How do you clean Hawk Blue pad's brake dust?
 

I honestly been loving this White Diamond stuff for deep cleaning dust but all in all this is more of question of what the fuck.
Mine could be irreversible..
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1392889906
But not you!

Blues eat rotors when they're cold. That looks more like rust on your wheel -- from the little bits of iron rotor that got chewed off and embedded themselves in the paint on the wheels.

--Ian

How long did you let the dust sit? Has it rained recently?

get this stuff:

https://griotsgarage.scene7.com/is/i...6_FAM?$detail$

It will react with the iron and dissolve it. Amazon Prime eligible.

And get one of these:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...5L._SX425_.jpg

Also Prime.

Spray, wait for color change (a minute), agitate, rinse.

Introducing: Griot’s Garage Heavy-Duty Wheel Cleaner | In My Garage

O rly :party:

Trying it next week on my mega-OG Gen1 15x9s. Emilio's original race wheels, sold to me when the Gen2s came out IIRC. Probably the oldest and hardest-used 6ULs in existence. I haven't washed them in years.

Curious to see your results. Just make sure you follow the directions.

Spray, wait, agitate, rinse. Using the long bottle-type brush helps. I'd start here:
rather than the one above. I use the Daytona, but it's more. Beware of back-splatter--wear glasses.

Maybe a month, it's Florida so yes.
I'll try that stuff though y8s

subbed for results. My Hawk DTC-60 pads do the same thing on my (shitty) C3M's if I track/autox and then don't clean the brake dust before it rains. I have never been able to get the crap off. I planned on sanding it off and re-paining the wheels now that the car is garaged.

Edit....
I have also heard of guys using diluted Muriatic Acid. but that has a good chance of destroying the finish.

Double edit...
SONAX works wonders for everything but the iron build up. Once you get that rust out, use SONAX weekly and you will never have a problem again!

sub'd for results

Ordered, will deliver.

I've been told wd-40 and steel wool today as well.

The Griots HD stuff is pretty much the same idea. But about half the cost.

Oh man. That will certainly remove things. Many things.

you need to be careful with steel wool, the steel will come off the wool and imbed itself into the softer aluminum and then rust. which is what you are trying to avoid in the first place.

This is even a concern when cleaning stainless steel firearms with steel wool.

You can buy stainless SS, it's just not something easily aquired through a brick&mortar.

-Zach

ftfy

Oh and to the OP> That's not coming off. Hawk 9012's "Blue" are basically iron carbide. Those metal shavings that hit the wheel are a very different PH and are charged from all the movement. That stuff is cold welded on, literally. Most old school iron based race pads (Wilwood, Porterfield, Hawk Blue, HPS) do that. Modern ceramic Kevlar style race pads (Carbotech XP, Cobalt XR, Hawk DTC, Some Carbone Loraine, Some PFC..) don't. If you are a die hard Hawk fan, I'd suggest the DTC60's or whatever Andrew recommends. I'm a Carbotech guy.

The WD-40&steel wool was surely taking it off but didn't want to damage anything

I switched to Wagner ceramics. They are like sponges compared to the hawks in traffic.
I lived the Hawks but holy hell they ate my rotoors. My drivers front (the one in the picture and worst wheel) rotor looks like a typical daily driven car's that haven't been changed. I should replace it :/

I'd have to try the Carbotechs, why carbotech>others? Is it because the Kevlar/ceramics?

Carbotechs FTW.

I literally left brake dust on my cheap as Konigs (3 events in 4 weeks) for approaching 8 months, it washed right off without doing anything to the finish.

I spray my wheels with lemon scented Pledge (yes, the furniture polish stuff. I like the lemony fresh smell) before an event. Clean up is a snap.

Carbotech was the first US race pad supplier (tiny company BTW) to do Ceramic Kevlar blend with almost no metal in them. Requires a transfer layer and the pads are compressible. If you are used to the iron/carbon brick of a 9012, the Carbotechs will feel springier. The difference is the Carbotech are far, easier to modulate because of that compressibility. Just saying far easier doesn't really cover it. Hawks require very little effort but have really awful release characteristics. Rolling off the brakes with great precision is where all the speed in a Miata is and that's what the 9012's do worst. Carbotech's, once you get used to the slightly higher effort, are like cheating. They win Runoffs in Spec Miata almost every year.

Carbon Loraine was doing C/K pads in Europe before Carbotech was here. Hawk responded with their DTC (Dynamic Torque Control) after they saw Carbotech's success with C/K. PFC still use more metal but they're C/K pads are very good also. Cobalt XR line is well, another response to Carbotech's XP line. I have an affinity for the Carbotech brand because they're a small company that affected the amateur racing pad industry in a profound way by taking a chance on what were then "expensive" pads, winning races and inspiring much larger established companies to develpop their own versions for the same market. It's a familar story to me ;)

I had the same dust problem with both blues and DTC60s. If the dust gets wet and you can't wash it off quick enough, DTC60s are no better than blues in my experience.

Someone also suggested the Griot's heavy duty stuff to me after I'd already tried all the other wheel cleaners at the parts stores. It was $22 and didn't do shit, no matter how long I waited or how much I scrubbed.

I finally gave up and went inside to wash my hands and found a final contender:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393203545

Fucking dawn dishwashing liquid did the trick. It took a little scrubbing, but the wheels look brand new after that stuff. Skip the $22 for Griot's and go spend $6 on some Dawn Platinum.

Consider Cobalt pads as well. They have a good reputation.

In for this.

I am using Hawk DTC's but even those have been a pain to clean off if the dust gets wet. The only thing I've found is it's easier to remove if I wax the wheels ahead of time (but that only applies if you're removing the dust immediately).

