Break Caliper Cleaning.

[Caddiso1]

Anyone got ideas on how to detail or kinda “clean up” these brake calipers?
I tried a detailing brush and quick detail on them. Got some grime off but not much.

idk if it can be done or if it’s a “deal with it” situation, lol

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[skinnyb]

Definitely an iron remover will be your best bet to budge all that caked on brake dust. I would even hit it with a tar remover too like Tarminator. CARPRO makes a iron remover paste that you can put on a tooth brush and put it on like toothpaste and scrub in and let dwell to break it down some... Just make sure you do it when they are cool and out of direct sun. I also have some CARPRO TRIX which is an iron and tar remover combo I use to break it down on the barrels of wheels that are really gross...

 

[DFB5.0]

Those sort of unpainted aluminum calipers are a bit of a pain to clean. The lack of paint seems to allow dirt and brake dust adhere to the surface on a somewhat deeper level, almost like they are porous.

First port of call, remove the wheel to get full access. Start off by applying an iron remover to the caliper and allow to soak. Once you see the iron reaction, you can then agitate with a brush. You may need to do this a couple of times, perhaps with an alkaline wheel cleaner as well (Brake Buster, Wise Guy).

If you are lucky, this might be all you need to do. If not, I then grab a small nylon brush and team it with a heavy metal polish. This is a messy job, but the combo of the brush and the polish helps deep clean the surface of the caliper and bring it back to spec.

Four piece detailing brush set Lamp Chop 4 pcs kit by Braun automotive | eBay
Polishing Pad Cleaning Brush (carpro-us.com)

Purple Metal Polish - California Custom Products, Inc.

Afterwards you would then rinse the caliper clean. You could also apply a ceramic coating or high-temp wheel sealant. From then onwards, just clean them with a brush during your normal wheel cleaning process.

Another way to do this would be to use P21S Polishing Soap. This product is a combination cleaner (soap) with a polishing compound. I typically use this for exhaust tips, but it would be ideal here as well.

P21S Metal Polishing Soap 10.6 oz Jar - Skys The Limit Car Care (carpro-us.com)

 

[WD Pro]

Anyone got ideas on how to detail or kinda “clean up” these brake calipers?
I tried a detailing brush and quick detail on them. Got some grime off but not much.

idk if it can be done or if it’s a “deal with it” situation, lol

Those sort of unpainted aluminum calipers are a bit of a pain to clean.

On the back of a stang, they are zinc plated iron.

The PP cars get a (very) light coating of black paint (on top of the zinc), and then you have the Bullitts and Machs that are painted in colour (reasonably well).

The cleaners mentioned in the above posts will help to keep them clean (and remove the build up), but ultimately the zinc plating on the OP's fades and then diminishes slowly transitioning the plating over its life from shiney silver, to dull silver to base metal (with corrosion). The time for that process is hugely influenced by environmental factors and cleaning procedures.

Typical UK 24/7 52 week outdoor usage has them looking like the OP's in about three years, sometimes less, even with 'reasonable' maintenance.

I gave my daily a spruce up at approx 9 years. It didn't take long and it gave them an (almost) OE / new look (at least once the wheels were back on, and to the average person) :

The painted finish is actually lasting better than the OE zinc finish - I have a direct comparison to my wife's car that was new (a little after) I painted those up. The cars have the same storage / usage / maintenance etc

WD

 

[Evolvd]

All good recommendations from our detailing gurus. One step I would add is once they are clean you might consider painting them. G2USA.com sells a good paint system that you brush on and withstands the heat of daily driving. They have many stock colors and can do custom colors as well.

 

[kilobravo]

idk if it can be done or if it’s a “deal with it” situation

Definitely some good advice here, Christian. I've never tried to clean an unpainted caliper, (my brain first typed "caliber," must have had guns on my mind, <grin> but obviously, D and WD were able to do a magnificent job on theirs.

I gave my daily a spruce up at approx 9 years. It didn't take long and it gave them an (almost) OE / new look

Helluva job, amigo!

One step I would add is once they are clean you might consider painting them.

That was my thought, Brian and WD had the same eye deer which turned out very well. Being obsessive, I might take them to a sandblasting shop first then prime and paint.

 

[WD Pro]

That was my thought, Brian and WD had the same eye deer which turned out very well. Being obsessive, I might take them to a sandblasting shop first then prime and paint.

Yeah I didn't have the time to do that on the daily, so they were done on the car - disk off, pads and slides removed, caliper painted on the car (still attached to the brake line), pad carriers painted in the house (on the kitchen worktop ... )

Ref the blasting - that's exactly (one of the reasons) why I have a set of second hand rear mustang callipers, in boxes, in the garage ...

WD

edit for a missing word and a bad spelling.

 

[WD Pro]

Just to follow up on the kitchen worktop comment …

September 2020 :

And the same callipers, today (on the work car park), on a outdoor kept, U.K. daily driven (winter salt) car :

They don’t get anything more than a regular standard wash, with an iron remover (Meguiars ultimate wheel cleaner) about every two months

WD

 

[DFB5.0]

Just to follow up on the kitchen worktop comment …

September 2020 :

And the same callipers, today (on the work car park), on a outdoor kept, U.K. daily driven (winter salt) car :

They don’t get anything more than a regular standard wash, with an iron remover (Meguiars ultimate wheel cleaner) about every two months

WD

Similar story for these 16-year-old aluminum calipers, just regular washing. I had the wheels off late last year, apart from a few crevices that the brush doesn't reach, they were relatively clean considering I had NEVER taken the wheels off in all those years. This is the set that I used the metal polish and nylon brush on to bring back the darkened spots.

I ended up replacing those caliper brackets when I decided to treat the car to a brake upgrade.

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