Cleaning Brushed Alum. Dash Pieces

[Survivor]

Any suggestions on the best method to clean my original brushed alum. dash pieces.  Some smudges and general dullness.  Thx.

[JD]

Not sure just how "clean" you're trying to get.

There is a clear coat on those originally and it can turn yellow-ish or peel, also if original the "WIPERS" and "BRAKES" words were silk-screened on so be careful - don't remove them. 

Start gently, I've used house-hold cleaner (Fansastik, 409 or similar) and soft brush move with the "grain".

You can step up in aggressiveness of solvents and scrubbing.  White scotch-brite gently.  Also helps if the parts are off the car.

Others will have tips too.

[557]

Magic eraser(believe it's a Mr. Clean product)worked great to get dirt ,grease etc.off my door panels without hurting them.Haven't tried it on the dash,but I would imagine......Good Luck!

[Bob Gaines]

Not sure just how "clean" you're trying to get.

There is a clear coat on those originally and it can turn yellow-ish or peel, also if original the "WIPERS" and "BRAKES" words were silk-screened on so be careful - don't remove them. 

Start gently, I've used house-hold cleaner (Fansastik, 409 or similar) and soft brush move with the "grain".

You can step up in aggressiveness of solvents and scrubbing.  White scotch-brite gently.  Also helps if the parts are off the car.

Others will have tips too.

+1.This subject has come up countless times. The clear coat is a hard Brite Dip (trade name) anodized originally. If yellowed at all you can forget about trying to clean and getting rid of the yellow because it is underneath the clear typically and not on the surface. Also forget about stripping off and cleaning. Besides ruining the silkscreened on "WIPERS" and "BRAKES" it is a lot of labor to strip and rebrush. I have only seen poor results in compared to original after. NOS is not a option for a number of reasons . Fortunately there are some excellent repro alternatives . There are of course a few things you can do. You can clean the surface and live with the yellowing underneath because it might look a little better. You can replace with nice repro alternative or you can choose to not believe about the yellowing under the hard surface to try a DIY restoration for inferior end results and find out the hard way.