Brake dust on our wheels is a nag.

Just wondering if brake dust will be reduced by:

1. Light braking over a longer period of time, or

2. Heavy braking for a short period of time?

 

This is an impossible question to answer. Are you considering altering your driving style completely to minimize brake dust?

 

Brake dust goes with the territory. Get some of this product, some wheel brushes and have fun driving :-)
SonaxWheel Cleaner Full Effect
CRS

 

Neither, unfortunately. If you want to change your driving style to reduce brake dust, the only feasible way is the use the gearbox to slow the car down instead of the brakes.


By the time your pads wear to a minimum, there should be better ones available to buy...

 

Always using gearbox to slow the car will cause excessive wear on the 'box....pads are cheaper to replace.

Some googling of brake pad tests that are not vehicle make agnostic and also address brake dust issues will point you to some options. (EPC, stop tech, Hawk, I'm sure there are others).

+1 for the wheel protection and regular cleaning...

 

Not sure that this is correct.
My understanding is; when slowing down using any gearbox, it is the opposite side of the gearbox/drivetrain teeth that are being used. Normal driving utilises one side of the teeth only and under braking, the load is transferred onto the teeth that are not used for driving, which I would hardly say is excessive. You are effectively using both sides of the drive tooth that just one to slow the vehicle down instead of the brakes.


As the OP was after reducing brake dust, seems like the only solution apart from changing brake components that I can see from a logical standpoint, but I will happily be corrected if wrong, as I have been...on many occasions!

 

Depends on transmission type - if manual, you are somewhat correct - although the braking caused by downshifting will be jerky and tiresome for driver and passenger if not accompanied by use of brakes...blipping for downshifts helps (and wastes gas) but won't decelerate the car at a rate that will be suitable for most urban driving.

Shifting down a gear at motorway speeds to adjust velocity marginally for the flow of traffic, instead of using the brakes is ok, as when you want to speed up, you are in a suitable gear, and there won't be a huge flair of revs as the engine takes on load on the downshift.

Automatic transmission should not be downshifted simply to reduce speed, as this does cause excessive wear to the transfer plates / clutches and most of the drivetrain. If you are naturally slowing anyway, coasting etc manually shifting without brakes is not likely to cause much if any wear, as long as matching gear with engine speed.

Adjusting ones driving style to plan further ahead, driving slower as traffic /stop lights dictate, and not needing to use breaks is more effective....but a lot harder to do when driving an FType

 

IMHO the only way to significantly reduce brake dust on an F-Type is to swap the brake pads out for ceramic pads, and driving style makes no difference.
Easier said than done though as there are very few ceramic pads available for F-Type brakes, especially the high performance or super performance brakes, not so bad with the base brakes.

 

Downshifting manual could be perfectly smooth, but it is entirely up to driver's skill. You can blip throttle and rev match for fast downshift, you can slip clutch for slow downshift. When combined with keeping gap in front of you, these methods allow for nearly brake-less driving in most circumstances. That is, look at how truckers drive - they use this method to reduce brake usage.

 

Recall the tranny v. Brake threads of old....
Tranny...$3000-5000
Brake pads/rotors....$400
YMMV

As for brake dust....so many magic chemicals to clean it off...or help to keep it from adhering to the wheels available, together with low dust pads, shouldn't be a big issue.

 

When my detail guy coated the car with Cquartz he did the wheels with their DLUX coating - so far it makes wheel "cleaning" much less painful. Modifying my driving style ? Nope. I just discovered Dynamic + Sport mode for goodness sake...

 

Applying a coating WITHOUT removing the wheel, talk about half a job.


If I did that detailing a car, I'd shoot myself!

 

Just washed my wheels, applied Rejex, actually followed the directions.
Remembered to use it on the brake calipers. Interesting the fronts have nice smooth paint...the rears not so much.
After the application everything ( except the rear calipers ) is very smooth and, in theory, brake dust will be less likely to adhere and when it does should be easier to remove.
It is apparently often used on small aircraft to enhance "slipperiness".
4 ' of snow has melted to approx 1' of snow...who knows, perhaps on the road in a week or so.
My vote goes to "use the best pads you can" and clean up any mess...

 

For the least dust:

3. Brakes? We don't need no stinking brakes.

 

Don't know about brake dust but the following may be of interest.
When I was Flying the Boeing 777 we were told that each application of the carbon wheel brakes cost around $30 and that we were to use a different technique from what we were used to in the past.
This from Boeing on Braking Technique...



Because the wear mechanisms are different between carbon and steel brakes, different taxi braking techniques are recommended for carbon brakes in order to maximize brake life.

Steel brake wear is directly proportional to the kinetic energy absorbed by the brakes. Maximum steel brake life can be achieved during taxi by using a large number of small, light brake applications, allowing some time for brake cooling between applications. High airplane gross weights and high brake application speeds tend to reduce steel brake life because they require the brakes to absorb a large amount of kinetic energy.

Carbon brake wear is primarily dependent on the total number of brake applications — one firm brake application causes less wear than several light applications. Maximum carbon brake life can be achieved during taxi by using a small number of long, moderately firm brake applications instead of numerous light brake applications. This can be achieved by allowing taxi speed to increase from below target speed to above target speed, then using a single firm brake application to reduce speed below the target and repeating if required, rather than maintaining a constant taxi speed using numerous brake applications. Carbon brake wear is much less sensitive to airplane weight and speed than steel brake wear.

These recommendations are intended as general taxi guidelines only. Safety and passenger comfort should remain the primary considerations.

Of course on a car just hit them as and when needed !

 

Cleared for takeoff on Interstate niner-five north...

 

They put Opti-Coat on wheels, including wheels that have been powercoated (wait two months). Dust hoses off.

It is a DIY job also.