Aircraft Paint remover...

[63viking]

Some one stated on this forum that AirCraft paint remover would remove the finish on the bumpers.
DON'T waste your money, cause it don't work. Treid it yesterday. It does absoluty nothing. Sipt woud remore it better.

[KDirk]

Jon,

As far as I know, there are only two ways to strip anodizing from aluminum:

1) abrasive method, basically media blast or sand/polish down to bare aluminum.

2) take to a plating shop that does anodizing, and they can electro-chemically strip and re-anodize (or leave untreated after stripping) the part. The difficult part for the Reatta bumpers is that very few places have a tank large enough to "dip" the entire bumper in one pass due to it's awkward size and shape. Consistency of the finish dictates that it has to be done in one shot, from what was explained to be by a local place that does metal finishing.

Thus, option one seems to be the only "easy" (and I use that term loosely) way to redo a bumper. That results in a more polished/shiny look (definitely not the satin factory look) but unless that really matters to you, it is likely the way to go. This probably also requires more maintenance to keep up. Without the anodizing, the bare aluminum is more susceptible to corrosion and weathering. So, keep some good metal polish on hand and hand rub it frequently enough to keep it decent looking.

I am thinking about doing this on my 88, as the front bumper has a couple of moderately deep scratches that will need to be sanded out. Obviously, that will require stripping and polishing the whole thing for it to look good again. Not really high on my priority list right now as I'll need to remove both bumpers from the car to do this.

KDirk

[Rawja]

This stuff definitely works:

ANODIZE REMOVER

[johnemac]

I see where the answer is a caustic, people use oven cleaner. Info on "Instructables" website and You Tube.