I'm curious; does everyone agree that the fine scratches produced by scotchbriting the torsion bar are ok? I would think any scratches would be of concern. I won't even touch the thing in fear of scratching it with a ring or tool of some sort. Some feed back on this would be nice because I would like to rest easy and perhaps remove some slight corrosion. Thanks, Tyler #3472 --- In dmcnews@xxxx, tobyp@xxxx wrote: > The torsion bar is made from cryogenically tempered spring steel, and > is highly stressed due to the 90 degree twist that it has to go > through every time the door is opened or closed. Any scratches or > corrosion pits (even microscopic pits) can lead to fatigue cracks in > the bar, which will eventually result in failure of the bar in > fatigue. The bar should be thoroughly cleaned with a fine scotchbrite > pad or stainless steel wool, but not regular steel wool. The iron > particles in steel wool will create a corrosion cell very quickly, if > they are imbedde din the material of the bar. The cleaned bar should > then be painted with a good rust-inhibiting paint, or treated with a > rust inhibitor such as cosmoline, or something like it. BTW - > replacement of the bar is no big deal ... BUYING the replacement can > be, as I understand it.