Also posted in the paint section..
Did a search and got some ideas but here goes..I have a 65 250 with Aluminium strips that run down the side of the truck.They have a few minor dents but this is not a trailer queen so I would like to shine them up rather than replace.It appears to have a coating over the aluminium that has a cloudy appearance.In the places that the coating is gone I can polish it up nicely.The other ares will not.Is this a factory coating that has failed or is it just old?I took a 3m pad to a small area and it removed the coating and shined up well.Is there a way to removed this stuff?..Wet sanding?All of the trim is still on the truck and I would like to sort this out before I start on the body and paint work so I can budget(haha)for replacement of the trim.If this caoting is removed I'm sure I will be stuck polishing this more often but the truck is mostly garage kept.The grill and head and tailite trim also has the same issue but not as bad.
Joe

 

Joe, What you are facing is called Anodozing. You can use the search feature and find several threads covering this, and it's removal.

Good luck

John

 

Just finished reading it,thanx.I searched the paint section and found nothing.This may take a while to get right.If I dont clearcaot the aluminium will it oxidize pretty quickly?
Joe

 

I'm actually going to take mine off in the next couple of months and clean, polish and sell.

But, I'd remove it from the truck (it will help with the body work also) and then you can remove the dents and imperfections using the wet sand method with progressively finer grits up to 1200 or something. Then it should shine up great.

 

The head light and turn signal trim, aluminum grill, side moulding, etc. anodized aluminum. Can be reanodized but gets expensive. Can purchase an anodize stripper in few auto supply shops, or hardware store. Purchased a bottle at local Napa auto supply. Directions are on container, basically soak and rinse. Caution, the metal is soft so work out dents carefully with small anvil and hammar or something simular. Can be labor intensive, having buffer can make it less time consuming. I salvaged alum. grille which had some heavy pitting and a few dents. Worked out the dents, because of heavy pitting had to start out with medium sandpaper and worked up to 1500-2000 grit to final finish. If decide to recondition using this method, suggest start out with finist sandpaper as possible, less time removing the scratches. Problem is that once the anodozie is removed the alum. tends to tarnish quickly, so after polishing I purchased aerosol can alum. clear cote and gave it couple coats. There are few products available specifically for the purpose of coating alum. Recently read an article on method many of the manufacturer's use to preserve wheel rims, manifolds, carb, and engine assessories in general. As mentioned topic has come up on occasion, couple member with plating experience with additional information.

dave

 

hay I took the front two arrow pcs. off my old parts truck and sanded them with 320 wet dry with water until I got all of the dullness out not too bad of a job it will also allow you to remove any small scratches too but its not going to shine yet ,,, then I got a buffing kit at sears "cheap" that you put on a drill , C-clamped the drill to the corner of the table and buffed the hell out of it until it shine to a mirror reflection and the cleaned it with a polish of choice , oh I did this while it was not on the truck , hope this might help