For our two CH lights, I originally tried wire wheeling but found it time consuming and difficult. We then used our sandblasting box to remove majority of the paint. We used 70 grit sand with 85-100 psi which did very well and did not pit the aluminum but gave it a nice texture for new paint to adhear to it. Did notice on the parts with three coats of paint were a little more difficult to blast. In the channels on the doors, a previous owner had glued rubber gasket material which would not come out with a wire wheel or blasting. We used Klean-Strip spray from Home Depot which removed all the rubber and glue with ease.
Examples below:
Cheers!
