Brake Dust & Kleen Wheels
05-16-2001, 10:41 AM
#1
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Brake Dust & Kleen Wheels
I know this subject has been around on this forum, but I still wanted to "weigh in" as a satisifed Kleen Wheels customer. I put 44,000 miles on my '98 A6Q equipped with their brake shields and had not one bit of a problem. Absolutely no discernable difference in braking performance, maybe because under most circumstances (not incl. track/competition) brakes get ample cooling from the inside. And the "turbo-vents" on the shields do supply air from the outside. Whatever, do they ever cut down on brake dust on the wheels (by 95% or so I'd say)! Which means they also cut down on the every-other-day re-washing thereof!
Just bought another set of four (for my new A6 4.2)--$79.90 from autobarn.com (with free shipping, that's about $10.00 below some enthusiast catalog prices I've seen). And no, I have no connection whatever with those guys, other than being a satisfied first-time customer. Before ordering, I visited Kleen Wheels website to be sure I had their correct item number to match my specific wheels, and then as insurance, I provided that to autobarn, too, since their item numbers are different.
Northing nastier looking than an A6 with a month (or more) worth of brake dust build-up. Seen plenty like that.
Just bought another set of four (for my new A6 4.2)--$79.90 from autobarn.com (with free shipping, that's about $10.00 below some enthusiast catalog prices I've seen). And no, I have no connection whatever with those guys, other than being a satisfied first-time customer. Before ordering, I visited Kleen Wheels website to be sure I had their correct item number to match my specific wheels, and then as insurance, I provided that to autobarn, too, since their item numbers are different.
Northing nastier looking than an A6 with a month (or more) worth of brake dust build-up. Seen plenty like that.
05-16-2001, 11:17 AM
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Great to hear, but given that a number of people here have had their roters replaced under warranty,
some more than once, and also given AoA's recent "crackdown" on after-market parts, I don't think I would want to use the shields and give Audi an opening to deny a rotor replacement.
05-16-2001, 12:00 PM
#4
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Never had a rotor problem, but if I do...
...I think I'll be able to persuade my friendly Audi service advisor to "look the other way" on my brake-dust shields.
I actually did have a complete brake pad replacement (not new rotors, however) at 35,000 miles on the '98 A6 and Audi paid for that, never even remarking on the brake shields.
And hey, four years of every-other-day wheel washing adds up to quite the expense, too, so maybe it all balances out in some strange way!
I actually did have a complete brake pad replacement (not new rotors, however) at 35,000 miles on the '98 A6 and Audi paid for that, never even remarking on the brake shields.
And hey, four years of every-other-day wheel washing adds up to quite the expense, too, so maybe it all balances out in some strange way!
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05-17-2001, 05:59 AM
#8
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Dirty wheels look REALLY, REALLY dumb...
...but you certainly have a point about the appearance of these brake dust shields on SOME wheels. For example, the more open 5-spoke sport wheel design, as on the 2.7T's, makes the brake dust shields way more obvious because you see more of them. On the other hand, the "wineglass" wheels on the A6, or the 8-spoke wheels on the 4.2 have much smaller openings so most folks (probably yourself included) would never know they're there. In all the time I had mine on my '98, not a single person ever mentioned noticing them.
05-17-2001, 07:53 AM
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Speaking of "Kleen" or clean wheels...
For those of you w/o Kleen Wheels, what do you use to clean the break dust off the wheels? A while ago a friend of mine got me this Armour All car care kit that includes this one step foaming tire cleaning stuff. I put it on for the first time and the tires look great, but the wheels seemed to attract a LOT more brake dust than before. Usually I just wash them with the car was stuff after I'm done washing the rest of the car. They aren't usually too bad, but it got me to thinking if there was something else out there that works better. Anybody know of anything?