racer_65

My CS produces a lot of brake dust; as a result, I have to wash the wheels frequently. I also own a couple of Japanese cars, neither of which produces much brake dust at all. What's up with the brake dust? Are there aftermarket pads available that don't have this issue? I hear that on some cars there are "dust covers" that prevent dust from coming out through the wheels as much. I wonder if perhaps the Japanese cars have this feature and the German brands don't? I walked around the neighborhood a bit, and noticed that among the parked cars, the Japanese cars always seem to have clean wheels!

mudman2

I don't know about non dusting pads althought there has been some talk over the years about them.

German cars like black front wheels, all of the manufacturers have it so it must be a fashion thing

Polishing the wheels help, I use Rejex about 3 tmes a year and over time is builds up so a simple Power Wash works a treat.

99firehawk

1800 LB cars arent to hard on brakes, most jap cars have steel wheels to which hides the dust
cayennes are heavy eat brakes =lots of dust

MadFox

would only say that yes, big brakes, yes big pads.. but no they don't "eat" brakes... I was stunned at brake life and I live in a hilly area.. in fact, the S brakes made it nearly 50K miles and most on the forum have made it to at least 30-35K miles.. now, they still put up a lot of dust and yes, they make the wheels look like someone painted the inner part of the rim black.. but do as mudman2 suggests and it will be minimal.

ltc

Actually, no you don't.
Larry went almost 2 years without washing/waxing 'that' car. The only time it was washed was at the dealership when it was in for service.....I used to tell them don't bother, wash the other customer's cars. Perhaps they just felt sorry for it, or just were embarassed to have it on the premises looking like that.
According to Larry, Cayenne detailer extrodinare, nothing works better on brake dust than a Brillo pad

On a slightly more serious note, this has been asked/discussed many times in the past, and I don't recall a low dust brake pad alternative being discovered......unless of course you want to fit a set of PCCB's to a Cayenne.

T2

Another option is to get a set of rims painted darker (depending on the exterior color of the Cayenne) so that the dust blends in.....just a thought

99firehawk

30-35K on brakes on a cayenne?

i havent seen one go more the 27-28k
i assume thats 30-35 with the pad light on for about 7k miles
no calling bs but i havent seen any go even close to that long

MadFox

To be exact, I did not have my light on for 25K miles.. maybe 200 miles and I pulled the service record.. front/back pads ONLY.. rotors were okay.. at 49,923 MILES.. oh, and search the forum.. not calling BS to your post.. but I haven't seen any go even close to that SHORT.

venkatreddytx

I have 27K miles on my 04CS and still on the original pads. I looked at the pads front and back and looks like they will last another 7k miles.

LVDell

FYI....that dust is an indication that your brakes are actually WORKING. Don't forget that you are driving an EXTREMEMLY heavy vehicle that requires some serious stopping power up to PAG standards. Wash your wheels and get over it.

prm1177

A mechanic friend of mine mentioned that this is common with many German cars. He said they prefer to use a softer pad and a hard disc for best braking. The down side is a little shorter pad life and the dist, but its better than going through rotors. All I know is I tried a harder aftermarket pad on a 320i I owned and the result was warped rotors. I can put up the the dust on my Cayenne.

LVDell

prm1177......you probably have uneven pad material transfer b/c of the lack of heat generated (needed) for the harder pad. It is VERY hard to warp a rotor but very easy to think you have a warped rotor when you actaully have uneven deposits. Bed in the pads properly and you will remove the old material and say goodbye to the "warp".

skl

FWIW I put Pagid pads on my CS (very easy install- easier than the 911) and they work fine but definitely are NOT lower dust unfortunately, and unlike Larry (at least on Cayennes- his TT wheels are immaculate) , I hate dirty front wheels so I wash them frequently,,,

psonnier

Received notification of a related post in the Cayenne forum on PCA.org today:
Technical Q&A Section
Classification: Brakes
Subject: Dustless Brake Pads

Question:
Do you know of an aftermarket supplier of dustless brake pads for a 2005 Cayenne Turbo? The OEM pads are horrible!

Answer:
Hawk brakes just came out with new pads for the Cayenne that are ceramic and produce less dust. Try those out and let me know.
Peter Smith - PCA WebSite - 9/26/2006

As ltc said, you can always "fit a set of PCCB's to a Cayenne". I wonder how these will perform and sound, i.e. noise unless heated up?