Spraying this stuff on the inside of your rims helps keep the rubber slag and track marbles from sticking to them and causing a vibration.

been using carbotechs. Haven't really cleaned my wheels for a few years (Other than a bit of rain maybe), until this past weekend. Had no issues removing the dust. This is with a mix of XP10 and XP8 compounds.

Because it's Florida and it's raining I'll attempt tomorrow
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393461953

Cobalts are definately not as friendly dust wize to wheels as Carbotech.

I just never got the planates to align properly to get a consistant transfer layer or any kind or consistant modulation wenever I tried Carbotech. the brake torque to pedal pressure seemed like it was a moving target in every corner. got really tired of the inconsistancy and brake judder from uneven transfer layer developing.

Cobalts XR's are stiff, compleatly linear modulation, absolutly consistant friction charicteristics across a super wide range of temps, require no bedding whatsoever even if you put them on used rotors that used other pad compounds, never had brake judder issues develop. try to wash off the dust before it gets wet.

Does good on the bumper and other leading edges.
Great for love bug season as well.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393553684
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393553684
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393553684



That's one single use while I was on lunch at work.

Yeah that is about as far as SONAX goes

was that lots of scrubbing and rinsing too?

There is no way thats coming off short of sand blasting.

No, it was a rushed job kinda. No hardcore scrubbing and a nice rinse. I was washing the car.

I didn't take a close up but hers the passenger side wheels instead of the drivers I've been showing.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393642589

evaporust
 

I've had amazing, life-changing, miraculous results with "Evaporust". It's a product that's meant to have a rusty part immersed in it, causing the rust to chemically react to the agent and just...go away. I don't know where it goes...Michigan? Wisconsin? The stuff works, and I've even brushed it on with pretty good results.

Normally scrubbing is not needed, so any damage to your wheels would be limited to that which has already been done. Here's a link at Harbor Freight:

Evapo-Rust

evaporust
 

I should have made a "before and after" sequence, but here is my pedal assembly bracket after I left it overnight in Evaporust. The stuff is only good for about a year and my bottle is older than that, so I had to use a little steel wool.

This bracket was completely covered in surface rust. The rust has a chemical reaction with the Evaporust which is stronger than the bond to metal, so it simply releases and changes molecular structure. Beware as I've left zinc-plated bolts in solution overnight, and the rust AND zinc plating are gone in the morning.

Even so, it's supposed to be bio-degradable as well so Mother Gaia will smile on your car restoration efforts. :)

That's cool.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395356479

So far it's been working though. My rears are great. Fronts not so much.
Rear: https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395356479
Front:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395356479

I guess even the heavy duty stuff can't fight time. It looks like your rims have been electroplated in rust.

The funny thing is, I never noticed anything with the wheels until I accidentally used MAG wheel cleaner when washing the car, not sure how that would interoperate into this.

Don't get me wrong, the heavy duty stuff is amazing. Just need to a wheel cleaning season of repeatedly spray/agitate(maybe more elbow grease)/rinse.

I think I've done this thing 3-4 times and that emptied the bottle/broke sprayer on my last 2 wheels so I had rub it on.

so I cleaned my wheels and new tires this past weekend.

I used the remaining Sonax I had and some new Griots HD. I also had to clean up the remnants of what might have been a torn CV boot. Basically the inside barrel of one wheel had a 1/8 to 1/4 inch grease layer on it.

No wheel cleaner removes that shit.

But GOOF OFF or GOO GONE does! I made a huge mess first. Oops.

The wheels aren't perfect so they only got a 90% job. The tires were brand new so I scrubbed the bejeezus out of them and applied some Tuf Shine.

Here is the result:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395860987

Tuf Shine is the awesome sauce of tire coatings. They are totally dry in the picture. You could sit on them in your wife's wedding dress and remain married. They will keep that appearance for many months. Simply clean and recoat after that.

The initial cleaning is the pain though. It takes 3-4 hard scrubbings with a stiff brush and the Tuf Shine cleaner. Even on brand new tires.

Does anyone have any updates on what they found to work well?

I bought these advantis used and really want to try to clean them up. I'm not opposed to rattle canning them once they're cleaned if the paint is affected in any way, though I'd like to avoid it if possible. I'd rather take care of it before putting them on the car.

I sprayed some random wheel cleaner on them and scrubbed with a rough side of a kitchen sponge, but no dice. I may try dish soap next, but I doubt that's going to do anything!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ab663f0221.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...386be19c37.jpg

Surf City Code Red

or
Sonax as mentioned above

Both have been spray on, rinse off awesomesauce for me and my Carbotech then Hawk DTC, now G-Loc pads. Those are all CarbonKevlar based and pretty easy-going as far as wheel finishes are concerned.

I was just reading this the other day and I think I'm going to give it a try on some nasty C3Ms that came on a car I recently acquired:

https://forums.nasioc.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=929586

Ordered the Surf city spray. I'm a bit worried that there's too much caked on that's been sitting for too long, but I'll update the thread when I try things out.

Would a high pressure washer help too? I can do a few cycles of use at home with a brush, then take them to a car wash to do a few cycles for the really caked on stuff.

This stuff gest rid of the black baked on crap on my wife's Volvo. I would bet it would get rid of the iron, but probably your paint too. Sonax would not touch the baked on stuff.

It is an acid wash and you need to dilute it 1:5 parts water. Also use an acid resistant spray bottle. The factory Volvo wheels don't mind this stuff but my son used it on his older Subaru which had some gold paint on the alloy wheels which disappeared.




I would test a bit on the back of the wheel and see how the paint holds up.