You can get forged wheels in chrome (or powdercoated for that matter), so I don't understand what you're saying either?
There's just too many drawbacks to polished wheels for a finish that's very similar to the much lower maintenance chrome. And quality chrome wheels, properly taken care of, wont peel, pit or scratch.
Polished does NOT look like chrome. Plain and simple. Not sure why you can't understand that.
And it doesn't matter what kind of chrome you have, it CAN scratch! And when it's scratched it CAN NOT be fixed easily! Not sure why you don't understand that either. I guess you have "Magic" Chrome.
Now you also say properly taken care of chrome yet you posted earlier
Quote:
or chrome where there is no maintenance needed.
You contradict yourself.
There are just too many advantages to polished over chrome IMO. Guess it's all on how you look at it.
I'll keep my polished wheels and take care of them properly while you don't have to do anything and have your chrome.
Polished does NOT look like chrome. Plain and simple. Not sure why you can't understand that.
And it doesn't matter what kind of chrome you have, it CAN scratch! And when it's scratched it CAN NOT be fixed easily! Not sure why you don't understand that either. I guess you have "Magic" Chrome.
Now you also say properly taken care of chrome yet you posted earlier
You contradict yourself.
There are just too many advantages to polished over chrome IMO. Guess it's all on how you look at it.
I'll keep my polished wheels and take care of them properly while you don't have to do anything and have your chrome.
Properly maintained chrome for me means soap and water on a regular basis to keep brake dust and dirt off them. That's the extent of chrome maintenance.
What made you decide to go polished over chrome?
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K&N FIPK, Magnaflow Tru-X mid, Magnaflow cat-back, 2.95" Reichard Racing upper, UPR idler, Gates belt, SCT custom tune, LFP dual pass, Steeda short throw, H&R Race springs with Hotchkis C/C plates, Pro 5.0 shifter, 18" AFS '03 Chrome replicas with Toyo T1R's, hood blanket removed, vents cut.
Properly maintained chrome for me means soap and water on a regular basis to keep brake dust and dirt off them. That's the extent of chrome maintenance.
What made you decide to go polished over chrome?
I think the question was intended for 04sleeper but...
I went from chrome to polished because of "The look" just like COBRAGUY95 mentioned. It simply personal preference just like the mods you have done to your own car. They're not the same as mine but I understand that they are your personal preference and I'm good with that. The intention of this thread was to pass on some good info about my experience with a particular product.
www.ccmustangbrackets.com. Home of the "No Drill Front License Plate Bracket". Call, email or PM for 99-04 Cobra/Mach1 and 94-98 Cobra. Visit the website for 05-09 Mustang (V-6, GT, GT/CS, Bullitt, Steeda, Roush, Saleen, GT500). 2010 GT and Roush Brackets are here!
04sleeper's car is so slick and his wheels are so polished i thought they were chrome... just from looking at pics on here. that car is a work of art. sorry to hijack
OP, great job with the Zoop. the wheels look perfect to me
I just purchased a set of CCW 505A's but haven't gotten home to check em out. I ordered some rejex to help seal em up. My car is not a DD & will be garaged as well. I think i can handle the maintenance. I might have to try that Zoop if the rejex doesn't work out too well.
thanks for the topic & pics
04sleeper's car is so slick and his wheels are so polished i thought they were chrome... just from looking at pics on here. that car is a work of art. sorry to hijack
OP, great job with the Zoop. the wheels look perfect to me
I just purchased a set of CCW 505A's but haven't gotten home to check em out. I ordered some rejex to help seal em up. My car is not a DD & will be garaged as well. I think i can handle the maintenance. I might have to try that Zoop if the rejex doesn't work out too well.
thanks for the topic & pics
Thanks and no problem. I love the 505a's. Came real close to getting some. If you can resist putting them on right away, treat them before you put them on the car. It's much easier than doing the wheels on the car or having to take them off again. Good luck
Everyone has there own opinion I guess , I personally don't think taking care of polished wheels is a big deal if you know what your doing and if you have the right products. So I guess I don't understand what your saying because you have all this negative input on polished wheels but you wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. Have you ever owned polished wheels? I'm guessing your talking about something you know nothing about?
As someone who has had fully polished, high end wheels in the past, I totally agree! I wouldn't, however, recommend having them on a daily driven car, though. For that use, chrome will always be better/less maint. If/when I get around to getting some TF wheels for my car, I will definitely choose the polished, or powdercoated finishes over chrome, because it really accentuates the quality of the forged wheels better than chrome does. Inmo, if you just want "chrome" wheels that look cool, you don't need to spend 3k, you can just pick a cool set of chrome, cast wheels for 1k, or less...
Last edited by black 10th vert; 09-13-2009 at 12:11 AM.
I think that chrome wheels look and are cheap - where as a polished, high end, wheel shows off the quality of engineering and the wheel in general.
I had forged 3 piece wheels on my daily and it was a pain in the ass - BUT, I do think that with the time and effort I put into keeping my cobra spotless = Polished is worth the work and look.
Thanks and no problem. I love the 505a's. Came real close to getting some. If you can resist putting them on right away, treat them before you put them on the car. It's much easier than doing the wheels on the car or having to take them off again. Good luck
yep, i planned on sealin em up right out of the boxes.. thanx
mine are going on friday and I will not have time to seal them right away. Does this have to be done ASAP?
