Front wheels overheating??

[ohfourtahoe]

So last fall I replaced the front brake pads and rotors on my 2009 Suburban 2500. Now my front wheels get very black and after I tried washing them I see the clear coat on the rims seems to have really flaked off. The clear coat has been flaking off for a while, but since the new brakes, it has progressed a lot more. I also noticed the gray on the plastic center hub peeling. I have had this truck for 5 1/2 years, and I have never seen this much damage on the wheels, and I have never seen so much black brake dust accumulate on the wheels. This picture was taken after the wheel was washed with McGuiar's wheel cleaner. The pads and rotors are PowerStop.

A few weeks after the front brakes were done, the rear brakes were done too, and I also just noticed heavy clear coat peeling off the wheel, and the same gray paint peeling off the center caps. With the rear, after a long drive, usually on the highway, I also get a strong smell of grease burning, but that I have been getting since I got the truck, and just assumed it was the differential heating up the fluid???

I have just read a few instances of forum members dealing with sticking calipers, but there is no pulling or vibrations on the highway. I also just started using the tire cleaners since last summer, wondering if that's damaging the wheels.

Any ideas?

 

[Geotrash]

So last fall I replaced the front brake pads and rotors on my 2009 Suburban 2500. Now my front wheels get very black and after I tried washing them I see the clear coat on the rims seems to have really flaked off. The clear coat has been flaking off for a while, but since the new brakes, it has progressed a lot more. I also noticed the gray on the plastic center hub peeling. I have had this truck for 5 1/2 years, and I have never seen this much damage on the wheels, and I have never seen so much black brake dust accumulate on the wheels. This picture was taken after the wheel was washed with McGuiar's wheel cleaner. The pads and rotors are PowerStop.

A few weeks after the front brakes were done, the rear brakes were done too, and I also just noticed heavy clear coat peeling off the wheel, and the same gray paint peeling off the center caps. With the rear, after a long drive, usually on the highway, I also get a strong smell of grease burning, but that I have been getting since I got the truck, and just assumed it was the differential heating up the fluid???

I have just read a few instances of forum members dealing with sticking calipers, but there is no pulling or vibrations on the highway. I also just started using the tire cleaners since last summer, wondering if that's damaging the wheels.

Any ideas?

Hard to say what's causing the clear coat failure to accelerate, but I will say that my observation has been similar on clear coated wheels in the past. Once the finish degrades to the point of peeling, it's a pretty steep curve from there. The Meguiar's is supposed to be ph balanced and safe for all wheel finishes, but any strong detergent can eat away at the plastic coating over time.

I've also seen some brake pads throw off very hot granules that seem to stick to wheels. When that happens it melts the clear coat in that spot opening the door to continued degradation and corrosion.

My guess is that it's a combination of normal deterioration and increased frequency of detergent use due to the increased dust from the type of pads you installed.

You might try having a wheel refinisher clean up your wheels and while they're off you can install ceramic brake pads that don't product the black dust. Wheel refinishers are usually cheaper than replacement wheels.