Re: (redwolfsburg)
I see you found my screwdriver method thread.
I finished two of my rims. It literally took me about 6 hours
per rim, but my brake dust is gone. Some clarification, though, I didn't use a screwdriver for everything. Just a few especially nasty pits.
Here's what I did.
1. Washed my rims real good to get any loose dirt and grime off.
2. Using a small piece of 3M claybar, I rubbed the flat surfaces of my rims, occasionally wetting the claybar down with water for lubrication. The clay was noticeably turning horribly brown, so I knew it was doing something. Remolded the clay bar to expose a fresh surface and continued. Claybar shouldn't be harmful to your finish.
This method should remove all but the worst pits. To get the other stuff out, do the following at your own risk!
3. I got one of those green Scotch pads and got it soaking wet. Then rubbed the flat surfaces in a circular fashion to literally remove small layers of clear coat. This is your wet sanding. This may sound drastic, but it's the same thing a polish does to your paint when you remove defects from there. The reason for doing this is two-fold:
-The Scotch pad removed some of the deep brake dust, and smoothed out some of the pits
-The claybar is now able to reach some of the deeper seated brake dust, and was able to pull it out.
4. Some dust just WON'T lift out. And some dust was in the corner of my rims where I couldn't easily reach with the claybar or the Scotch pad. This is where I used the flat head screw driver, to
very lightly scrape across the surface of the rim where the dust is. Doing this, you can feel each little piece of dust, and you can feel exactly where you need to apply pressure to remove it. If you do it right, you won't leave any visible scratches or marks. This takes practice.
Some may laugh at me, or tell me I'm an idiot for these methods, but in all truthfulness I was really experimenting more than anything. I was prepared to accept any horrible results that came along with it, and I didn't care. It is inefficient, and time consuming, and if I wanted to spend the money, it probably would've been a better idea to just refinish my rims. But I was having fun.
