The Girlfriend drives her 1997 GTP year round. Her car turns a nice shade of dull white, with all the road salt on it. She has an F1 hood, which allows some of all that road grime into her engine bay, and yes, on her blower.

The blowers I do, if the customers have me disassemble and reassemble them, get cleaned in a special cleaner mix I have developed by accident. Not only does it clean the aluminum well, it seals the polished finish good, and acts as a barrier against the elements.

If you get the blower wet, after the "chemical bath" I give it, the polished aluminum finish WILL BEAD WATER off as if it had a wax job on a painted car.

So, back to the girlfriends blower...yes gets dirty, and yes it cleans back up with little to no effort after the crappy weather is over with. You do have to clean it, cause if it sits on it long enough, you will have some work ahead of you cleaning off the etched grime. That goes for anything that the road salt/grime touches...it leaves a nasty film on it. But if you make the effort to clean your car yearly after the snowy season...you will be more than fine.

Upkeep is pretty normal for any polished part. I use Mothers Mag and Aluminum Wheel polish on mine. Just a quick 5 minute wipe down before a car show and I'm done. More or less I am getting rid of smuges, like finger prints and sweaty arms that bump it while working else where under the hood. Not really polishing it.

Others have went as far as using "Zoop Seal" on theirs. Side by side 2 years later, you cant tell the difference between them, sealed, and not sealed.

~F~