When cleaning my 18 inch stock Nissan rims I use an old rag to clean off the dust accumulated behind them. I work the rag inside and try to get as much dust as possible. Since I have been doing this I have noticed that my rims stay cleaner longer. I don't know how well this would work with the 17 inch rims as they look like smaller slots between them. I don't know if anyone has noticed this but on my car the front break pads are located at a different place on the rotor than the back pads. I notice that the back rims never seem to get a lot of dust on them. Maybe the reason the front rims get a lot of dust is the way the pads are situated?

 

When a vehicle stops, its weight tends to transfer to the front wheels. The front tires are pressed against the road with greater force. The rear tires lose some of their grip on the road. As a result, the front wheels do more of the braking than the rear. Typically, front-wheel brakes handle 60 to 70 percent of the braking power (even higher on front-wheeled cars, due to the additional weight on the front end), so they work harder, wearout sooner, and get your wheels dirtier faster.

 

also the reason why many big break kits are front only, and adding the rears to them does not help by much.

just like FWD vs RWD except atleast FWD has the weight of the engine on it. rear brakes dont even have that goin for them, no engine weight, no weight shift. they really do very little at all.