RCZ roof arches

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Fellow Frogger
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Hi All,

has anyone came up with a way of cleaning these? It looks like they are anadized, which wears off where the sun shines on them ( at least they will not corrode in Australia I guess :) ). I've tried metal polish... and cutter on them. That makes them look much better unless you get them in the sun. I'm thinking it evens out the edge between the anadizing and bare aluminium.

If it bothers me to much into the future, maybe sanding the (to remove any anadizing) and a few coats of clear coat is the best fix.... Or just prepping and paint them mat black.

I'm sure others on here have travelled this road before and have a good suggestion :)

seeya,
Shane L,
 
Go Stealth Black

 
it needs to be weather proof. I dont' mind the aluminium look. I pretty sure it is aluminium, they have just anodized it to make it shiny and give it protection. I'm sure it the UK it'll corrode off, out here it'll burn off in the sun.

11 years in the aussie sun is pretty good for most coatings I would have thought ....
 
Hard anodising is done to commercial aluminium windows for a long service life. My house has clear examples over 50 years in the weather. Look at the number of high rise office windows, often bronze or very dark grey, for a better example. 11 years for a quality job is nothing.

(The primrose yellow or black or white aluminium windows seen on most new project houses are powder coated, because it is cheaper)

Do we know what the car finish really is?
 
309785348_687247019099480_4105862940696099186_n.jpg


It does look like aluminium though. I don't think its clearcoat as that would readily wipe rub/buff off. It has to be some sort of protective layer so the alloy doesn't corrode. it woudl be simple enough to strip back and clear coat or paint maybe mat black.
 
They were marketed (in the beginning) as "polished aluminium arches".

They probably are polished aluminium.... I'm guessing that is then coated with a clear anadizing (if such a thing exists). aluminium will quickly dull and corrode if not protected in some way :unsure:
 
Anodising isn't a traditional coating. The alloy is oxidised to produce a very thin stable surface layer resistant to weather effects and fading.
 
Anodising isn't a traditional coating. The alloy is oxidised to produce a very thin stable surface layer resistant to weather effects and fading.

Yes, alloy is supposed to dull off. I'll take a photo later, but there is definitely "something" on there that breaks down... and allows the surface to develop the dull coating you speak of.

I'm sure someday if it bugs me, i'll pull them off and clear coat them :)
 
Watch it. The dull whitish coating may be naturally weathered oxidised metal at a gap in the anodised hard layer. Don't cut the anodised layer off.
 
Seems the 3008 has the same issue with the aluminium roof rails. I thought it was a clear coat breaking down, but maybe not.
 
Seems the 3008 has the same issue with the aluminium roof rails. I thought it was a clear coat breaking down, but maybe not.

Are they alluminium on the 308 ..... or silver coated plastic? These seem to be aluminium with a clear protective coating of some sort applied. Given they a alloy, it will always be simple to fix just by re-finishing the alloy with clear/paint.
 
Yep - I think our T9 308 Touring has a similar very slight degradation of the coating.

Cheers

Justin
 
At least on a 308 it shouldn't be difficult to remove them, get them media blasted, and re-clear anodised.

Cheers

Justin
 
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