what to use? Stripping my aluminum running boards.

[Uber Affe]

Need good recomendations on how to strip and polish my aluminum running boards. Gotten some pretty odd suggestions including Gasoline!
What's the best way to strip them and the best way to polish them?
You've seen my paint scheme...maybe paint them to match or black?
Suggestions welcome.

[mbartell]

Oven cleaner or brake fluid may work for you. Why are you stripping them, and what kind of finish is/was it?

[Uber Affe]

Well, the paint was originally black with the only the edge exposed in metal.
So I thought I'd strip the paint an polish them to suit the paint job better.

[Eurolook71]

You could always try acetone, my friend used it and LOTS of elbow grease on some old porshe rims. The original clearcoat was yellowing, and he wanted a fresh coat. I took him about 2 hours per wheel (this was just the lip, the centers are powdercoated black), but it worked. After that, he got some Glisten PC from por15.com, this suff is made for on-metal clearcoating, compared to clearcoating a painted surface. This stuff is aweseome. Also, maybe a quick sandblast with a really fine silca sand, so as to not pit the soft aluminum. Just some Ideas.

[Uber Affe]

Acetone huh?
Nail polish removers use acetone! hehe...my girlfriend's gonna kill me.
Such is life!

thanks!