Removed anodizing quickly on my 71 Chevy grille surround

[vettejohn]

I had to share this one. I saw a very short video somewhere on the internet and the guy showed how he removed the anodizing from his aluminum trim parts by using Hair and Grease Remover, which he purchased from Home Depot. It comes in a black plastic bottle and is enclosed in a ziplock type plastic bag. The product contains lye and it does a great job of cleaning the aluminum. Withing minutes, the shine and the anodizing is gone. And, there is no noticeable smell. Once it is cleaned, it buffs up beautifully.

I used disposable nitrile gloves when I brushed it on with a disposable foam brush. Keep the lye off your skin - it will give you a burn. OH! Buy the smaller bottle. I used less than 10 percent of the two liter bottle I bought.

It doesn't take much to do the job - once it began to bubble, I worked it over with a small piece of green Scotchbrite and that took all of the anodizing off. It only took about an hour to remove all of the anodizing on the entire grille surround.

When finished, I washed it down with water, dried it, and began the buffing. I am using a 2" polishing pad on my $25 2" sander/polisher from Harbor Freight and plenty of Mothers mag and aluminum polish. It works great. It is beginning to look just like polished stainless steel or chrome. I love it!

It shouldn't take too long to polish using air tools. Some places need some hand work, but it sure beats sanding the entire surround to remove the anodizing.

[Quackaddict]

would this stuff be good to use if I was going to paint mine like a stripper I wonder or only to polish it back up?

[mdwilf]

Any chance you could toss up some before & after pics?

[vettejohn]

Sorry - no pix available - the project went so easily and so quickly, I didn't even think of getting the camera.

[red71c10]

Good info thanks!

[msgross]

Are you going to protect the aluminum now? If so then how? It will look even worse if you don't....

[amullis]

Do you have the actual name of the stuff that you bought to do this with?

[vettejohn]

Yes, I mentioned it in the first post - HAIR AND GREASE REMOVER - in a black bottle - bought it at Home Depot. Buying the larger bottle is unnecessary. Buy the small one and you will still have most of it left over if you are just doing a grille surround.

I am going to leave it unprotected for now since my truck is out of the weather most of the time. I will just use some Mothers once in awhile to keep it looking nice. If it gets nasty, I will resort to using some clear paint on it.

[msgross]

You might look in this product for long term protection http://www.sharkhide.com/

[gcburdic]

here's a thread that actually has that video vettejohn is talking about.....http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=396172

Just curious from the above thread....will the aluminum get brittle?!?!