For people who have aftermarket wheels with polished lips. When driving in the rain, or whenever getting water all over the polished lip, is it a PITA the clean off the water spots? Do you have to clean the wheels as soon as you get home to prevent water spots? Do polished lips require a lot of time to care for?

Thanks

 

In my experience, regular rain doesn't usually damage the polished part of the rim. It's the salt on the road being put in the winter which causes salt marks. If you don't wipe'm off immediately, they're hard to take off.

 

salt isnt hard to take off..its IMPOSSIBLE..it ate through my clearcoat and stained the metal..

make sure you get clearcoated wheels and your life will be much easier...

and its hard to be **** about wheel lips...they prob are the dirtiest exterior part of the car after a drive...

 

is there a way to powdercoat the lip clear so that it wont get stained from salt and any other harmful elements.

 

it seems that brake dust is more of a pain than waterspots. but then again i'm in san francisco where we have no snow. i think polished lips are more high maintence because they are more noticable and hence you want to keep them looking pretty.

 

not sure what you mean here...there is no such thing as a clearcoat in powder form

you can definately put a clearcoat on it though...i think you are asking if there is a stronger clearcoat than the normal one

my answer to that is more coats?

anything can get stained if its neglected enough

reason why my wheels got ruined is cause my damn hose was frozen during the winter and my wheels were caked with brake dust and salt

i wont keep my wheels on this winter and i advise that noone in a snowy area does

 

Does anybody know if Volk lips are clearcoated?

 

When I got my SF Challenge wheels, I immediately applied 3 coats of Zaino. So far this has made wheel maintinance pretty easy...I will try to apply more zaino on a regular basis....Does it work in the long run???....I guess only time will tell....

 

I think just having the lip without a clear coat is better it may be harder to keep clean but you can always polish out any marks left from water spots, salt or whatever, where as with a clear coat if any damage is done to the clear coat you would have to send the wheel out get refinished.

 

 

The lips aren't too hard to clean, but they scratch easily. Be careful with little rocks or asphalt stuck to them. Brake dust is always a probably too, mine go from polished to gun metal in 2 days. Also, don't use that Meguiars pink wheel cleaner. My friend used it on his brand new Volk GT-7s, took the clearcoat right off. I just use car wash soap, it works great.

 

that Meguiars pink wheel cleaner works wonders on a fully polished without clearcoat removes all grime and brake dust

 

They scratch too easy.... so BE CAREFUL, I have had mine for 6 month and there are some scratches on them already!! Its crazy.

 

applying zaino is safe for all wheel finishes, right?

 

I don't know about all wheel finishes, but on my SF Challenges there is no problem. Go to zaino.com and pose that question...let us know what they say...

 

For polished lips, maintenance is really the key. You should be waxing at least every 2 weeks. I don't have any experience with zaino, so I can't say much for it. Do yourself a favor and save your stock rims and tires and use them in the winter if your in the snowbelt. Why spend all that money just to see those beauties get ruined after 1 year. Salt and the other chemicals they throw on the road will stain the hell out of aluminum. Even with a clear coat they will eventually stain. Also, If you absolutely can't stand the site of those little nicks and scratches, spend a little money each year and go to a good body shop and have the lips repolished.

 

Wenol 3 piece kit...comes w/ wax

 

how much does it cost to repolish 4 wheels?

 

From my expereince with iforged wheels the lips got dirty realy easy, everytime it rained out when i got home i would have to wipe off the water, and if you didnt wipe the water off and waited a day or two you would half to polish them like no tomorrow to get them to shine again. Brake dust is also killer, i would sugest getting new pads that are as close to dustless as you can find. As for repolishing im not to sure, i got an estimate to refinish the wheels on my M3 and it was 175 each!

 

Hawk HPS still the best (daily driving)? I was thinking of getting these but just want to be sure, plus find a place less than $70 shipped.

EDIT: Sorry, I made some notes, and noted that some users mentioned the Hawk ones were less dusty but squealed. Someone said to get the Satisfied Pro Ceramic pads so *those* were the ones I was going to try, but wanted to see if anyone had any better suggestions.