S14 dust shields?

[wickedS14]

I recently did a 5-lug conversion on my s14 but I managed to f-up the dust shields when I was prying off the hubs with a flat-head. They were in pretty bad shape and I pounded them back as best as I could but it still kinda looks like shit. My question is is there any down sides as to not using your dust shield. Does having the shields on help cool down the brakes more? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

[khilgers]

I've ran my car without dust shields since I did my 5 lug swap over 3 years ago, no problems.

[THEMkris]

same here.. its almost inevitable that your dust shields are gonna get ruined while doing the 5 lug. not to worry.

[SC_S13]

i dont think the dust shields serve much for cooling, but they're what their named: dust. shields.

i thought a lot of people trimmed their rear dust shields all the time with bigger brake setups and stuff so i dont think it'll have a really harmful effect.

[wickedS14]

I read somewhere that the dust shields bring up cool air quicker or helps with heat. Idk, something like that but I could be wrong. Okay cool, I guess I'll just leave em off then since alot of other people didn't have any problems. Thanks for the help guys.

[projectRDM]

The only real side effect from not running a dust shield is you can boil the grease in the ball joint and tie rod end, but only if the rotors get seriously hot. 99% of the people on this board will never see that happen.

[neilsan]

Brake dust is corrosive. The displaced adhesives and carbon are acidic and I always assumed the dust shields were there to prevent an over abundance of the stuff from caking on things like brake lines and suspension components.

New shields are cheap. get them and stay o.e. instead of hoping people you don't know and will likely never meet know what's best for your car.

[S14DB]

No the dust comes off radially from the rotor. Why most of the dust ends up on the wheels and not in/on the shield.

The shield blocks heat from cooking the Shock, Brake Lines, Ball joint and tie rod. I have heard it cuts your shock life in half but haven't seen hard data.