| Author |
Message |
    
P Rhee
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 11:22 pm: | 
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Hi. I'm an American living in Australia and we just bought 2002 Td5. The problem is that no matter how often you clean them, the wheels are constantly covered with brake dust. Any suggestions?
I'm thinking about getting some Kleen Wheels. I know, some people say that they affect brake performance but I used them with no problem on my old Acura and our Disco will probably never leave the road. The car came with 235/70R16 tires on 7Jx16 Polar alloy wheels. The problem is that I can't find the proper Kleen Wheels. Does anyone know if these wheels were ever available from Land Rover in the US? They look a little like the "deep dish" alloys that were available on the 97 & 98 Disco. For a photo of the Polar alloys, please see:
http://www.landrover.com.au/images/catimages/accessories/RRC000040MNH.jpg
Thanks for your help. |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 - 11:37 pm: |
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I've never seen those wheels in the US but I would think that any of the kleen wheels for the Disco with 16" wheels would work.
But as you said Kleen wheels are not the best idea. They will keep your brakes running hot. That will impact street performance and rotor life. If you're really trying to keep the wheels clean you might try a few coats of wax on the wheels. As silly as this sounds people have done this on P-Cars and BMW's and it works. You'll still need to wash the wheels but the dust cleans up more easily. |
Kennith P. Whichard III (Kennith)
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 - 12:12 am: |
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In the US LR sells these plates that snap in behind your alloys to keep the brake dust off of them. This keeps the air from cooling the brakes though, and will reduce braking performance.
I will suggest a few things though...
Firstly, if you clean them once a week with simple green or something, they will never get so bad that they are difficult to clean. The dust should just wipe off.
Secondly, and most importantly, if you don't ride up on people and slam on your brakes, the front wheels won't get really dirty for a long time. This is why you see discoveries running around with black front alloys and grey rears, simply poor driving practice.
Brake dust comes from a few things, but mainly from pad wear. The more they wear out, the more dust you get. The fronts get exponentially dustier then the rears if you slam on the brakes a lot. If you feather the brakes with your left foot, like is done off road, or when racing, this won't be a problem. You will find that the brake pedal on the discovery is spaced decently for doing this.
Driving smoothly greatly reduces the wear and tear on your vehicle's componants. I drive around with a bottle of soda on my hood so I can practice soft braking and smooth turning. If it tips over or falls off...I have done something too abruptly. Another way of doing this is puting one of those magnetic bowls on your hood with a tennis ball in it, the object being to keep the tennis ball in the bowl.
(this is obviously not something that I do around town...) 
When you off road or race your vehicle as well as drive it daily, these things become increasingly important, because you stress it enough with performance driving, and you don't want to wear it out on the road.
Well, there I go being long winded again...
Just food for thought.
Cheers,
Kennith |
LNDRVR99 Christian
| | Posted on Thursday, June 27, 2002 - 02:12 pm: |
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I was getting a vehicle detailed one day and found out that many auto detailers (good and bad) use some sort of concrete cleaner that you can find at Home Depot. They spray this on the wheels full strength and then power wash the wheels off. Works really well. Wouldn't suggest this due to the acidity etc. of the solution but works very well if used sparingly and very occasionally. Just something I have seen and heard about..Good Luck.
Christian |
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