1, 000 Mile Observation
 

Hey all. Well hit 1K miles on the 1LE and had some questions. I see the brake dust issue is real. I washed the car a few time since purchase but for the first time I needed to do the door jams and under trunk lid. So I have not driven the rain yet but was surprised how much dark dust there is in these areas. Is this in fact brake dust? It's not generated from road splash since I haven't even hit any puddles due to the overly dry period we are having in the North East.


:happy0180:

I’ve noticed the same areas getting crusty whether being in the weather or not. Also radiator support, intake plumbing, engine cover, bottom side of hood, top of fenders and the plastic by the cowl.

It gets cleaned every time the car is washed and seems rather normal to me. So much so it’s part of the detailing routine.

Add some rock guards/mudflaps, that'll generally help with everything those wide tires throw backwards.

You can check for brake dust by spraying a bit of wheel cleaner on these spots (but rinse it off soon afterwards), if it turns deep purple, the dust contained iron and was probably brake dust.

Apart from that, yeah, those places do get dirty on my car as well as other 6th gen Camaros I've seen, it's normal.

ceramic coat your paint and your rims. I did and the brake dust doesn't build up nearly as fast and its super easy to clean them now.

Brake dust is a fact of life with a high performance machine. That's why the wheels are "brake dust black" instead of gloss.

I’ve never been a ceramic coat kinda guy, but decided to try it on my wheels. As you said, much easier to clean… whether it’s brake dust or just dirt in general.

Powerstop Z26 if you want to knock out the brake dust if you can live with a little less aggressive pad and braking

All performance brake pads leave a lot of dust. I've used SotpTech performance on the street for so long, I just call them DustTechs.

Keep up with your clay bar regiment and occasionally you'll need to use a product like IronX.

Ceramic coating will help alleviate particles imbedding themselves into the paint, but with proper care it can be dealt with.

I've applied ceramic wax on the wheels right after buying my 1LE. There is a lot of break dust, but with ceramic applied it washed away easily with a hose.

P.S. Now I understand why 1LE comes with black wheels only. Regular silver sheels will look terrible with thick coat of brake dust.

I ordered some Geyon Quartz rim coating ceramic wheel coating from Amazon last week. It is supposed to be here tomorrow. I plan to do a wheel off cleaning and application in the next few weeks. I sure hope it makes the wheels easier to clean. I'm washing them once a week as it is now and usually only drive the car twice a week.

I recently installed Hawk HPS 5.0 pads and the dust is reduced quite a bit. Great on the street, and do work well for AutoX.

Yes, just don't drive your car, that will solve it.

My wheels were ceramic coated, but that did little for minimizing brake dust or making them easier to clean. I've had much better luck with ArmorAll and Autoglym brake dust repellent...



https://www.armorall.com/ca/product/...ust-repellent/


https://www.autoglym.com/wheel-protector


Nigel

Won’t this show up on our dark 1LE rims? The second brand says not to use on black rims.