best way to prep aluminum surface?

Ok...I'm going to be replacing some of the clearance lights on the Sprite this weekend. Once I remove the old lights I know I'll have to scrape off any of the old left over butyl tape remnants (I don't think there's much left). Once that's done I'm guessing I should clean the aluminum surface so that when I put the new lights on the new putty will have a clean surface to adhere to. Is there anything special I should use to clean it? I was thinking perhaps rubbing alcohol or something but I'm not sure.