Any way to reduce brake dust?

[Elstupido]

The brake dust on my new to me 98 BMW 740i is getting pretty heavy on my front wheels.

Kinda hard to clean, even using some very good wheel polish, after a month or so. Should I consider going to ceramic, or other type of brake pads? Genuine pain in the ass to keep these rims sparkling. The pads and rotors are fairly new, no problem with the rear brakes though.

 

[mooseracing]

Fronts are usally set up with a higher bias, hence extra dust. Ceramic could help but IIRC more expensive and chews the rotor down faster.

 

[SoulAssassin]

German cars are notorious for brake dust, the C-class I had back in '02 was terrible. I could wash, wax the rims and have them shining and literally within a mile I would crap them all up. My BMW now isn't as as bad but still worse than the Acura I had between them. I put aftermarket Porterfield pads on the Benz and it really helped but still worse than your average car.

 

[franksta]

A different brake pad could help. I replaced the original rear pads on my wife's Volvo after they had gotten too thin. They were also dusting the wheels and fender quite a bit. I'm not sure what the OE ones were made of but the replacements are organic and don't seem to dust at all.

 

[Vette73]

Yep go with a Ceramic pad. They have improved the formula a good deal since they came out so they don;t tear the rotor up as bad as before. They still are hard and are not good for towing/performnace driving/etc... as they don;t take heat to well.

With that said I have ceramic pads on my Corvette and CTS. My truck has a mix pad with a little ceramic and the rest metallic.

Look at the pads you can get at www.rockauto.com they have a large selction.

 

[scorp00]

I had the same problem with my stock gm brake pads. I got some powerstop slotted rotors and hawk hps brake pads and I have almost no brake dust on my rims anymore.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: scorp00
I had the same problem with my stock gm brake pads. I got some powerstop slotted rotors and hawk hps brake pads and I have almost no brake dust on my rims anymore.

Hawk HPS are a great street pad. Not the best for the best stopping distances but probably as good up to 9/10th's and hardly any dust with great cold stopping power.

Even after 10 80mph to 5 mph power stops back to back and my rotors visibly smoking, the pads still performed well.

 

[rh71]

People say they continue to use these high-dust pads because it is still the best stopping power. Changing them would undo one of the best features in the car.

I clean my wheels at least once every 2 weeks (gets bad even though I don't drive everyday). Simple car wash soap and water. I don't mind right now but I can see it getting old over a few years. A lot of others have tried all kinds of wax but still it's never as simple as just spraying it off with water so you may as well save your money and wash it the conventional way.

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: scorp00
I had the same problem with my stock gm brake pads. I got some powerstop slotted rotors and hawk hps brake pads and I have almost no brake dust on my rims anymore.

I have the exact same setup on the fronts of my RSX, and the dust definitely went down.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: rh71
People say they continue to use these high-dust pads because it is still the best stopping power. Changing them would undo one of the best features in the car.

Stock dusty pads are just crappy pads 9 times out of 10.

As well 9 out of 10 probably wouldn't know the difference between the worst and best pads on the street and what they assume is 'hard' driving would have most waiting for them to get the fuck out of the way.

 

[Juddog]

Originally posted by: Savij

Originally posted by: scorp00
I had the same problem with my stock gm brake pads. I got some powerstop slotted rotors and hawk hps brake pads and I have almost no brake dust on my rims anymore.

I have the exact same setup on the fronts of my RSX, and the dust definitely went down.

Is it the slotted rotors or the hawk hps brake pads that make the biggest difference?

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Juddog

Originally posted by: Savij

Originally posted by: scorp00
I had the same problem with my stock gm brake pads. I got some powerstop slotted rotors and hawk hps brake pads and I have almost no brake dust on my rims anymore.

I have the exact same setup on the fronts of my RSX, and the dust definitely went down.

Is it the slotted rotors or the hawk hps brake pads that make the biggest difference?

for dust it's the pads.

Any difference slotted or x-drilled would make would not be noticible on the street.

They are most cosmetic.

 

[BUTCH1]

My stock GM pads give off a fair amount of dust, the trick is to wash the rims once a week so it's quick to remove. If you wait until the dust is really thick it gets much more difficult. I also keep a coat of wax on my rims to help ease cleaning..

 

[Elstupido]

Thanks for all the replies, looks like, for now I will keep the pads that are on the front for now and try to wash more frequently, although I do spray them down with a garden hose frequently, carwashes can get expensive, but it won't kill me to get out a brush with Dawn and warm water.

The Akebono ProACT Ceramic Pads, seem to have very good reviews at the Tirerack. The fronts are pretty new, but will consider these for the rears when the time comes.

One thing that puzzles me is the slight steering wheel shimmy when I brake at very low speeds, like around 25mph. When i brake at higher speeds like on the exit ramp, braking is perfect. Is this a concern?

 

[thomsbrain]

I've never had a car where the dust didn't come off with a simple sweep of the microfiber cloth I just finished using to wash the car. Just got to get down on your knees and spend a minute getting in all those little crevices.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
I've never had a car where the dust didn't come off with a simple sweep of the microfiber cloth I just finished using to wash the car. Just got to get down on your knees and spend a minute getting in all those little crevices.

I think OP might be referring to is when it hasn't been done for awhile, I've seen cars like this, almost looks like it's baked on and not coming off without a battle. I do like you and wash the rims every time I wash the car and it's only an extra 5-10 min. or so.