What are you guys doing to protect the painted sides? Just masking tape?
I'm going to be using a 6000 rpm grinder style wheel with white and red jewelers rouge... I can imagine even a quick contact to the paint would scuff it.
Be careful with something that spins 6000 rpm it will actually move aluminum(for lack of better words). It can warp it from heat also. I would recommend you find something half that speed or less. Good luck it should look good when you are done.
It's in the top of the safe range the wheels came with for directions, and yeah I use short bursts instead of sustained wot lol. Not looking for anything spectacular, just clean it up now instead of having to cut later. I might wrap the top black eventually anyways