Cleaning Break Dust

[N3K]

I have some 14x7 modgies I want to clean up and paint black. Behind the wheel is covered in break dust and thick oil from a broken axle seal.

 

You guys got any good product recommendations for cleaning this stuff off?

 

I also have a water blaster.

[Beaver]

degreaser (foaming and let is soak) and elbow grease has worked for me in the past

[Rookie]

Dragons breath is the shit.

[Ghostchips]

Stiff brush, degreaser is ok, might take a few goes.  And rinse with something i found in a drum at work called brake cleaner.

[Spencer]

Use a strong solvent, gun wash melts everything usually.

[N3K]

What's oven cleaner like? 

[Spencer]

It's a caustic solution of some kind. A strong solvent will work at least 1000 times better.

[Spencer]

Even better use scotch brite and solvent (like thinners) it will melt tar/everything and prep the surface.

[N3K]

I was told that oven cleaner can burn your skin. God damn what does your stuff do Spencer? Hahahaha. I'll have a look around and see what I can find!

 

Churr!!

[N3K]

Will the scotch brite fk my chrome and scratch it up?

 

I have some strong acetone.. I wonder if that'd work with soapy water?

[Spencer]

Oven cleaner (like paint stripper but much more mild) is generaly a alkaline cleaner with some foaming shit, so some brands will burn. It still is mostly useless for the purpose of cleaning wheels IMO. Well it will work but it's expensive and not that good. Basically if it doesn't move with soap then try a alkali (branded as water based) degreaser, after that move to oil based solvents. For wheels I would jump straight to scotch brite and gun wash or a general thinner. You won't get a much better solvent unless you go out of your way to buy MEK or some other deadly shit.

[Hemi]

Oven cleaner is just sodium hydroxide. Same shit found in your non solvent degreaser.

Works awesome on brake dust. Really good for cleaning that brown shit off your tyres too.

Calite works awesome too. (White spirits)

[Hemi]

I used diddys method for my wheels and they came up pretty schmick.

My vote for getting heaps of that oil dirt mixture into is still alkaline based degreaser roughed in with brush then rinse and repeat.

[Spencer]

Yes agree, move your way up the grade of chemicals. Get the dirt off with mild degreaser and elbows. Then move on to solvents. I haven't met a wheel that has been on a car for a few years (without a OCD cleaning regime) that will clean up properly with just degreaser.

[Hemi]

*** be careful of using alkaline based stuff on unprotected polished alloys.

They won't be polished afterwards.

[N3K]

Where do they sell this product elbows?

[Spencer]

*** be careful of using alkaline based stuff on unprotected polished alloys.

They won't be polished afterwards.

 

This is a good point acids and alkali cleaning products should be used carefully on alloy. 

[N3K]

If the bee had knees, you guys would be the caps.

 

Outstanding lads. Cheers.

[Spencer]

Will the scotch brite fk my chrome and scratch it up?

 

I have some strong acetone.. I wonder if that'd work with soapy water?

 

Sorry I was posting on my phone and didn't see this. Acetone is just one of the many solvents you can use, in consumer quantaties it is fairly expensive to use for general cleaning, although it will help remove tar etc.

 

Sorry if you don' t want to scratch the chrome then how will the paint stick? I just assumed you were dealing with fucked chrome hence the paint.

[N3K]

Sorry I was posting on my phone and didn't see this. Acetone is just one of the many solvents you can use, in consumer quantaties it is fairly expensive to use for general cleaning, although it will help remove tar etc.

 

Sorry if you don' t want to scratch the chrome then how will the paint stick? I just assumed you were dealing with fucked chrome hence the paint.

 

Oh I was going to dip them.