Originally Posted by
tenrec
Any idea what's going on with my brake levers? These are not scratches or scrapes -- they are some sort of curlicue lines in the aluminum of the levers. They remind me of worm damage to wooden ships at sea. These are the original brake levers that came with my bike. Thay are 2009 Shimano Ultegra and they're mounted on a 2009 Trek Madone 4.7. The deterioration began a number of years ago and had been getting gradually worse.
Those parts are anodized, or they should be. While the oxide layer created by anodizing is tough, it's not invincible. Besides sanding, one of the only ways to get through anodizing is a strong basic solution, or enough time with a weaker solution.
To be perfectly honest, it looks like someone took a fine grinding stone in a Dremel and let it skip across the surface of your levers. Usually when anodizing wears through it has an obvious cause.