Re: [CR]Disadvantages of removing anodizing from aluminum parts

(Example: Production Builders)

From: "Pete Rutledge" <prutledge1@comcast.net>
To: "classicrendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, "Bianca Pratorius" <biankita@earthlink.net>
References: <D481AC77-C3FB-11D9-840D-000A95DCF800@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Disadvantages of removing anodizing from aluminum parts
Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 19:44:54 -0400
reply-type=response

If you coat the anodized part with original Easy-off Oven Cleaner for a few minutes, it will remove the anodized layer and you can go straight to rubbing compound to bring up the shine. Of course you may still want to do some localized sanding (from coarse to fine) to remove gouges and scratches. Finally a good coat of wax will help retain the shine for many months. As far a originality is concerned, I prefer a shiny, scratchless, gougeless unanodized (but unoriginal) aluminum part to a scratched, gouged, chaulky white but original anodized part. Quite a bit of info on the topic of anodizing can be found in the CR archives.

Pete Rutledge
Woodbridge, VA


----- Original Message -----
From: Bianca Pratorius
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 6:10 PM
Subject: [CR]Disadvantages of removing anodizing from aluminum parts



> In the past I have sometimes restored an aluminum part to a healthy shine
> by removing the anodizing first with 220 wet dry paper. Next I go to 400
> then 600 then 1200 then 3m compound. I haven't seen an negative effect to
> doing this yet. You can even get a satin finish by not using the compound
> as a last step. This begs the question... What is the disadvantage of
> doing this other than making an original part, unoriginal? What was the
> original advantage of putting an anodized layer on in the first place. I
> have found that a horribly scratched seatpost or stem or brake lever is
> completely usable and attractive after a 30 minute process.
>
> Garth Libre in Miami Shores Fl.