Painting An Aluminum Garage Door

[cabinetman]

I'm in the process of painting our house. LOML wants our rear garage door to be painted in the trim color I'm using on the house. It's the background in the picture below of one of my tool chests. It's a rigid door that pivots up/open in one piece. I'm using an acrylic latex primer/sealer, and a custom mix color of acrylic latex.

My question is what to do to prep the door before priming. The dripped/slopped on paint from the last owner is heck to even scrape off. I'd like to stay away from using any solvents to clean the aluminum. Maybe just a mild detergent and water. Any suggestions?
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[Daryl]

You are really bragging about the chest aren't you? I like it, post more pictures.

As for the painting, if the old paint is not peeling I think you will get away with a good scrupping, take time to clean all the crevices and let it dry before applying paint.

[wardprobst]

How about a heat gun to soften then a putty knife (round the corners) to scrape off the worst of the mess?
DP

[stormdog74]

You are really bragging about the chest aren't you? I like it, post more pictures.

Yeah, what about the chest???

[RayintheUK]

I've got almost identical doors. I sanded down the drips and runs I inherited, got out the pressure washer and hit the doors hard with that, followed up by the airline - job done, ready to prime.

Ray.

[cabinetman]

You are really bragging about the chest aren't you? I like it, post more pictures.

Yeah, what about the chest???

You talked me into it. I'll post some pics in the "Finished Projects" forum.
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[cabinetman]

I've got almost identical doors. I sanded down the drips and runs I inherited, got out the pressure washer and hit the doors hard with that, followed up by the airline - job done, ready to prime.

Ray.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't think there would be a problem, I just needed some opinions before starting. I remember in the past I painted some weathered mill finish aluminum windows and it worked well. What I did was scrub the door with a mild detergent and rinsed off. It got rid of the chalkiness, which was likely just some oxidized aluminum.
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