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review
Weldtite Dirtwash Disc Rotor Wipes 2£1.99
VERDICT:
Sensible emergency fix for commuters or tourers running hydraulic disc brakes
Weight:
25g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
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Disc brakes are springing up all over the place in the roadie market with the majority of them being put to work on all weather training and commuting bikes. Winter is here, so Weldtite's Dirtwash Disc Rotor Wipes are probably a sensible thing to keep in your rucksack.
Aimed primarily at the mountain biking community the Rotor Wipes are basically paper towels which are soaked in isopropyl alcohol. As a solvent it's intended here to clean pretty much anything off of your disc rotor to stop poor braking due to contamination.
For £1.99 you get six individual wipes in their own sachets all packed away in a plastic case. They'll remove dirt and grit but more importantly oil and hydraulic fluid. Now I know the majority of maintenance is carried out at home so these might not get a lot of use but they are intended as an emergency mid ride solution to brake fluid leaking onto the rotors or some over zealous chain lubrication.
I've tried them on pretty much every concoction I could find in the shed and the wipes removed it all while also leaving no residue on the rotors or your fingers. One wipe will clean both rotors though you've got to be quick as the alcohol evaporates pretty rapidly from the towel and it'll be dry before you know it.
Overall while they might sit in the bottom of your commuting bag for a while they are a worthwhile investment if you are running discs on the commute or touring especially if said brakes are hydraulic. At 33p a wipe it's not a huge investment either.
Verdict
A sensible emergency fix for commuters or tourers running hydraulic disc brakes
road.cc test report
Make and model: Weldtite Dirtwash Disc Rotor Wipes
Size tested: n/a
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Designed primarily for off road riding they do have applications for the road too. Touring with hydraulic discs could see leaked fluid on the rotor, a wipe off with one of these would them make laden descending safe again.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Paper towels soaked in isopropyl alcohol
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
The towels are strong and won't snag or rip.
Rate the product for performance:
9/10
They'll get pretty much anything off the disc rotor leaving the discs completely clean and brand new looking.
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
8/10
25g in your rucksack isn't going to be noticeable.
Rate the product for value:
7/10
£1.99 for the six may not be cheap compared to a home solution of an aerosol can of brake cleaner but its value for money as far as convenience is concerned.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Do exactly what they are supposed to.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The cleaning power.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
The fumes are a bit potent.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.
Would you consider buying the product? Yes.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.
Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?
A useful application for disc users who might need to do some road side maintenance.
About the tester
Age: 36 Height: 180cm Weight: 76kg
I usually ride: Kinesis T2 My best bike is: Kinesis Aithien
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed,
As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!
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Add new comment
15 comments
So, where does this leave disc vs rim brake debate?? These discs sound real dangerous - you could lose a limb just servicing them, apparently. So maybe, I'll just take my chances out on the road with rim brakes.
In my 10+ years of riding with discs I have never once found myself thinking 'I wish I had some wetwipes to clean my rotors with'. How would you get chain lube on your rotors while out riding? And if hydraulic fluid has splashed onto your rotors on the trail you have bigger problems than a dirty rotor.
They'll clean chain gunk off your hands too, but they will dry out your skin in the process, so don't make a habit of it!!!
Mike & barbarus. They're not razor sharp, but you certainly can injure yourself on disc rotors, trust me. My personal recommendation would be not to inattentively allow the end of your finger to stray into the holes of a rotating disc rotor where it is about to enter the caliper. The inertia of the wheel means that the edges don't really need to be that sharp.
Or you could just buy a box of 100 pre-injection swabs for less than £2
Exactly the same product in a different package without the 1000% mark up.
Dirt wipes: £1.99 for 6 or 33p per wipe
Sterets: £3 for 100 or 3p per wipe
Keep plenty on the team bus....just ask.
You might need to work on the maths for that a bit longer!
Disc rotors are NOT like razors! You can hurt yourself in any number of ways on a bike wet-wiping your disc rotors will not be one of them.
I can assure you that the edges of the Avid Clean Sweep rotors on my bike are like razors. I've had the plasters to prove it.
Let's be honest, some people could injure themselves on a damp flannel. I blame the 'elf an' safety generation.
Mainly aimed at MTBs?
If you've got leaking brake fluid on an MTB, it's because you've ripped off the hose! No wipe is fixing that.
As far as contamination, just find some dirty water / mud, ride through it and hit the brakes and that's gone...
If worse than that, your pads are f-ed and you pop in new ones.
They ought to come with a health warning. The edges of rotors are like razor blades and make short work of slicing fingers.
Be careful out there.
Really? I have, over the years, jammed my fingers in spokes, stabbed them with cable ends, abraded my thumbs on chainrings and barked my shins on pedals. But, having never come across a razor-edged brake disc, I tend to think they are an urban myth.
And apparently they are often super heated as well, increasing the risk of death by dismemberment and cauterization. Soon there will be a campaign to encourage the UCI to refrain from allowing the use of disc brakes in the pro peleton .... what's that you say?
Every now & again Aldi sells boxes of glasses cleaning wipes (50 for £1:99), They are alcohol wipes, might not be as good as the weldtite ones mentioned above but they have come in very handy for cleaning hands, rotors, glasses, pretty much anything. I always carry a couple in a jersey pocket for those sticky fingered occasions.