ORIGINAL: Sport_Pilot

That is only a finish, some like some don't. It may be done that way to save money, I don't know. Earlier ASPS had a smoother finish similar to OS and TT, I thought this looked better. Fox used to use a real cheap finish. No texture in the molds to maintain, no blasting, etching, or cleaning of the injection molded parts. Just throw them in a drum and let the tumble in an abrasive polish for a time. Made for a highly polished finish, but you could see slight swirls where the aluminum would ever so slightly change density, and it highlighted very small surface voids of which every casting has a few. With a finished surface the edge of the voids would smooth a bit and would hardly be noticed.