2026 test14 productsShop Chemicals & Lubricants
Which Brake Parts Cleaner Brand Wins?
We compared 14 brake parts cleaner options head to head. Gunk (Chlorinated) came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Gunk (Chlorinated)
Price shown in test: $14
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Runner-up
Lucas
Price shown in test: $13
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Weight | Evaporation speed | Grease and marker removal | Sludge removed from steel plate in 8 seconds | Residue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Gunk Chlorinated$14 | 637 g | 1 minute 24 seconds, extremely slow just like the chlorinated CRC | 3 passes, tied for first with chlorinated CRC | 75.01 g, the most of any product, circles around the competition; 0.56 g of sludge removed per gram of product (third); 5 cents per gram of sludge removed (tied third most efficient) | performed the best so far, leaving behind just one tiny spot; best possible subjective rating of one |
| 2Lucas$13 | 489 g | 8.3 seconds, in the top group with 3M and Berryman between 8 and 9 seconds | 5 passes total | 37.22 g, third place at that point in testing | evaporates faster than Permatex and left behind less residue |
| 3CRC Chlorinated$6 | 653 g | 4 minutes 4 seconds, over eight times as long as the Gumout and Berryman, the slowest of all products tested | 3 passes, tied for first with chlorinated Gunk | 58.56 g, third best; 3 cents per gram of sludge removed, the most cost efficient | took a very long time to evaporate but left behind only a very small amount of residue, by far the best yet at that point |
| 4Permatex$12 | 504 g | 33.1 seconds, even slower than Sprayway | 4 passes, part of a three way tie for second with non chlorinated CRC and Johnsen's | 59.27 g, second place, described as the best yet at that point; 0.67 g of sludge removed per gram of product, the best ratio of any product; 4 cents per gram of sludge removed, second most efficient | very slow to evaporate and left behind quite a bit more residue than Sprayway |
| 5Johnsen's$14 | 513 g | 6.4 seconds, second fastest overall behind Detroit Axle | 4 passes, part of a three way tie for second with non chlorinated CRC and Permatex | 27.48 g, fifth place at that point, moved ahead of non chlorinated CRC | left behind a little more residue than Permatex but still performed well |
| 6Gumout$4 | 397 g of content, 483 g with can | close to 14 seconds | 9 passes, still had a small amount of grease and marker remaining, test stopped for lack of further progress | 0.46 g removed from plate (298.85 g to 298.39 g); 47 g of product used from can | left behind quite a bit of residue with an oily feel |
| 7SuperTech$5 | 531 g | 13.3 seconds, a little faster than Gumout | 6 passes, faster start than Gumout | 0.28 g removed from plate; 71 g of product used from can | better than Gumout but still quite a bit of residue left behind |
| 8Berryman$8 | 494 g | 8.8 seconds, in the top group with Lucas and 3M between 8 and 9 seconds | 8 passes total | 1.9 g removed from plate (303.3 g to 301.4 g); can weight dropped from 472 g to 445.54 g, transcript states about 48 g used though the stated figures subtract to roughly 26 g, kept verbatim due to ambiguity | evaporates a little faster than chlorinated CRC but left behind some residue, better than Gumout, about the same as SuperTech |
| 9CRC Non-Chlorinated$8 | 518 g | 15 seconds, just a little slower than Gumout and SuperTech | 4 passes, part of a three way tie for second with Permatex and Johnsen's | 28.2 g, second place behind chlorinated CRC at that point in testing | takes a little longer to evaporate than Berryman but left behind a little less residue, residue does not feel oily |
| 10Denco$8 | 472 g | 30 seconds, the slowest non chlorinated cleaner at that point in testing | 8 passes to remove all grease, but did not fully remove the permanent marker stain | 15.42 g, about half of non chlorinated CRC's result | performed better than Gumout |
| 11Penray$10 | 462 g | 12.5 seconds, second place behind Berryman at that point in testing | 9 passes total, same as Gumout, slow start and continued to struggle | 0.17 g removed from plate, continued to struggle | left behind a very thin layer of residue, similar to non chlorinated CRC, better than average |
| 12Sprayway$10 | 555 g | 22.44 seconds | 5 passes, third place behind non chlorinated CRC | 0.45 g removed from plate, described as not spraying with much force | slow to evaporate but leaves very little residue, one of the best so far |
| 13Detroit Axle$19 | 385 g | close to 3 seconds, by far the fastest of all products tested, more than twice as fast as the next closest competitor | 6 passes, described as evaporating too quickly to compete with the top five brands on this test | 0.24 g removed from plate, did not pack a powerful punch | left behind more residue than chlorinated CRC, performed about the same as Johnsen's |
| 143M$23 | 480 g | 8.5 seconds, faster than average | 5 passes, same as Sprayway and Lucas | 39.41 g; 0.57 g of sludge removed per gram of product, second best ratio | left behind a little more residue than Detroit Axle |
How it was tested
- evaporation speed timed after dragging a saturated paper towel across a table
- grease and permanent marker removal measured in number of wipe passes needed
- sludge and grime removal from a weighed steel plate measured in grams removed during an 8 second spray
- residue left behind on glass after full evaporation, assessed visually and by feel
“the chlorinated gunk came out on top with the best average finish of 3.7”