What is the point of the inner dust shields for the disc brake sytems? Do they serve any real purpose on a vehicle that is primarily driven only in nice weather and rarely in the rain?

I just took my shields off for an upcoming open track event to improve brake cooling on the track and I am debating whether or not to re-install them after the event.

Any insight would be helpfull!

 

They keep debris (water, dust, salt, etc.) away from the caliper and rotor. I took mine off too in order to improve cooling. The shield traps heat close to the rotor IMO.

 

Actually you may have hurt the cooling factor, their there for protection, and help with air flow to the rotor and caliper.

 

These actually retain heat buildup.

 

I can take a pic of the ones on our cars. Trust me, they aren't there for flow. The front part actually has a slight "lip" that blocks flow. Just my .02

 

Oh yeah, they absolutely block air flow. The rotors are vented internally from the back (via cooling vanes between the braking surfaces) but with the dust shields in place, there is no way for air to really flow through the interior of the rotor.

I added cooling ducts to the front brakes for the track to add even more cooling besides just removing the shields. I directed the outlet of the ducts mostly toward the centor of the rotor "hat"