Can anyone explain this to me? I was checking how much meat was left on my brake pads before going to the track this weekend, and I decided to clean the inside of the wheels while they were off.

Three of them cleaned up very nicely, but the inside of the left rear wouldn't. I gave it several sprays with wheel cleaner and scrubbed with a brush, but the stuff wouldn't come off. And there was some crud on the outside that wouldn't come off, either, despite soft brushing and wiping with a towel.

My first thought was that for some reason this wheel hadn't gotten a waxing or other protective coating that the other wheels had gotten. But then I noticed that there was crud on the left rear brake caliper that didn't wipe off easily, either, unlike the other three wheels.

Could there be something weird about the pads on this one corner? Toxic brake dust from hell?

Or maybe someone missed waxing the caliper and the wheel, too?

Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

Um.... it sounds like you just drove through some nasty stuff that's hard to clean off... Or did you have the same crud on the other wheels that came off?

 

No, I think it's brake dust. It looks the same, it just doesn't come off.

 

Maybe that wheel doesn't have as much clear coat on it as the other three.