Polished Lips vs. Powder Coated Chrome Lips

[Robstah]

Machine polish then clear coat?

The clear coat will make it more manageable.

[Saloon]

The clear coat will make it more manageable.

It does lose a little shine though...

Hmm

[Robstah]

It does loose a little shine though...

Hmm

That was pre-wetsand. I need to take some more pictures soon. I'm actually changing to gold over the bronze to lighten them up a bit.

[Saloon]

That was pre-wetsand. I need to take some more pictures soon. I'm actually changing to gold over the bronze to lighten them up a bit.

^ in for updated pics

[jszy25]

I tried clear coating two sets of polished lips before...it completely kills the shine/polish. One set done by myself, one by a wheel pro...both no good.

Now I have been hearing about different clear powder coating technologies by different wheel manufacturers that seem to look really great, but only time will tell how it holds up. I think Rotiform has some sort of "micro clear coating" something or other, that looks really nice.

[Saloon]

I tried clear coating two sets of polished lips before...it completely kills the shine/polish. One set done by myself, one by a wheel pro...both no good.

Now I have been hearing about different clear powder coating technologies by different wheel manufacturers that seem to look really great, but only time will tell how it holds up. I think Rotiform has some sort of "micro clear coating" something or other, that looks really nice.

Thanks for the heads up.

I think for now I'll stick to using Zoops...

[Jaze]

The lips on your wheels have been powder coated chrome?

Thats a bit surprising, they look good.

just regular chrome. hrome powder coat looks very hazy

all my buddies are killing themselves before shows. i just windex them with a microfiber

[luke318is]

why is that?

its even more reflective and zero effort to maintain.

i bet my chrome lips outshine any polished lip and i only have to windex them down instead of breaking and arm cleaning them up.

sure it looks good, but if you curb a wheel or hit a pothole, the chrome will crack just like PC

[Jaze]

It does loose a little shine though...

Hmm

loses ALOT which is a no go for me.

in this pic my lips were filthy and it still shines more than any polish.

[E36 HateR]

^love the car

[Jaze]

sure it looks good, but if you curb a wheel or hit a pothole, the chrome will crack just like PC

not as easily as PC but the right curb will do it. im pretty good with wheels so i havent curbed them but i think youd need to seriously bang the wheel to chip the chrome off a quality job

^love the car

thanks man, im a big fan of yours also

[Saloon]

^ What's a typical "quality job" lip chroming run?

[Jaze]

i paid 150 per lip. considering polishing costs 100ish and the up keep it requires i cant see myself polishing anything really. IMO if you hit the wheel hard enough to peel chrome, if it was a polished wheel youd need to have it repaired and repolished anyway. i think chrome got a bad rap in the late 90's/00's rice craze but its actually the only way to go in my book

i went to a hot rod chromer. most have been doing chrome for years and usually have a "guy" they go to. just ask to see some work. they also offer various colored chrome for more like gold, rose gold, copper, blue,black chrome etc.


oh and chrome doesnt get those tiny grain scratches which drive me nuts. /chrome nutswing

[Saloon]

i paid 150 per lip. considering polishing costs 100ish

I pay $25 a wheel here locally for a machine mirror polish...

Which if anyone is interested shoot me a PM and I can have them done for you. Guy has a very fast turn around usually next day!

Style 5s I had done...

[Robstah]

You should be able to get the shine back if you treat the clear like an automotive clear. You need to wait 30 days for the clear to fully harden and then go to town with wetsanding and aggressive compounds. Using 1000 grit to 2000 grit and then working in something like Meguiar's 105 Ultra-Cut Compound should bring back the shine and with wax, it should last.

[Jaze]

I pay $25 a wheel here locally for a machine mirror polish...

Which if anyone is interested shoot me a PM and I can have them done for you. Guy has a very fast turn around usually next day!

Style 5s I had done...

thats a real good price but not typical at all. polishing runs from 75 from a dirty wheel shop up to 200 from exotic wheel shops.

truth be told if i got them polished for 25 id do that but chrome does offer a cleaner finish without sanding grain marks and less up keep.

if you can really get lips done for so cheap you could make a killing because even rotiform, memoryfab and vr wheels charge close to 100

[Saloon]

thats a real good price but not typical at all. polishing runs from 75 from a dirty wheel shop up to 200 from exotic wheel shops.

truth be told if i got them polished for 25 id do that but chrome does offer a cleaner finish without sanding grain marks and less up keep.

if you can really get lips done for so cheap you could make a killing because even rotiform, memoryfab and vr wheels charge close to 100

Anyone who wants them done feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll hook you up!

I'll even ship them out if ppl are interested, as long as you cover shipping.

Plus I can personally guarantee they will look like the photo above!

Saloon

[ultimachi]

Anyone who wants them done feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll hook you up!

I'll even ship them out if ppl are interested, as long as you cover shipping.

Plus I can personally guarantee they will look like the photo above!

Saloon

Shipping is what kills the deal. Pay for shipping and I'm all ears.

[Saloon]

Shipping is what kills the deal. Pay for shipping and I'm all ears.

I'm just passing on the deal I'm gettin to you ppl!

Lol, can't be that bad if your sending lips... Barrels I can see being a deal breaker but it's up to all the players

[Robstah]

Just to give you guys heads up; if you want to polish some stock BMW rims, the rims will have a very thick and hard primer coat. It took forever for me to take it off and I ended up getting the wheels mediablasted because of it. That 25 dollars may turn into more due to this.

[Saloon]

Just to give you guys heads up; if you want to polish some stock BMW rims, the rims will have a very thick and hard primer coat. It took forever for me to take it off and I ended up getting the wheels mediablasted because of it. That 25 dollars may turn into more due to this.

^ good point... I use aircraft stripper on the lips before I take them to be polished... I do that myself, so that would need to be done before I can take them for anyone...

[peteWine]

I pay $25 a wheel here locally for a machine mirror polish...

$25 a wheel?? Sign me up! You're in Akron? I'm just up the road from you.

[Saloon]

$25 a wheel?? Sign me up! You're in Akron? I'm just up the road from you.

Yeah, let me know if I can help!

Just tying to help the BMW community out!

[336motorsports]

Yeah, let me know if I can help!

Just tying to help the BMW community out!

Very tempting!

[m3mobbin]

thats a real good price but not typical at all. polishing runs from 75 from a dirty wheel shop up to 200 from exotic wheel shops.

truth be told if i got them polished for 25 id do that but chrome does offer a cleaner finish without sanding grain marks and less up keep.

if you can really get lips done for so cheap you could make a killing because even rotiform, memoryfab and vr wheels charge close to 100

I get my barrels polished for 30 a lip locally, that includes stripping paint/PC, 50 for the entire wheel. I think anything more is kinda steep. All the wheel shops you named off most definitely overcharge for polishing/PC/paint etc. VR charges 140 for redrilling, my old guy had faster turn around and did sets for $60.

I definitely agree that chrome is the way to go, it shines better and is practically maintenance free vs. raw polished aluminum. I was leaning towards chrome on the SP1's lips that I'm refinishing right now, but due to costs I'm going the polish and then Zoop route.

I had these done for $200 (full set of 4), that's stripped and polished:


$120 for the outer lips, including removing the curb rash:


If anyone in Socal needs polishing I highly recommend Performance Plus in Long Beach. The do quality work, have super fast turn around time, and good prices. I've been using them for years and have nothing but good things to say.