I'm thinking about changing my tunnel from black painted to polished aluminum like the new sleds. Any suggestions on how to do it and what to watch out for? I'm riding a 99ZL600 carbed. Also any good places to get powder coat painting done near Grand Rapids Michigan? Any other customizing suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance.

Screw polished aluminum-get it annodized instead, in some color that complements your sled.

polished aluminum is a bitch to keep polished. *the new sleds have some sort of coating over the aluminum that keeps them from oxidising, but it also dulls the luster some. *
i did my sled this year- whenever i brought it into the warmer garage from outside, the running boards would get water condensing on them, than the water would beed up and leave nasty marks on the aluminum. *i tried waxing, but it didnt help. *

as for taking the paint off... try paint thinner, or i here brake fluid takes paint off, however, i don't really think anything is going to take the paint off because the paint they use is pretty tough stuff. *sand blasting would work, but thats really time consuming.

you could always just use this as an excuse to buy a new sled http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

- Jason