Painting door sills

Anyone ever paint the door sills.. mine are in good shape except paint is chipped off in quite a few palces... was thinking satin black like console, but seems there should be some kind of prep so the new paint will adhere better to the aluminum... ??

Well, I'm not a paint expert, but in most cases the surfaces should be scuffed up to allow the paint to better adhere.  My guess would be to use a steel wool. It would use enough fine scratches without scaring the surface like sandpaper.  If you used sandpaper I would go with a 1000 grit or something like that.  Then I would clean them with a paint surface prep cleaner.  Finally spray with a self etching primer, followed by a coat of paint.

I would think that is all that would be needed.  You just want to make sure that what ever you use to prep the sills that it doesn't pit or scratch so deep that primer and paint won't fill in to get that nice clean look.

Anyone else here have a better plan of attack.

I'll agree with Matt on this one.  Just make sure the primer is a good quality, or the paint won't last.
kstyer38471.8237384259

strip the paint off and polish the aluminum.  mine were scratched pretty badly before I polished them.  took some elbow grease but they came out great.  just another option.

In lieu of steel wool, try red scotchbrite pads. They won't leave the residue that steel wool does.

To strip them, try a little laquer thinner on a rag, follow with the scotch pad.

Although it is an older thread, aluminum is treated with Alodine 1100 on all aluminum aircraft components and primed with a Zinc Chromate Primer. I have opened up the 2 and 3 Body Bolt areas on my 78 and it looks as though GM uses Zinc chromate primer on the steel birdcage and mount components (looks like Army Green). It is tough stuff, as there are many aircraft from the 30s and 40s (DC-3s, DC-6 still flying with original wing and fuselage components intact.