Brake Dust

[Enzoman]

Has anyone seen this on their rims before? My rear brake was squeeling so my dealer blew out the caliper with compressed air and he said alot of dust came out. I eased up on my rear brake a bit and started using my front a little more and now I have the same dust collection on my front rim. I road my 696 the same way through the "brake in" period and never had this problem. The mechanic said I may be using my rear too much but I don't know... I took that with a grain of salt. Do I have a pad issue here or is it me? It's all over my rear rim also and you can see where the tech wiped his hand on the rim. I washed the bike once since I bought it new and there is now 450 miles on it. Is this dust normal until the pads wear in and should I just keep washing it and blowing it out?. The squeeling came back after about 25 miles on the rear... any ideas why this is?

Thanks

[Slide Panda]

Dust is inevitable - just ask the folks with white wheels. IT always happens, no matter what pads, no matter how many miles

[Povidius]

On my 696 I developed squealing in my rear brake as well (under medium to heavy usage).  I too notice that I have the similar deposits of break dust on my rear wheel.  I'm not sure what it really means but I'm going to replace the pads this weekend and see if that helps get rid of the noise. 

I'm still on the stock pads/rotors that came with the bike. Only ~2300 mile so far. The squealing started about 500 miles ago.

[He Man]

i dont clean my wheels often enough to realize the different, but that looks a lot like chain fling rather than brake dust...

[Enzoman]

i dont clean my wheels often enough to realize the different, but that looks a lot like chain fling rather than brake dust...

I thought that too but its on the front wheel also and it's like a powder.

[He Man]

those black specs are powder? not grime?

when i get brake dust is an even film of black powder.

[DCXCV]

woohoo for black rims!  Brake dust (and, to a greater extent, road grime) will build up no matter what.  My rear brake squeals once in a while, but I hardly ever use it.  Do wonder what those spots are - they really look like chain fling or something that you rode through.  That can't be pinches of brake dust, right?  That would be weird.

[Slide Panda]

Looks a bit like gooey chain lube (fling) that hit the wheel, spread and then picked up dust - resulting the the tails in the photo....

[Enzoman]

I know it looks like gunk and th dust stuck to it but it's not. I wiped my hand across the rim last night and it is just dust. I don't know why it looks like chain fling but it isn't and it's on the fron rim too. I guess I'll just wash it real good and keep cleaning the caliper with compressed air and see if it goes away on it's own. Thanks for the feedback. 

[dennisd]

My M1100 does the same thing.

[He Man]

if it is truley dust, no amount of air si going to clean it,. you can change to pads that dont give off as much dust though.

[rockaduc]

My wheels look like that too.  It's just dust.  Unfortunately I have white wheels so if I even push my bike from one side of the garage to the other, they are covered in dust.  White wheels are a giant PITA, but look really good when clean.