10 Years of Dirt and Brake Dust is Just Too Much

at the bmw dealership where i work a car got traded in with the heaviest brake dust accumulation ive ever seen, i broke out the ardex attack i honestly just made the dilution untill it was watery enough to spray and i sprayed let soak a bit scrub, spray again scrub and spray again and scrubbed and came clean. wear gloves with attack i have an ardex dealer locally and ny area should too

 

The only problem is that I believe Buster is only available in a 2.5 gallon container, talk to someone at your local dealer and ask for a sample maybe. If not let me know and I am sure we could work out a deal for spray bottles worth.

 

The acid in FK decon system would not be strong enough for this project. Ardex Buster contains Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as lye and caustic soda, is a caustic metallic base

 

LOL thanks Emile. That stuff seriously hurt to use.

 

Ok so am i trying to source Ardex Buster or Ardex Attack? I did a google search and nothing came up for purchasing Attack and they do not have a vendor list on the Ardex website either. The only detail supply that I'm aware of around here does not carry Ardex.

 

Froboy ... don't quote me on this one, but I'm pretty sure you need to have a commercial detailing license to obtain those Ardex products. I tried to buy these two last year when I was living in PA and I was told to present proof of my detailing business.

 

I was going to suggest AG CWC as it is alkaline (although not as much as Ardex). Because it was the most effective for me on CR-V wheels with baked on dust (1-2 years worth) in comparison with Sonax and Megs WB.
Obviously your situation is more extreme but it might be worth a shot if the Ardex product is difficult to obtain.

 

I have CWC actually but I didn't try it. I assumed the WB would be more powerful.

Tfish1 did the wheels you worked on look like the ones in my photos. I've never seen anything like this but again...the wheels have never been cleaned in 10 years. I just stripped down and black wow'd all the trim on the car and its looking so much nicer but these wheels are just horrid to look at.

 

The WB will be more powerful as its an acid.

 

Does anyone want to trade some product or some cash for one of these Ardex Products. I made some calls today and have been unable to source any so far.

 

Malco has a product that is called brake off.its a lot like buster..the stuff is very strong but will work with a light scrubing. i use it every now and then and surprises me every time..one of malcos good products.be careful cause it may stain the face of the wheel.good luck.

 

But if you are looking at JUST sodium hydroxide on a basically unknown composition of a carbometallic compound, its tough to give a statement like that. There are tons of NaOH cleaners and KOH cleaners(Potassium Hydroxide) that really end up not effective, but something like a sulfuric, phosphoric or oxalic acid that end up releasing the dust from the wheel. (and as a disclaimer, I prefer alkaline cleaners over acidic stuff if I need to step up the aggression).

The acid in the FK system is phosphoric and sulfuric both strong acids that readily dissociate and ARE very effective in dissolving the metallic component of brake dust allowing the carbon component to be rinsed albiet with multiple applications and scrubbing. The problem comes from his substrate(the brake dust - if its even considered that now) and how accurate and effective the treatment with any strong acid OR strong base is even going to be.

..The problem for the OP is not the selection of a given product, 10 years of reactions with heat and carbometallics are going to leave him with a weathered (mostly)carbo compound that is not going to completely react with the acid or base much like aluminum or something like zinc would. Mechanical action(SCRUBBBBBBBING) is going to be needed regardless of cleaner(but it should be strong ).

 

WOW! Great response!

 

Mike you're such an idiot!! ( the opposite ) LOL

 

I guess Mike is going to teach us a few things!! (LOL) It's great to have such knowledge on the forum!

 

Oh but Mike's already taught me many things, I bug him on the phone like 3 times a week, lol

 

Who's Mike?

 

yea they looked similar probably worse the car was a mid 90's bmw and brake dust scraped off like putty and the car was going to the auction so i figured if the wheels mess up no biggie but they were fine. the way i see it wheels are tough they can take a good acid bath every now and then just make sure the wheels aren't hot or it may flash. its better to drop some acid on em then to let them sit caked up in my opinion but seriously we could work something out if u want where i send bottle and you just pay for it the local ardex place where me and another member on here are near have good stuff i just think buster wont do it in my mind and attack or another acid i use called replate is the bazooka of weapons in my inventory , to respond to someone elses comment i never heard of a business asking for a detailer business licence? lol

 

Basically any acid or strong alkali plus mechniacl scrubbing would be required to remove the baked on residue. In my experience with both FK and Valuguard's decon systems they were not strong enough to remove this type of residue. If they work better for you than WB then more power to you

 

froboy, all kidding aside, what tools were you using to agitate the wheels? In an extreme situation like this, the brush/sponge/mitt you use is as important as the cleaner. Do you have The Edge Black Wheel Shmitt? It can provide some insane scrubbing power without scratching up OEM wheels. A stiff-bristle wheel brush (like the one that AutoZone sells) can also be very helpful...it has fairly stiff and long bristles, but it is safe for OEM wheels...again, good for stubborn situations like this.

But judging by the look of that picture in your first post, it looks like the brake dust embedded itself into the wheel a long time ago and I don't think they can be saved.