Brake dust shields?

[Wasuchi]

Where can I find these things? Both of my right wheels are missing the metal cover that keeps the brake dust from getting on the outside of the wheel, makes the wheels turn black.

[Dcraig]

Performance Products has 'em, but I was told not to use them because it makes the rotors get hot and warp.

Craig

[Wasuchi]

The left side has them, they don't look like they'll make things hotter, they're vented.

[Gilly]

I don't recommend them either. Not that they warp rotors, but they will make the brakes get hotter and more prone to brake fade than if they weren't there. The little slots they put in won't allow air to cool the brakes that well. Better off getting wheels that are easier to keep clean, like an MB 8 hole rather than the hard to keep clean 16 hole.
The reason there are probably only 2 with the shields is that alot of times an owner will put them only on the front, as they "dust off" alot more heavily than the rear. Then you get someone doing a tire change or something that isn't paying attention, with the results that you are seeing now.
Gilly

I believe that if you are not trying to road race, the covers do okay with minimal ill effects on a 123 car. If you drive mostly on the highway, without much stoplight to stoplight driving and don't really use the brakes hard, driving deep in to corners and stops, you will be okay with them on a 123.

But if you do drive hard, or lot's of stops, slamming up to the light or corner, I would definitely suggest that you don't use them.

The original rotors on my 123 went almost 500,000 miles before I replaced them. As you might guess, they were very, very thin, but they never warped. I put dust shields inside the front wheels very soon after I bought the car at 17,000 miles.

Obviously, I drive highway miles mostly, and don't drive hard in town. After all, this car has 67 Horsepower, what would be the point of trying to drive it hard.

I would not use shields on any of my gas cars because I drive them much harder. That means I wash the wheels more often.

Good luck,

[Gilly]

I thought of this after posting too what Larry is saying about a car that ism't driven hard. Good point, on a car like this it probably won't matter much.
On most newer car, a Mercedes anyways, the wheels now have a more "open" design, which seems to leave the dust in the atmosphere more than on the wheel, and are definitely easier to keep clean. I feel the 16 hole wheel gave birth to the whole brake dust shield industry.
Larry, to put it nicely I'm having a very difficult time believing that a pair of rotors went .5 million miles. Must have went entire fuel tanks without having to once touch the brakes. How many sets of pads did you put in, and did you measure the final rotor thickness? The hazard in running below min, specs is that the rotors can no longer properly sink the frictional heat from braking. This can lead to brake fade and brake fluid boiling
Gilly

[Dcraig]

I was thinking the same thing. I changed my rotors at 140K. I bought the car with 125K and I don't know If I was the first to change them.

Craig

[Wasuchi]

hmmmmm......I may just take them off the left side so all my wheels will be equally dirty. I just don't like washing them every couple days to keep them shiny.

[Gilly]

As I said, alot of people just have them on the front, the rears don't dust off as bad as the front. So you could just take the shield off the rear and put it on the front wheel that is missing it.
When a tire rotation is done, the shields need to be removed and fitted to the "new" front wheels.
Gilly

My rotors did indeed go almost a half million miles, but I did not measure them. I would have to look in my logbook to see how many pad sets I used up. I think about four sets on the front and two on the back. I used to get BeckArnley brand brake pads for something like $14 an axle set. They were soft, non metallic pads and suited my needs very well.

The 240D did in fact see times where the brakes were used once on the parking lot getting out onto the freeway after fueling up and the next time the brakes were applied was to keep from running over the pump at the next fuel stop.

I was covering a LARGE territory all the time I drove the 240D. It was common for me to get up EARLY in the morning, drive four or five hours on the Interstate or country roads for an 8:30 or 9:00 meeting then drive back the same day. In spite of that I still had an office in Dallas and Houston, so there was a certain amount of city driving, certainly less than five percent.

If you've never driven the Interstates in Texas and surrounding states and you've only driven in more populated areas, it is probably difficult to imagine going 400 miles or so without touching the brake pedal, but I'm sure I've done it.

I was in Milan, Italy a few weeks ago at dinner with some business associates who live in Milan. The conversation somehow got around to my living in the country. We had just driven 45 minutes to get to this particular Brazilian restaurant where they wanted to take me. The restaurant was probably not more than 10 miles from my hotel. They were amazed that I lived 20 miles from town. They asked what I did when I had to shop? I told them that it only took 20 minutes to get to town, and we just spent 45 minutes to get to the restaurant. Country driving is DEFINITELY different from city driving in many ways.

Have a great day,

[ATLD]

Change my rotors about every ~60k and pads every ~20k. Though I get on the highway very infrequently. It's a 2mi. commute each way for me each day; very hard on any car and the MB brushes it right off. Also I heard that OE pads and rotors wear quicker and dust more; That what I use (to be safe). Causes me to get an unthinkable (for a 300D) 24mpg avg. Life's a comprimise.

Adam