What brands of can spray brake cleaner are friendly to user?

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What brands of cans of spray brake cleaner are the friendliest to the user, and still work good?

The cheap Walmart stuff I used yesterday really stinks and has an after smell that stays, and that last quite a while.

I did not realize when I was using it how bad it is. Probably because I was outside. But that s#@% stays with you on your clothes and is even noticeable when you drive the vehicle after using it.

So what is a good brake cleaner to use that is also friendly to the user?
 
Everyone I used seems as if it is trying to kill the user (me).

I tried non-chlorinated as it was worse as it contained toluene.

I just use the regular brands (original formulation) and try to minimize my exposure. They all seem to work the same.
 
Anything is ok as long as it works so no unchlorinated it usually doesn’t work too well. The smell is usually pretty strong on all the ones I’ve used chlorinated and non chlorinated. My choice is 3M strong smell but works excellent. The bulk kind we get at work which is Cam2 in a barrel doesn’t have too strong of a smell usually but man it burns the skin lol.
 
In my line of duty (industrial supplier), CRC is the smelliest and consistent, Johnsen's is the strongest both in smell and how good it works and the 3M High Power brake cleaner falls in the same category with Johnsen's. I have an in-house brand called "Proguard" and works good like CRC but doesn't have a strong smell, it also doesn't evap as good as the name brands. Gunk isn't what it use to be, I don't bother stocking that in my warehouse unless a customer specifically asks for it.

Hopefully this should give you more insight into brake cleaners.
 
I suffer from asthma so no brake cleaners stuff for me. I mainly used soapy water on a spray bottle. When I need to clean the surface of the rotors, I used the 50% alcohol that they sell at the dollar store which is my hand cleaner too.
 
What brands of cans of spray brake cleaner are the friendliest to the user, and still work good?

The cheap Walmart stuff I used yesterday really stinks and has an after smell that stays, and that last quite a while.

I did not realize when I was using it how bad it is. Probably because I was outside. But that s#@% stays with you on your clothes and is even noticeable when you drive the vehicle after using it.

So what is a good brake cleaner to use that is also friendly to the user?
I use one of these when spraying brake or carb cleaner or anything in a rattle can, it works great. I also have bad asthma which is easily triggered by these products so I know the mask works but will not work for 2K paint.

 
The house brand from Advance or Autozone is mostly Heptane and Ethanol. Works pretty well. Far better for you than the chlorinated.

The CRC non-chlorinated eats plastic, so it’s got something in it beyond heptane and ethanol, acetone, I suspect, so I avoid the CRC.
 
I’ve always used O’Rielly’s house brand. Most non-chlorinated brake cleaner has acetone or methanol in it. The former is a hot, aggressive on plastics but quick flashing solvent.

Berryman now has a CARB-legal chlorinated brake cleaner using Oxsol(Parachlorobenzotrifluoride) as the solvent with a little bit of a sweet, very slightly bleachy smell.

I’ve used plain Dawn and soap to clean drum brakes with success, followed by a blast of brake cleaner to “dry” things out.
 
I just used some Berrymans 50 state legal carb and parts cleaner, 50 state legal usually means not working very well but this stuff works super well, still it smells very potent.
Simple green and a parts brush with a water wash off and blow dried with an air gun also works great for brake dust.
 
Not for that price. No need to "try harder".
$6/can is normal price for CRC Brakleen. Regular consumers likely don't have access to the pricing you do so that's not likely an option for the rest of us. Store brand brake cleaner is usually $3 each or so or $2 for Walmart's Supertech brake cleaner.
 
Firstly, go to non-chlorinated. Chlorinated is bad news to breathe . Secondly, buy a cartridge type breathing mask. Chlorinated is more effective at cleaning but I have no problems with the job effectiveness with non chlorinated. If you want full protection use a 3 M full face mask. To the OP, you should’t be smelling this stuff in the first place. A cartridge mask will take care of that problem.

The guys mocking this advice usually become the guys hacking in the nursing homes.
 
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Not sure if CA gets a different formula than everyone else, but all of them work similarly for me. I just choose the least expensive one.
 
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Here is some info on the subject. Chlorinated apparently is banned in California.

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