The dealer just told us that all four of our brakes have brake dust and will need expensive cleaning otherwise the brakes will seize up.
does this make sense?
it is a 1997 CRV with 40K kilometers on it.
front are discs, rears are drums.

 

brake dust is normal. All you have to do is get 2 cans of brake cleaner and take your wheels off and spray the heck out of the brake pads, and as far as the rear drum, take the wheel off, if the car is new, there should be a ring on the lugnut bolts, take that off. make sure the emergency brake isnt on and hit it with the hammer all around (not too soft nor too hard) the drum will come loose, pull the drum off and spray the heck out of it and spray inside the drum also and wipe it down with the rag. You just saved you 300.00 in expensive "brake dust" job. I hate stealerships!

 

I agree with the cleaning part, but with the 'expensive' thing....Well, I don't think so, I have undergone the same cleaning with my brakes and I just replaced a BMW brake dust. Aside from that I can't remember anything so expensive for the cleaning...Anyway, good luck...

 

I cannot believe a dealer would be so ignorant to tell you that brake dust is not normal??!?!?!?

I wouldn't go back to that dealer...All the tips here are good...

And just so you know, dics brakes will create alot of brake dust especially if the brake pads are good and grippy (softer materials). You will see alot of european cars will have very dusty front wheels because of the soft brake pad materials that allow them to stop very quickly. Alot of dust may cause the disc brake to squeal but I have never seen one lock up because of it. I usually take the wheels off and use a garden hose to spray off all the dust on the front and backside of the caliper and disc. I also do this after a brake job. The water won;t hurt anything since the brakes are a sealed system. make sure the rotors are not hot!!!! You will warp your rotors, do this in the morning after the car has sat for a while!!!

Now, the rear drum brakes are a different story, they should be cleaned out periodically because there is nowhere for the brake dust to escape and it will collect and get trapped inside the drum. Thismay cause squealing and maybe if the dust was never ever cleaned out for 100,000 miles,maybe, just maybe it cancause the wheel to be hard to spin or close to locking up. but like I said, I have never seen one and I have worked on cars for over 15 years! The rear brakes only do about 15% of the braking anyway, but should be serviced about every 25,000 miles.

Just remove the tire and the rotor and wash with a water hose until clean, then adjust the clearance bolt for the shoes and reassemble. Let the water dry of before reassembly or use a air compressor to dry the drum guts before assembly.

If the rotor is tough to get off, there is usually two holes drilled in the rotor with threads in them, this allows you to use (I believe) a 10mm bolt to push the drum off the hub. Just go to your local hardware store and buy (2) metric grade 10 bolts - 10mm, 8mm, 9mm, and see which ones fit the holes. Then screw them in and rachet them 1 turn a piece rotating back and forth until the drum pops off.

The water trick is what the dealerships use except they use a contained tub with a motorized pump and some additives to contain the brake dust from flying everywhere when using compressed air or brake clean spray cans. The spray cans make a mess anyway, leaving residue on your concrete or requiring a catch pan.

Good Luck!

Dongss

 

All you have to do is get brake cleaner and take your wheels off and spray the heck out of the brake pads.And remove the tire and the rotor and wash with a water hose until clean, then adjust the clearance bolt for the shoes and reassemble. Let the water dry of before reassembly or use a air compressor to dry the drum guts before assembly.Furtunately,I've just replaced mine with Mazda Brake Dust Shields.