Restoring brushed aluminium frames

[PurleySquire]

I have a couple of frames with clear coat lacquer over what appears to be brushed aluminium tubing, a style that was popular in the late nineties with a number of manufacturers.

As the lacquer gets scratched and chipped from use, humidity creeps beneath it and causes "snail trails" of white corrosion.

I would expect you have to first strip back to bare metal, but what then? My local powder coater was nonplussed, he is used to blasting items before coating, but with a clear coat this would leave a dull sandpaper finish. So would this mean finding a metal polisher, or is this a DIY proposition?

Also going for a highly polished finish would presumably not leave sufficient key for any top coat to adhere to.

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, I couldn't find a reference.

 

[tonedeaf101]

Re:

You would be better just stripping the laquer
And polishing by hand.
Once done it looks fab and a regular light touch up will keep it looking good. Personally I found "peek" polish to be brilliant.
Slightest mark in any new laquer will just allow corrosion to creep in again then you're back to square one.

 

[dazdc5]

Re:

Stripped the Marin back with wire wool.

 

[PurleySquire]

Nice, well at least these are going to be cheap options. The frames are currently used as skibikes, so they get a lot of knocks loading on to chairlifts and hitting rocks and other obstacles!