I want to do the same to my Tirant, but it's used. How do I get it clean for treatment without damaging the anodizing or the aluminum?

DOT 5, being "pure" silicone, should not effect paint finishes (same with the pure Silicon Oil folks get on Amazon etc).  I'm treating my tube and end caps.  This is only my second time, but I expect the paint should be fine.  I'm more worried about the finish if I wet tumble the tube/caps.

I have the Spectre II... no tube fouling at all. I suspect your Outback is just straight anodized.  I'd only be worried about paint finishes, but again, there is no fouling on my tube.

is the heating and reapplication necessary after each cleaning?

The only damage I have done to the tube, is tumbling an Element to get it clean, it took the CeraKote off. It is "white" Element now. The factory finish was poorly done anyway. That decision was made before it was tumbled we knew what was going to happen.

If you tumble the parts then I would re apply. If you are just wiping clean then you should be good to go. I would re apply after 3 or 4 cleaning or when you notice things aren't as easy to wipe off.

MAHA

Just treated the baffles in my 22 can after having to clean them the first time
Hopefully will perform as reported in the article when it comes to cleaning again

I'm fairly sure it's not cerakote on the Element. Mine was temporarily in the white at one point also. The way in which I managed to make it white is why I'm doubtful it's cerakote.

So I finally got to the range today and here to update my findings.

As mentioned, the octane45 utilized the brake fluid treatment and the octane9 would use Fireclean/Crisco..
The hosts are a M&P9 running the octane 9 with UMC 147gr and the Rossi Ranch Hand was running the octane45 w/fixed mount running Magtech158gr.



Firing 50rnds of ammo through each host and switching, each Octane got 200rds through it.

Lets examine the Octane45 that was treated with DOT 5 brake fluid.

Here is taken apart:




The baffles were still damp with the brake fluid. As you can see, there's nothing really caked on and had just a thin layer of carbon.



Examining the baffles, I took a quick swipe with an old sock and it pretty much cleaned 90% of the soot and powder off. Some had baked on but I didn't bother cleaning anymore.

Now lets, examine the Octane9 that was treated with Fireclean/Crisco...

Here it's taken apart:





Oddly, it appears that nothing really stuck on it. It was pretty clean and just a bare film of carbon.

Here's a picture of the piston:


As you can see, not much going on as far as it being dirty.

Here's a picture after just wiping it with a dirty sock.



There was some carbon baked on but not so bad.

Conclusion:

I'm not sure what to say that each method does ease cleaning and works as mentioned. I was actually quite shocked about the Fireclean after so much crap they are going through right now.