Wheel Rim Dust Shields: More Trouble Than They're Worth?
 

Do you guys like brake dust shields? One of my cars has them, one doesn't. The one that has them now has them not on front but on left side (due to my most recent rotation). I've read of potential heat build up and rubbing against moving parts.

I'm thinking I should just remove them altogether. Thoughts?

Wow you move quick!

I'll post it again:-

MB fitted them for a reason - if you remove them you stand a greater chance of muck getting stuck between the disc and the pads - this can cause strange noises but it is most likely going to cause scoring on the disc - which then can promote uneven braking which is seen by most as a dangerous thing!

As do you! :)

Just wanted to get the specific question before a broader audience....thanks for you interaction.

I think my first step is simply going to be to get that shield that's on the rear back on to the front. Because that really is the only recent variable.

This is all true!!

On my old 300D, the shields on the front started to crack around the mounting bolts.
I took them off at about 500k miles.
It didnt appear to have a negative impact in the next 300k miles, I did remove both though to keep it even.
If a piece of wire or a small stone was on the road & was flicked up, it could jam in the now exposed caliper/ pad region. This never happened to me.
It would be fair to say Army is right!!
We cant go making suggestions/recommendations that potentially could compromise the braking system on a car.

Thanks for that - but - I think it is worth saying that it is a "could" or an "if" situation. The brake shield doesn't stop 100% of the debris...

It isn't quite the same as saying if you drink 12 litres of rat poison 1000 miles away from any medical help you will die...

we are talking about the dust shields in the tires right?

Well I'm talking about the metal shields that are fitted behind the wheels next to the calipers - the bits that have a convenient gap in them for the caliper!

We haven't moved on to the merits of the little add on dust shields designed to cut down on brake dust on your beautiful alloys yet...

What I have are about a foot in diameter and are between the wheel cover and the rotor....so that when I look through the slots in the wheel cover all I see is the shield.

That's what I have....they're BETWEEN the wheel cover and the rotor. If their only function is the appearance of the wheels, maybe I should just get rid of them?

Every disc brake Ive ever seen besides on trains have a rear cover, i.e. the one that s inboard of the disc.

No othr w123 besides mw current 1982 have had the clean wheels covers that go otboard of the discs , up against the wheels to prevent dust from that direction.

I pulled them from my front wheels, ad not my chrome bundts are very dusty. ive never had any issue with warped rotors or whatnot due to the kleen wheels type things. I dont think the holes in the wheel on the outside are really there for cooling anyway. On my BMWs, they have a duct from the front of the car to the disc.

I always thought the wheel was more of a heatsink than much else.

I know that my 240D with wheelcovers show NO dust at all, and the bundts with the kleen wheel things also stay very clean. As I dont think that any of us do performance driving in our w123 cars, Id say that they are a good idea. If brake fade or issues are a problem, consider pad choice and upgrading the discs to w12 vented rotors to add a bit of thermal mass.

I thought you were talking about the metal plates that are inboard of the disks, attached to the stub & the calipers.
If you are talking about the things that are fitted between the rims & the disks, they are just there to keep your rims cleaner at the expense of cooling your brakes properly. I think they are aftermarket.
As they were not there originally, best sell them on ebay!!! ;)

Exactly !

So you are saying you have an alloy wheel

and then an aftermarket dust cover

and then when you remove that you see the disc brake / rotor

and then behind that you've got the real MB fitted dust cover?

If you are talking about the aftermarket dust cover - then you don't really need it - whether these aftermarket dust covers drastically influence air flow more than a steel wheel with a hub cap is in my opinion debatable...

...if I get really really bored next winter I'll measure it!

Yes. Apparently it's attached to the wheel....which explains why it moved when the tires were rotated.

My other practical problem is that, since I have lifetime rotation with the tires, my installer will need to attach the dust shields to a different wheel every time the tires are rotated. I doubt he'll be eager to do that for free.