ETrev

It's that time of year again. The first snow has fallen, and with that came the first road graveling. For me, this means gravel getting stuck in my brake shields daily, multiple times a day.
The noise is absolutely unbearable. And often the rocks won't come loose until I take drastic and ridiculous measures...

Would it be advisable to completely remove these from my G?
I know that when installing Akebonos, these must be trimmed, but I'm wondering about full removal.
If not full removal, would partial trimming help?
X sedan with non-sport brakes

Vizard_87

iTrader: (13)

I upgraded my brakes to akebonos and the dust shield was trimmed and almost a year no problems. (hope this helps)

bPChaos

Don't have mine removed, but rally cars have dust shields with a bunch of holes punched in them so stuff doesn't get caught in there. Seems like that might work if you don't want to remove them altogether?

Elco

Without dust shields, you are more likely to get the brake judder problem because that shields also have some brake airflow function that will make the rotor to heat more even.
If you check the brake judder TSB, they recommend to add larger brake shields in case the car get brake judder.
So removing them is NOT recommended.
However, you can try to bend them a little so the rocks won't get stuck between the shield and rotor.

PS. the brake setup on the post above look's sooo hardcore

stealthee

FWIW I removed the dust shields on my Stealth with no drawbacks from doing so.

ETrev

Thanks guys. I think I'll try modifying them before I resort to complete removal.

How much trimming does the the Akebono installation call for? Is it the lower/bottom portion of the shields?
I'm hoping this method would be enough to keep debris out of them, while still retaining their intended functionality.

4doorfury

iTrader: (1)

I have removed shields on many cars without issues but I also don't live where it snows

hotdawwgman

iTrader: (1)

yolo it. Just do it

Kris9884

iTrader: (3)

I bent mine out of the way a bit but other than that, if they aren't bothering anything or thrashed, might as well keep them.

tank99

iTrader: (1)

The shields on my Xterra completely fell off from rust a few years ago (literally turned to dust when I touched them). It was fine until I traded it in a couple months ago.

Elco

Yeah but that brakes never had the chance to get that hot as the G37 rotors get when you brake hard from 130 mph to 60 mph to avoid a speeding ticket

mhadford

That's weird. I live in Calgary; same snow and gravel conditions, same x sedan with non-sport brakes, same dust shields and I've never had this problem.

The dust shields are supposed to keep rocks out, not in; as well as water, fresh oil etc.. I am wondering if:

1. You have some other squeal issue that gets temporarily fixed by violence that coincidentally dislodges rocks

2. There is something weird about your dust shields - like bent in such a way that they catch rocks? or tapered in to squeeze and trap gravel?

Have you tried taking off the rotors to see what the heck is going on?

EuroRSN

Im having the exact same issue as the OP. Sounds like a frying pan dragging on the ground with all the salt on the road. Dont actually understand why its happening so suddenly but ill take a look over the weekend.