P&S Brake Buster or Meguiar's D143?

[michaelluscher]

Because the small bottles of Meguiar's Ultimate AWC are $10 each, not the best value, and I've got build up to shift

I'm not a detail freak, but caked on brake/iron residue looks terrible to me

For a gallon bottle, they're priced about the same
I assume both have that purple coloring and Iron-X/Perm smell?
Can I dilute to stretch the product, or use straight up?

 

[Turbo Actual]

Yes, you can dilute both if you wish, or use straight. I’ve used D143 for a few months now. It works pretty good, maybe a little too good, because it stained my rims. I wouldn’t fault it for that. It’s very strong and will make you cough if you breathe in a little too much of it. I can’t comment on Brake buster I’ve been meaning to try it. You probably can’t go wrong with both.

 

[chris719]

Because the small bottles of Meguiar's Ultimate AWC are $10 each, not the best value, and I've got build up to shift

I'm not a detail freak, but caked on brake/iron residue looks terrible to me

For a gallon bottle, they're priced about the same
I assume both have that purple coloring and Iron-X/Perm smell?
Can I dilute to stretch the product, or use straight up?

Brake buster doesn’t have iron remover, has no smell basically. It’s alkaline and better as a tire cleaner than wheel cleaner imo. It doesn’t come close to the iron remover types for brake dust. I recommend Adam’s Wheel and Tire over BB if you want that type of product. It’s about double strength vs BB. I haven’t tried the Megs so I can’t comment. My car has 6 pot calipers and dusty pads so i go through a lot of product. The best one I’ve tried so far is Koch Chemie MWC but the price is high. The Turtle Wax Rapid Decon is 85% as good for much less.

 

[Turbo Actual]

So picked up a gallon of BB and I can attest to it not smelling of anything. I think Meg D143 works a little better, but can be harsher on wheel finishes. BB does just fine for some light cleaning and every day brake dust.

 

[FordFETruck]

I've bought 2 gallons of the P&S brake buster now. I like it, I keep my wheels pretty clean, but it works great I think for a general-purpose routine wheel and tire cleaner. It's pretty dang strong mixed 50/50. I did use it on a couple of vehicles that had pretty bad brake dust buildup and it did just fine.

 

[michaelluscher]

Sodium mercaptoacetate seems to be the magic chemical
It's what's in the Meguiar's Ultimate AWC that I've had success with

Ammonium (or Sodium) mercaptoacetate is the chemical changing perm smelling chemical in IronX
Which would explain why it's good at removing ancient brake dust/metal contamination

Adams wheel and tire contains it, so I got two small bottles 2 for $20

We'll see how they cut, if they work well, I'll buy the concentrate and cut it as once the heavy buildup is gone, I can probably stretch it diluted 50/50

 

[chris719]

Sodium mercaptoacetate seems to be the magic chemical
It's what's in the Meguiar's Ultimate AWC that I've had success with

Ammonium (or Sodium) mercaptoacetate is the chemical changing perm smelling chemical in IronX
Which would explain why it's good at removing ancient brake dust/metal contamination

Adams wheel and tire contains it, so I got two small bottles 2 for $20

We'll see how they cut, if they work well, I'll buy the concentrate and cut it as once the heavy buildup is gone, I can probably stretch it diluted 50/50

The Adam’s purple W&T doesn’t contain thioglycolate/mercaptoacetate iron remover. It’s an alkaline APC type cleaner just like Brake Buster but more powerful. The blue Adams Wheel cleaner does contain it though. The purple stuff is a beast, it’s no joke probably 2x as strong as Brake Buster.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0093/8206/8321/files/SDS-Adam_s_All_Wheel_Tire_Cleaner-US-en.pdf?25106

 

[michaelluscher]

The Adam’s purple W&T doesn’t contain thioglycolate/mercaptoacetate iron remover. It’s an alkaline APC type cleaner just like Brake Buster but more powerful. The blue Adams Wheel cleaner does contain it though. The purple stuff is a beast, it’s no joke probably 2x as strong as Brake Buster.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0093/8206/8321/files/SDS-Adam_s_All_Wheel_Tire_Cleaner-US-en.pdf?25106

I see, my mistake
I changed my order to the blue "Wheel Cleaner"
We'll see how it works out