After I drive my car, there are spiral “arms” of dark brown substance that looks like grease coming from my center caps. What is this, and how can I stop it?
This can be one of two things: brake dust or wheel bearing grease. You can determine this by attempting to wash it off with a garden hose: the brake dust will come of somewhat easily without a lot fo scrubbing, but the grease will smear around and take some work to get off. The brake dust seems to happen more often when driving in humid environments. It also may be related to the particular type of tire dressing that you are using. If it is grease, you should get your car into the dealer to have them check to see if the bearing are lubricated and sealed properly. One last possibility is that you used oil on your lug nuts when mounting your tires. You should not do this! Try to clean off the oil with brake parts cleaner and remount the rims. Note that applying a good coat of wax on your rims when you wash your car makes it much easier to get all of this gunk off when you wash it the next time. The brake dust also seems to stick less to freshly waxed wheels. Back to the index…
