Experience with no brake dust shields long term?

[Mike_ZN6]

I was planning to use the PP dust shields for the Brembo GT kits I picked up. However, it is not currently possible to purchase the dust shields because they are back ordered with no ETA. They may have even possibly been discontinued.

I got the brakes from @CounterSpace Garage and they are suggesting to just completely remove the front dust shields and cut the shield faces off the rears. Does anyone have experience driving their car with no dust shields? Any issues with daily driving without the shields? How much more brake dust gets on your wheels?

[Code Monkey]

I recently removed both front and rear heat shields so not long term feedback yet.

The rears can be removed in an elegant way and you can look through the thread to see how I heat wrapped some ball joints and lines.

[Sam86]

I have STI brembos and my mechanic chose to just remove the dust shields rather than trim them. He doesn’t seem to think there’s any real need to have it.
No issues so far but yea the barrels of the wheels have a lot of brake dust even though I ceramic coated my wheels.

[DrinkenBRZ]

I took the fronts off my 2016 track rat. As others noted, lots more dusting. I also ran like this through winters and rain, so every couple/few months I hit things with brake kleen, steel wool, and wire brushes then finished with some penetrating lube after more brake clean and a wipe down to mitigate water and winter grime corrosion. Obviously keep the latter lube off the pads, rotors and near areas. Drove this car just over five years like this and all held up well. No oil cooler either but that’s for other threads. ��

[Sapphireho]

Take them off, you'll be fine..

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by Mike_ZN6

I was planning to use the PP dust shields for the Brembo GT kits I picked up. However, it is not currently possible to purchase the dust shields because they are back ordered with no ETA. They may have even possibly been discontinued.

I got the brakes from @CounterSpace Garage and they are suggesting to just completely remove the front dust shields and cut the shield faces off the rears. Does anyone have experience driving their car with no dust shields? Any issues with daily driving without the shields? How much more brake dust gets on your wheels?

been running my RR Racing rear BBK with no Dust shield without issues for about 2 years (had to be cut) but front I was able to keep them.

[clio]

I think you'll find them available at Amayama

[Mike_ZN6]

Originally Posted by clio

I think you'll find them available at Amayama

Thanks for letting me know. I just put an order in with them. Hopefully they approve it. I would prefer to keep this car more street than race car.


If they cancel the order, I will probably remove the fronts and remove the whole shield from the rears like @Code Monkey.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by DrinkenBRZ

I took the fronts off my 2016 track rat. As others noted, lots more dusting. I also ran like this through winters and rain, so every couple/few months I hit things with brake kleen, steel wool, and wire brushes then finished with some penetrating lube after more brake clean and a wipe down to mitigate water and winter grime corrosion. Obviously keep the latter lube off the pads, rotors and near areas. Drove this car just over five years like this and all held up well. No oil cooler either but that’s for other threads. ��

This^
They serve a purpose but as long as you maintain the areas around them you can get away without them. If you just leave things then you will run into issues (both with the brakes and surrounding parts) down the road.

[spcmafia]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

This^
They serve a purpose but as long as you maintain the areas around them you can get away without them. If you just leave things then you will run into issues (both with the brakes and surrounding parts) down the road.

Also, spraying the wheels with something like graphene wax makes cleaning much easier and could prevent some buildup. Ever since I've been using it on mine I haven't had to go thru so many steps or better yet, spend more than 30 seconds per wheel when washing the car.