Brake Pad Failure - is wheel toast?

[ironmike]

Inner pad on front driver's side detached from plate. Plate ran on rotor for a few days apparently before wife alerted me to the "squeaking sound from the brakes and a bunch of rust colored dust all over wheel" :)

Result is I have a big cleaning effort ahead before installed new parts. Biggest challenge seems to be the wheel, it's covered on the inner rim with very rough feeling rust, presumably from the molten shards flying off the rotor and brake backing plate. Outside is mostly dust and cleanable, but wondering about getting this crud off the inner rim. Anyone met this challenge before?

[JRL]

Well, if it doesn't clean off the worst thing you will have to do is strip and repaint the wheel

[swimNdrive]

Inner pad on front driver's side detached from plate. Plate ran on rotor for a few days apparently before wife alerted me to the "squeaking sound from the brakes and a bunch of rust colored dust all over wheel" :)

Result is I have a big cleaning effort ahead before installed new parts. Biggest challenge seems to be the wheel, it's covered on the inner rim with very rough feeling rust, presumably from the molten shards flying off the rotor and brake backing plate. Outside is mostly dust and cleanable, but wondering about getting this crud off the inner rim. Anyone met this challenge before?

I used wire bushes. If too hard, I used a wire brush bit on a drill. I used a lot of break cleaner to break those stuff loose as well. You may want to replace the rotors and pads at the same time.

[Astro14]

No way I would put a wire brush, or worse, wire wheel, near a clear coated aluminum wheel....you could ruin it, and quickly...

If the outside is presentable, then I would clean it up with wheel cleaner and call it good. Diluted Simple Green would be as strong as I would go, or else you ruin the finish and end up,replacing the wheel anyways.

If it's really ugly, and you want to replace it, I highly recommend these guys: http://www.wheelcollision.com

I've bought 4 wheels from them for the T5 (I had 3 out of round...). One for my old 850.

The re-finished wheels are straight, true and look brand new. Sure beats used (could be bent like mine were) and sure beats new (ludicrous pricing).

But for Pete's sake, don't put a wire wheel on aluminum alloy....

[swimNdrive]

Well, we are talking about the inner rim as OP indicated. I had similar situation as OP. Some of the stuff just won't come off unless I used wire brush. With the hard to remove deposits, IMO it is better to remove them by wire brush than leaving them there. As long as you brushing that stuff completely and evenly, it should look well. No one really pay attention to the inner rim anyways. In terms of clear coded wheel, I am not sure if my stock wheels were clear coded on the inside. It certainly did not look like it was by the time I cleaned them up. It had a light gray/blue protected code on them. That stuff looked like primer to me. If anything I should do after I wire brushed it, I should put a code a paint with similar color on them. Oh well, when I have time, I will do that.

For the outer rim, it is different story. I am not sure if they were clear coded but they do have smooth semi-glossy look. They could be just polished and buffered to that look. I had been in the professional wheel re-finisher's shop. They use wire brush, sand paper all the time to re-finish the aluminum wheels. They do use other things for the final finishing. I guess the questions are what the current situation of the wheel and what kind of look are you expecting after your cleaning/repairing is done. As for me, my rims are 10 years old and have some curb rash on them as well. As long as they are looked clean and same color/finish, I am happy. In about another few years, if they look bad enough, I will replace them with a set of better looking ones.

[ironmike]

Agree on the wire brush damage potential and appreciate the link to that site. Their tech looks amazing!