Brake/Rotor/Wheel upkeep tips

[Sesshomurai]

Boss gurus,
What do y'all do to maintain your brakes/rotors and wheels as they get dusty and dirty from track use?
What products do you use on what components? I want to be careful not to spray the wrong product on the wrong part (e.g. brake cleaner on wheels = eats the finish?)

thanks for tips.
D

 

[BOSS5OH]

I typically wash my track wheels before the event when they are on the car and im doing my pre track car wash.

And then after the event when I am switching to my street wheels I clean the insides and outsides of the rims with my meguiars wash/wax car wash soap and a microfiber mitt. That normally takes off all the brake dust and built up rubber. Then I'll normally give them a second wash using the same procedure to get them sparkly clean.

I clean the tire sidewalls with some meguiars all purpose cleaner and a brush. I'm not really a fan of using aggressive products on wheels. Could possibly ruin the finish.

While im at it i'll use a car wash mitt and a bucket of car wash soap/water to clean up the brake calipers to get them nice and clean. The back brakes also tend to discolor since they are painted black if you use an aggressive product.

 

[LindsayEOD]

For me, it depends on how dirty the wheels are. I'm pretty OCD about having a clean (spotless) car so I rarely have to deep clean. When I do however, I use Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner. http://www.autogeek.net/sonax-wheel-cleaner.html I was shown this by a high end detailer. He swears by it and now so do I. You dont want to put it on your rotors, though. For normal cleaning, I just use Adams Green Wheel Cleaner or just and all purpose if you dont like Adams products. The Daytona speed master brush does help to get inside the wheels. For the outside of the wheels I use a boars hair brush like this: http://www.autogeek.net/20inbrmoorbo.html To get inside the lugs, I use this: http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-537-adams-trim-lug-nut-brush.aspx There are a lot of products that work well. I like Adams because of his support for the military, however, Chemical Guys and Adams are made by the same people so you can save some money by going with Chemical Guys. The green wheel cleaner is 100% safe on the rotors and calipers, fi.

 

[cloud9]

I drive my car through the car wash after track days before I put my street tires back on and then I'm done I have a black paint pen for all the chips on my track wheels.

I use this stuff for removing all the rubber marks on the car that the car wash doesn't remove. It works great.

 

[Sesshomurai]

Thanks fellas.

 

[Grant 302]

I use a coin-op pressure washer on my way home from the track. For the painted wheels I put a light coat of wax and make sure to get the interior corners that usually collect brake dust.