Chassis cleaning

[Mightymetro 275]

I’ve taken my suspension components off the car and it’s left me with the chassis / uprights in show.  Here’s a picture.  Is the rough build up at the top of the tower dirt that’s aged or part of the coating from the factory?

 

is it worth cleaning off etc or am I best just leaving it as is ?

[andydclements 820]

A lot of metallic salts are insoluble (such as aluminium being very reactive with water but it's salts are generally then able to stop the two making contact), and that property is what then protects the non-oxidised metal beneath, so I'd say by all means clean this but only with water and mild detergent unless you're going to put on a coating that's very good at adhering and water-proofing (such as epoxy paint). Certainly don't go at it with things like a Traffic Film Remover or marine clean.  So the answer to your question depends on your plans from there on.

[cweeden 210]

But is the texture the effect of the Zinc doing it's job or is it something else, mine looks exactly the same and it's not very nice.