if your gonna keep it polished AL, wax it. It will sort of seal the metal from oxygen and slow the process. I did my 65 bezels and they still shine with a few rubs. My anodizing was hard to get off too, the EZ-off got about 70% of it off easily but there were spots just like you saw that really were tough. 600 Sandpaper was just making it smooth.....I used 200 and it came off in no time but took 4 finer grits to get the scratches out of the soft AL.
