I brought my car into be detailed today and after a while we got to talking about brake dust. He suggested I might consider Kleen Wheels (he wasn't selling them .. he merely said some of his other clients had been happy with them).

According to Kleen Wheels ...

"Customers often question whether Kleen Wheels have an effect upon the braking system. Consider a Mercedes-Benz as factory delivered in Germany, usually delivered with a steel wheel and a stainless steel hubcap as standard equipment. Does this wheel/hubcap design allow for any passage of air through the wheel? If an American customer were to buy the same vehicle in the US, where we usually find the vehicles come standard loaded with alloy wheels, and the customer installs a pair of Kleen Wheels (an inside hubcap) into the alloy wheels - would there be any more or less air circulating through the wheels that the vehicle was originally designed for with a steel wheel and an outside hubcap? The same amount, of course.

Kleen Wheels are not to be confused with another type of product, since discontinued, a dust cover which completely covered the rotor and caliper. It was kind of a half of a rubber football type of affair which really did a good job of keeping the dust .. and also the heat. Kleen Wheels are not to be confused with this earlier type of product! Kleen Wheels are not in any way to be considered a brake product, but merely a wheel accessory b/c it fits inside the wheel."

However, I've also heard that a) the brakes really are damaged; b) BMW issued a bulletin warning that they would void a car's brake warranty; and c) they look awful.

I would appreciate any comments. Thanks!

-- Dan