Advice - cleaning aluminum extrusion

[CampbellMcCa]

We're about to become owners of a 1976 Argosy 24 in pretty sweet condition.

It's been kept in the Arizona sun for the past 10 years and so is in need of a respray and a general cleanup, but all the hard-to-fix things look in great shape.

One of the exterior cleanup jobs involves restoring the beltline and rubrails. I already sourced the vinyl inserts from the helpful folks at Oasis RV in Tucson, but I was wondering what would be the best way to clean up and restore the aluminum extrusions that hold these inserts in place. After all, there's no point in putting new inserts into a grimy extrusion.

I'm thinking I'll clean these before the respray and before the insertion of the new vinyl.

I found some advice elsewhere for cleaning windows; Simple Green and _synthetic_ wire wool and I'm thinking that this will work for aluminum extrusions too. However, I didn't see any other threads on this specific topic, so why not start one?

Anyone out there have any other neat tips?

[Fyrzowt]

If you go the steel wool route, use "0000". It's fine enough to not scratch glass, I haven't tried it on aluminum. Someone else posted here the other day saying he uses 0000 steel wool with a product called (I think) Gord's on his aluminum wheels and trailer.
I would test in an inconspicuous place.
Dave

[rickandsandi]

Originally Posted by CampbellMcCa

I was wondering what would be the best way to clean up and restore the aluminum extrusions that hold these inserts in place. After all, there's no point in putting new inserts into a grimy extrusion.


Anyone out there have any other neat tips?

I have used 0000 steel wool with acetone on aluminum rails and it has worked quite well. I have also used "Tool Box Polish" from Lowes found in the hitch and trailer section with steel wool. Both processes have worked very well.

[RUSSELL]

Welcome to the forum, I see anther Tucson is on ,that is great. I get lonely some times. Are you permanent resident or are you here for the winter? We live not far from Old Tucson studios.
On my AS I just used buffing compund before replacing the trim. Then I waxed it all.
Regards Russell in sunny and hot Tucson Az.