Reclamation of water from brake dust on wheels? Engine Cleaning Reclamation?

[puttingmyfootdown]

Hi All,

 

I am starting up an auto and marine detailing business and we clean via the use of steam so there really is no water run off.  A friend brought up the point that brake dust might contain asbestos/metal fragments that may need reclamation if they make contact with pavement and then run off into the water without being treated. I thought asbestos was no longer used in the process and a search shows that the EPA tried to ban it's use but did not succeed. Does anyone have any information on this? Does Green Wheel Cleaner act as a chelating agent and attract the fragments so as not to allow the dust fragments to be inhaled?

 

Second, if I am to clean an engine with APC and steam will I need to reclaim anything that falls to the pavement or grass? Will there even be any water drips? Do I even offer this as an option in the detailing process if there is no means to reclaim anything?  Any information you all may have would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you. Hope all your labor day weekends were free of labor! 

 

-James

[Baron_Von_Awesome]

What needs to be or not be reclaimed is really a local thing - you'll need to check with your local zoning (or multiple local zonings if you're mobile) to find out.  Asbestos is still used in some pads and clutch disks, but as a detailer I'm not sure how you would inhale any of it short of somehow scratch and sniffing a hot brake pad.  Green Wheel cleaner is not a chelating agent - it will obviously release contaminates from the surface since that's what it is designed to do, but does nothing to neutralize those contaminates.  Deep Wheel Cleaner does contain chelating agents, however.