This past weekend I tackled refinishing all four of my door pull inserts. Mine were scratched and the clearcoat had a yellow tinge to it. I followed a video tutorial that I found on Google. Search "refinishing brushed aluminum" and it is the first video. I found the correct Scotch Brite pads at Home Depot in the paint section (3M maroon very fine). Any metal polish and wax will do.

The inserts are easy to remove from the door pull. There is a small spot on the bottom rear of them to insert a screwdriver (wrap the end in tape to avoid damaging the leather on the door pull). Insert the screwdriver and pry up, then pull up the edge from the bottom and work back to front. If you have a sedan like myself the inserts are also the same front and back, so you can swap them around if one is worse than the other.

Follow the video and take your time. Each insert took me about 30-45 minutes to do. Always follow the grain. It takes a bit to break through the clear coat. If you have any divots you probably won't be able to remove them, but if you are persistent you can make them 99% less noticable. All of the scratches on mine came out, surprisingly. As the video says, once you are finished go along the full length of the insert for several minutes to even out the finish and align the grain. Mine look fantastic and damn near brand new. As the video says, these will now only be protected by the wax, so periodically you will need to reapply wax to them to keep the finish. Well worth the extra maintenance.

I have included some before and after pictures of mine.

 

"Brushed" them back to OEM. Very nice.

 

Great job, thanks for posting this for others to see. Hopefully it'll make some other members happy campers if their inserts are banged up.

 

Excellent idea, I'll probably tackle that this weekend.