Brake Dust
When braking force is applied, the act of abrasive friction between the brake pad and the rotor wears both the rotor and pad away. The "brake dust" that is seen deposited on wheels, calipers and other braking system components consists mostly of rotor material. Brake dust can damage the finish of most wheels if not washed off. Generally brake pad that aggressively abrades more rotor material away, such as metallic pads, will create more brake dust.
Read more about this topic: Disc Brake
Famous quotes containing the word dust:
“Our own country furnishes antiquities as ancient and durable, and as useful, as any; rocks at least as well covered with lichens, and a soil which, if it is virgin, is but virgin mould, the very dust of nature. What if we cannot read Rome or Greece, Etruria or Carthage, or Egypt or Babylon, on these; are our cliffs bare?”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)