cleaning/maintaining polished lip vs. polished clear coated lip?

[AlterZgo]

I'm thinking of getting some new rims with a polished lip and would like to know how difficult they are to maintain. I know that I can get clear/polished and it would be fairly easy as it would be no different than any clear coated rim. However, I've read that clear/polished lips tend to chip over time and can't be polished out to fix.

What about the plain polished rims? Back in high school, I used to have polished lip rims and I know all about how to polish them w/ Mother's mag polish, but does modern tech like applying ceramic coating to the polished lip make them less prone to dulling? Or do they dull just as fast as regular polished lips? Should I be applying any ceramic coating to the polished lip?

Also, if the rim has a painted and/or clear coated face and a polished lip, do you have to mask the painted part of the rim to polish the lip? Would a mother's powerball damage the painted/clear coated face when I'm polishing the lip part of the rim? Obviously I'm not going to hit the face hard w/ the powerball, but just concerned about where the lip meets the painted/clear coated face. If there's a bit of overlap, would that damage the face?

Thanks for any advice on this.

[swagon]

Originally Posted by AlterZgo

I'm thinking of getting some new rims with a polished lip and would like to know how difficult they are to maintain. I know that I can get clear/polished and it would be fairly easy as it would be no different than any clear coated rim. However, I've read that clear/polished lips tend to chip over time and can't be polished out to fix.

What about the plain polished rims? Back in high school, I used to have polished lip rims and I know all about how to polish them w/ Mother's mag polish, but does modern tech like applying ceramic coating to the polished lip make them less prone to dulling? Or do they dull just as fast as regular polished lips? Should I be applying any ceramic coating to the polished lip?

Also, if the rim has a painted and/or clear coated face and a polished lip, do you have to mask the painted part of the rim to polish the lip? Would a mother's powerball damage the painted/clear coated face when I'm polishing the lip part of the rim? Obviously I'm not going to hit the face hard w/ the powerball, but just concerned about where the lip meets the painted/clear coated face. If there's a bit of overlap, would that damage the face?

Thanks for any advice on this.

Hey,

I don't have any personal experience with polished/multi-piece wheels, but generally, any type of a protection product will make the surface less prone to damage, e.g. caked on brake dust. I would say that if you regularly wash the coated multi-piece wheels and not leave them dirty, you will not experience any dulling or other type of damage for a long time. With a polished wheel and no clear coat, I would say that you wouldn't have to restore the finish any more than once or twice year. Also, if you regularly maintain the wheels, a simple microfibre towel & polish would suffice instead of hammering it with a foam pad & machine polisher or a ball attached to a drill, I believe.

I would ask one of the vendors here that sell multi-piece BBS or HRE about their own experience, your local detailer could also know how to deal with this stuff.