Aluminum anodizing touch up?

[ptgarcia]

So the car wash guy sprayed bug remover on my $2,000 Baja Designs lights and stripped anodizing off the housings. Any way to fix this? Baja Designs has told me they would warranty the housing but 1) it wasn't their fault and 2) I'd rather not have to remove the lights and send them in.

Thanks!

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Nope, the anodizing is ruined. Baja Designs are the best, I'm happy to hear they're taking care of you.

 

[rlitman]

Nope, the anodizing is ruined...

This. And in the future, keep alkaline cleaners away from aluminum.

 

[Gerald O]

The housings could be re-anodized, but it would be costly.

 

[Monza Harry]

There used to be a few good DIY anodizing web pages that were both good starting places, one sold the "chemicals" and the other sold the "Dye" and each gave the recipes for the "brews" they didn't sell, so between them it was completely DIY. However both of those links are now dead . But a few minutes now should get some decent results, I found those others back about 10+ years ago. I haven't looked in about 7-8 years. Good luck Harry

 

[ptgarcia]

I ended up buying a $40 touch up kit from a company called Caswell in New York. For $40 I figure its worth a shot. My goal is to keep the aluminum protected from corrosion. If the aesthetics aren't perfect I'm good with that. If that doesn't work I'll just put some black paint on them.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

That *****. I was going to suggest Caswell but looks like you've already found them. Good luck and if it doesn't work, you can always send them back to Baja. Out of curiosity, was it a professional car wash guy or just some guy at a local place?

 

[ptgarcia]

Just a fly by night mobile wash service.

 

[andyvh1959]

I have a classic 76 BMW R100RS, with the blue anodized ABE calipers, which look really cool and vintage style, even if better brake calipers were developed long long ago. Years ago I used full strength Purple Stuff cleaner to get the grime and brake dust off the calipers, let it soak and then rinse it off. Only to find it greatly discolored the blue anodize to a faint blue/grey haze. Never did that again.