How do you clean mounting surfaces?

Joined
Jul 1, 2014
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Canada
What is your preferred method of cleaning wheel and rotor mounting surfaces?

On one of my cars wheels are balanced but I still have some subtle vibration. When I pulled the wheels I noticed rust transferred onto the aluminium wheel. The brakes are new so it must have been from the old rotors. I want to clean some of the rust off without damaging the aluminium wheel. What are the BITOG-approved methods?
 
l clean any crud off with a soft wire brush. I apply a thin layer of anti-seize on the rotor hat and rotor/hub interface.
 
I use both of these,

For the wheel:
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For the rotor:
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If the buildup is bad enough, for cast aluminum wheels I have a very flat plank of wood that I put sandpaper on, so after cleaning any *wet* goop off if present, I sand it "reasonably" flat.

If doing a shallower touchup with a wire brush, on soft aluminum I'd use a brass or stainless brush in a drill, rather than carbon steel bristles, or I have some 3M brown scrub pads that also leave less gouges in aluminum than carbon steel brush bristles do. I prefer to use the 3M pads if the surface previously had silicone paste grease on it, then only use that pad again for same situation, or toss it out so it doesn't contaminate anything else with silicone paste. I mean the pads are larger than a job needs so I cut off a piece to use in that case.
 
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