Rolocs for a tire tech

[joman767]

So as a new ish (6 months, but so many have been fired im one of the most experienced..) tire tech I quickly realized going as fast as possible at the expense of quality of work will get me nowhere. I now do the best job I can on every car and a part of that is sanding down the brake hub and wheel mating surfaces.

The problem is that the shop provides these awful k tool pistol grip die grinders with "directional wire wheels" on them to go around the studs. Works in theory but in practice they just destroy your wrists and your ears by the end of every car, while mostly leaving polished rust behind. Makes you wonder why nobody uses them.

The shop provides 2" roloc discs for sanding caliper brackets and other stuff so I got me a right angle die grinder and a holder and started using those, only for the shop manager to come over and tell me I was removing rotor material by using them... needless to say he does NOT want me touching a wheel with them.

Ive seen the bristle discs which seem a little weird to me, and ive seen the 3m brake hub cleaning discs that go around studs and ive got a 10 pack of the brake hub discs comming in a week and ill see how long a 10 pack lasts for 30$.

What would you guys do? What do you use to clean mating surfaces? What lasts the longest? Ive gotta pay for whatever I use to replace the destroyer of wrists and the shaker of minds. If I can keep my costs to ~1$ a day I can call it an espresso shot and be happy.

 

[darkzero]

I'd use the bristle discs or scotchbrite discs (maroon hbhrown is what I commonly use) depending on how much **** you need to clean off. Bristle discs are pricey though. Sanding discs seems like it would risk removing unnecessary material from the hubs. But here in SoCal we don't have rust issues.

 

[DGersic]

I don’t know how long they last in a shop environment. A 10 pack would last me a while.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...leaning-Pro-Disc/?N=5002385+3290088135&rt=rud




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[plinker]

We've got this wheel cleaner at the shop works really well and lasts quite a while. https://www.tooltopia.com/mueller-kueps-433507.aspx The disk is replaceable (velcro) but only comes in a three pack.


On the hub surface,
A brown scotchbrite would do well, if the rust is heavy a sanding disk would be ok. A needle scaler is actually what I use most of the time. works fairly quickly and does a decent enough job of cleaning around the studs. Noise may or may not be an issue.
https://www.tooltopia.com/ingersoll-rand-125.aspx

 

[Squankum]

I was just reading about these things earlier today or maybe yesterday... from Germany, the land of lug bolts, comes this large scrubby:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S2O9Z70/?tag=atomicindus08-20

And I'm just baffled. I left the salt zone so long ago... just how rusty does a rotor mating surface get? It's not a thin, even layer of rust? The wheels, is this a steel wheel issue primarily?

Does anybody use Fluid Film or a thin layer o' antiseize to prevent future issues?

I also just learned about "Brake caliper bracket files" on the South Main Auto (youtube) show the other day and was similarly taken aback.

Salt is the danged devil.

 

[ex-x-fire]

I tried cleaning hubs & wheels that way, too much dust inhaled for me to keep doing that. Spraying down the wheels with soapy water helps a lot.
I just run a heavy duty wire (hand) brush over the surfaces, all you want gone is any loose stuff.

 

[Buckaroo5]

Last "Scotchbrite" discs I bought were the house brand from Zoro....cheaper and seem to be just as good.

Buckaroo

 

[RKA]

The roloc woven scotch brite cleaning discs are fine. If you’re using the sanding discs, that’s not a good idea. Unfortunately I don’t know how expensive that will get over time. Depends on how long those discs last and how many brake jobs you’re doing daily.

Squankum, the areas of the country where cars are bathed in salt almost daily are that bad. But even somewhere mild like NJ can develop some rust over 6 months. It’s not bad for me since I touch them up with each wheel change and throw a thin film of fluid film, but most cars don’t get any attention for tens of thousands of miles. It can get really bad. And some cars are worse than others as well. Some will roll out of the factory with coated rotors and some are bare iron and will rust up faster.

 

[rlitman]

I'd use the bristle discs or scotchbrite discs (maroon hbhrown is what I commonly use) depending on how much **** you need to clean off. Bristle discs are pricey though. Sanding discs seems like it would risk removing unnecessary material from the hubs. But here in SoCal we don't have rust issues.

Bristle discs are pricey, but they last a long time and don't get clogged up.

I just use a chisel for flaking rust, and don't touch anything else. No need to get more **** in my lungs.

 

[Ign]

A Roloc on a steel WMS is not going to remove anything worthy of mention (Iess than half-thou) unless you hold it in one place for 10+ seconds.

Too bad the manager is, well, the manager

 

[RKA]

Well, to be fair to the manager...when a tech uses a tool on a rotor, they tend to use the same tool on the wheel, which is aluminum in most cases. It's far simpler to only allow use of materials for cleaning not grinding, sanding, etc. when you have a shop full of employees possibly with high turnover.

And if you read the OP, he mentions the wheel and the hub in one go.
...I was removing rotor material by using them... needless to say he does NOT want me touching a wheel with them.

 

[Barrymaxx]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019CLI1S/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I use this with the associated disks for cleaning up hubs and rotors. Works very well.

 

[joman767]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019CLI1S/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I use this with the associated disks for cleaning up hubs and rotors. Works very well.

If anyone with these uses these in a shop how long does each disc normally last? Im wondering if id need more than ~10 per month just to estimate how much it would cost.

 

[setfocus]

We use the brown scotch-brite type discs for both hubs and wheels, they will take off aluminum but work fine on Al wheels if your not an idiot about it. The chain of shops I work for is super **** about cleaning everything because the leading cause of wheel off's is from corroded mating surfaces, and we hand torque lugs. Not just crank them on super tight with an impact

did brakes on a car today, huge rust build up on the hub surface under the rotor, was going at it back and forth with the red abrasive discs, a needle scaler, and the purple hollow discs for going around studs. **** didn't want to come off

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...leaning-Pro-Disc/?N=5002385+3290088135&rt=rud