Lip polishing on a Volk wheel

[TuxedoCartman]

I bought a set of Volk CE28N's in gold recently, and am thinking they would look just too damn good with the lip polished a bright silver (ala the LE28N's they had available a few years ago). Basically wanting this...


... to look like this...



I was wondering if anybody had had such work done, and what their results were? I know it wouldn't be possible with certain colors, like the Bronze, because it's anodized on rather than painted. But I'm 99% certain the gold is just paint. If you have had something like this done, anything I need to be aware of? Better to have them clear-coated after, or just resign myself to regular polishing? Please, any tips, tricks, or advice for finding a shop to do the work would be greatly appreciated! (as I don't care to mess one up and have to wait ANOTHER 8 months for a replacement).

[JoeBoxer]

I would contact Rotiform or VR wheels and see what they say, here is a link to rotiform's polishing page.
http://rotiform.com/services_polishing.htm

VR does a lot of polishing and changing wheel barrels and stuff too so they would also know the best route to take.
http://www.vrwheels.com/

[nix]

I've had it done on anodised silver Volk GTC. It was about $200 per wheel by a local shop and came out great.

[TuxedoCartman]

Originally Posted by nix

I've had it done on anodised silver Volk GTC. It was about $200 per wheel by a local shop and came out great.

Thanks for chiming in. Did they clear coat it after, or do you just polish well and wax it from time to time?

[nix]

They polished the hell out of it and then used some kind of hard clear coat. If you find the right guys it will come up great, but if you are worried about it just sell them and reorder to get the peace of mind of a factory finish.

[TuxedoCartman]

Originally Posted by nix

They polished the hell out of it and then used some kind of hard clear coat. If you find the right guys it will come up great, but if you are worried about it just sell them and reorder to get the peace of mind of a factory finish.

Heh, I WISH I could order them from the factory like I want. Rays stopped selling the Gold w/ polished lip CE28's back around 2005, I think? And call me stubborn, but ever since I bought my FR-S, I knew that was the *exact* wheel I wanted on there. I realized while wheel shopping I was unconsciously comparing everything to those exact wheels.

I'm just trying to get as much info as I can from people who've had this done, so I can better judge whether or not a shop will do a good job when shopping around. It's not so much the money that would bother me about ordering a new wheel should they mess it up, it's the time. I've waited right at six months to get these wheels in the color/ size that I wanted, and would hate to have to wait that long for a replacement.

Thanks guys. I'll update this thread too once I get them in, and get the lips polished. Hopefully I'll have shiny pics to share, and not anything tragic.

UPDATE: All done! Finished photos in this thread.

[nix]

Ahh ok. I know exactly what you mean man GL with it!

[Speedy000]

those r so sexy with the polished lip. havnt seen that before on that wheel.

[Gixxersixxerman]

Back in the day this was the way to go on sport bikes.. We just taped them up and used aircraft paint remover then started with polishes untill I got my shine I wanted.. They make clear aluminum protectant now