It is well known that the surface state (cleanliness, composition) of galvanized steel prior to the application of an organic coating is an important parameter. The surface state will affect the adhesion properties of the complete system and therefore will also impact its corrosion resistance and its tendency to blistering. Before the application of a pretreatment layer, galvanized steel strips are normally alkaline cleaned. This step is known to remove the native oxide film formed on hot dip galvanized steel after processing and appears as one of the most important steps to study the impact of the surface properties on the performance of painted systems. This study focused on making use of the cleaning step to input a variability on the surface composition (mainly surface concentration of aluminum) and evaluate its consequence(s) on the performance of a complete paint system. The results showed that, a variability in terms of surface aluminum concentration could be achieved by the cleaning step and that signs of performance improvement in terms of adhesion and tendency to blistering were spotted with a low content of aluminum at the surface.