out my problem was “caked on brake-dust that was neglected” …. So, just add water, and watch it… RUST.

Now for the good news, this “rust” isn’t embedded or eating into the finish of the wheel, but rather “glued” there. Forgeline recommended a special cleaner/soap for their wheels (more on that later). After looking into the rather expensive product, it got me thinking: “is there a better or cheaper alternative to the cleaner that was suggested?” — And now for the bad news, it was time for some spring cleaning!

Time for a bake-off! After some careful research and late night shopping, I narrowed my contenders down to FOUR.  The main criteria was that each product needed to be “safe” for painted, powder-coated or clear-coated wheels – and designed to “dissolve brake dust.”

To keep our science project fair, I took two wheels (one white & one black) to test each product, and also sampled one “clear coated” wheel per product from my Jeep.

Additionally, I followed the manufacturer directions for “best use.” Lastly, to make sure I removed the cleaning solution throughly from the wheels, I used a new tool that I acquired that makes wheel cleaning much easier: The Brush Hero, Professional Wheel Cleaner.

Live Demonstration!

Round 1: Car Guys Premium Wheel Cleaner

Admittedly, I’ve been using Car Guys Premium Wheel Cleaner for some time, it’s great for my daily drivers, but I’ve never put it up against track wheels. Car Guys products are highly rated by detailers and waxers alike. Since I use it often, I happen to have the 1 gallon refill jug and my own sprayer (as pictured earlier). Car Guys Wheel Cleaner is a deep raspberry red color, and has a thickness similar to room temperature Maple Syrup.

The Car Guys Wheel Cleaner makes quick work of day-to-day road grime and brake dust. It was quite good at cutting “grease” left over from the lug holes and tire slag. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to penetrate the track pad residue. FWIW, The Car Guys formula, was the best at cleaning the inside of the wheel, which looked awesome, but that’s the part we rarely look at.

Round 2: Adam’s Polishes Wheel Cleaner

Adam’s Polishes Wheel Cleaner was the product recommended by Forgeline for use with Team Dynamics wheels. For the same size bottle as Car Guys, it’s only a few cents cheaper. The cleaner itself is a teal color, and when applied to the wheels turns purple as it’s working. I was taken aback by the smell of the cleaner, which was oddly reminiscent of a freshly opened package of Haribo Gummy Bears. The Adam’s product seemed to really work well in the “tough to reach areas” making quick work of the “team dynamics motorsport” font on the outer lip of the wheels and other tight areas. I did note that in order to get a “proper foam” it took nearly half of the bottle for two wheels. Quick math brings us to an entire bottle for four wheels making it the most expensive option in the line up. Adam’s is strong soap, but it did leave behind some spots and gunk that should have easily come up. It took away about 25+% of the track residue which edged it above Car Guys in terms of cleaning power.

Round 3: Black Magic Intense Wheel Cleaner

Having used Black Magic products in the past it was a brand I was familiar with, and having seen how their other potions work, like “Back-to-Black,” they make some great products. Of the four products we tested, the Black Magic Intense Wheel Cleaner is by far the cheapest.

Black Magic Wheel Cleaner has a very thin consistency – watery – but foams up surprisingly thick, neon pink and quickly. It has has a distinct “snap-crackle-pop” of a heavy detergent. As Black Magic is working you’ll note a smell in the air like Strawberry Jam. I found the cleaning power of the Black Magic to be very close to that of the Car Guys product. It was great for lifting the normal dust, grime and gunk, but wasn’t able to really penetrate the track residue.

Round 4: Armor-All Extreme Wheel Cleaner

Armor-All is one of those brands we all know, right up there with Turtle-Wax, as having “been around forever.” During my research I noted that this was the only product that outright recommended you wear skin + eye protection during use… it had to be on the list! The Armor-All Extreme Wheel Cleaner solution has the same consistency as the Armor-All you would use on your interior, the spray bottle makes a light white foam that smells heavily of bleach.

The Armor-All Extreme Wheel Cleaner only needs about 30-seconds to start working versus its much slower competitors and was the only product where you could visibly see the grime melting off the wheels. This product comes in as the 3rd cheapest in our test, and by far the strongest. The packaging is littered with warnings and even boasts needing very little, if any scrubbing. The Armor-All Cleaner was able to penetrate and loosen the track residue, not 100%, but it did make it easy to scrape off even through the nitrile gloves I was wearing.

The black wheels on the other hand, were more obvious which product worked and which one didn’t, in the end, I can’t blame any of the products for not being able to fully penetrate the track residue that has accumulated on my wheels, but I think i have come up with a solution…

A soft plastic bristle brush attached to a Dremel Rotary should help break up the build up on these wheels without damaging the finish and then we can continue our final cleaning.  #dremeltime

Quick Comparison

Verdict?

My favorite “wheel cleaner” by far (above)… but in all seriousness, if we were talking about hyper-polished wheels on a daily driver, any of the four products we tested will work wonders. For the post track-day clean up, we think there is one cleaner (in this test) that stood out above the rest in terms of Price + raw Cleaning Power…

There are so many products available in stores today. We hope this narrowed the field a bit, but by all means, please don’t take this as a hard-and-fast recommendation. Find a product you like and works well for your application. But above all, please remember to take care of your track wheels before they are too far gone. Try and make a habit of cleaning them after an event, off the car, and once they have cooled.

Keep the shiny side up!