Aluminum trim brightening

[CrashBob]

Hey,

I was trying to clean some paint off the edges of my aluminum lower body mouldings using lacquer thinner and a rag with little success. So what the hey, I took some #0000 steel wool and soaked it in the thinner and scrubbed away. The paint came off and so did the grunge on the moulding leaving a shiny area. With nothing to loose but time, I used the procedure on the whole piece and it came out nice and bright. I checked to see if the anodize was still there by using a little Mother's polish and there was no black aluminum smut on the rag.
Of course I discovered this AFTER I trashed 4 pieces using oven cleaner to remove the anodize. Left it on too long and it ate the aluminum surface.

CrashBob