It doesn't have to be done ASAP but it is much easier with the wheels off the car. I would recommend it be done before you drive with them in any rain just for the sake of protecting them from any acid rain pitting or road grime.
Very nice, I actually just got done zoop-sealing my SP500's today.
Btw, Why dont TF polish inside the rim like CCW?
i dont know about their 3 piece wheels but theyre 1 piece wheels are polished on the inside because they are one piece. our 2 piece wheels have the insides fully polished because the hoop is ONE piece (and a center). the center is placed where you want it when the wheel is made, hence why they just polish the entire hoop to begin with. 2 piece hoops come fully polished already. if theyre brushed or powdercoated or painted, it was done afterwards. the centers are raw though, and need to be finished in whatever way is ordered.
on 3 piece wheels, the outer hoops (lips) usually come already polished, but not always. the inners NEVER do. so, if the customer wants the inners polished then they have to pay for it (or powdercoated, or chromed or whatever). it costs money to have the parts done. if we did it automatically, we would have to raise our prices to cover it. most people dont want or care that the inners are raw and certainly wouldnt want to pay a few hundred extra for it. often times, you cant even see that insides are raw. go look at ManoWars gt500 and see if you can see that his inner hoops are raw. you cant even really tell that 04sleepers ARE polished (2 piece). on an open wheel, like our Mach 5, you can see it much easier. personally, i like the raw look because it screams "im a three piece wheel b*tch" NO company, be it HRE, 360 forged, Assanti, etc... provides anything but raw inners. and if you see them on a set, i guarantee you they were charged for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolcobramatt
Because Steve's arms get too tired after polishing the outside (j/k I know he will read this). The 3 piece TF's have a raw inner ring bolted on. He does polish the insides of the 2 piece rims.
sort of. explained above. i just happened to see this thread title while skimming down the main page. i hate detailing so i dont peruse this forum at all lol. i just occasionally will happen to see a title that interests me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hand-to-ball
Your statement doesn't make sense. I don't like polished wheels because of the horrific maintenance, not because of the finish. They're both so close finish-wise, why wouldn't you like chrome? Its pretty much the same look without all the monkey work involved to keep them glossy (um, like chrome).
People polish the hell out of their forged aluminum wheels to make them look like chrome, so why not just get them chromed and then use soap and water to maintain and not have to waste time with a rag and metal polish? I just think its a huge waste of time and effort trying to keep up with polished wheels...especially if you paid $3k for them. Then people post things like "i f'd up my aluminum wheels, they have water spots on them, help!' No thanks.
most people cannot physically polish their wheels to the point they look like chrome; which is how they look when we send them to customers. you either really need to know what youre doing (and have the right materials) and/or have a polishing wheel. speed helps here. in pics, they look all shiny in perfect but when youre standing next to the vehicle you can see the difference.
most of us, at our factory, like the look of polished wheels better. they look more custom and hot rod. i like chrome because its much easier to keep clean but i like the look of polished better. i hate polishing wheels myself. too much work and my vehicles arent kept under a car cover in the garage and detailed every weekend, so i need quick and easy. right now i have polished sleepers on my cobra and LOVE how they look! im thinking of having some clear ceramic coated to see if that will last because typically the clear coat will chip off in a year or so. it also reduces the shine on polished wheels, which isnt such a bad thing, just a different look. im not sure if HRE clear coats ALL theyre polished wheels or not but ive seen polished HREs with BAD clear coat flaking (not sure how long it lasted, but it was flaking, and that aint covered under any kind of warranty).
the awesome thing about polished wheels is, no matter HOW bad they are. acid rain, scratches, curb rash, you can always sand/polish them to look like brand new. if you curb/scratch a chrome wheel, thats it. either live with it or have it rechromed, or replace it. and chrome does NOT last forever, no matter how well you take care of it. maybe if its garaged 24-7 and only taken outside twice a month for sunny drives, then yeah, it should last a looong time. but under real world usage, it wont. and chrome can be affected by harsh chemicals just like polished can; only chrome cannot be salvaged if its damaged like that. as many of you saw VelociTT's thread in here about his polished lips being damaged by some kind of nastiness in the rain water on the street. he sent his polished lips back to us and we were able to buff them out to look like brand new. had they been chromed, and been damaged, that would be it. not a warranty issue at all, just bad luck. with polished we were able to help him out. if they were damaged chrome, he'd have to have them rechromed or maybe even buy new lips
similar to painted wheels vs. powdercoated. powdercoated is FAAAR more durable and will last waay longer. but if you want it to match a certain color, than it has to be painted. well, its the same paint that's on your car. you have to be super careful with it or you will be hating life.
as far as durabilty and long life goes, you cannot beat raw polished aluminum. the aluminum is super high quality. 20 years from now you can make them look like brand new.
if you want durability AND low maintenace, then go with powdercoating. sticks like hell, resistance to scratches/marring and seals the wheel in permanently.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 04sleeper
+1
Polished looks much better IMO. A bit more classy and race inspired than chrome.
Any one can buy chrome wheels and slap them on a car. Not everyone will have high end forged polished wheels though.
Also, if your chrome starts to pit, peel or get scratched you are screwed! You will have to have them re-chromed. At least with polished you can always polish them back!
No chrome for me!
yep.
Quote:
Originally Posted by COBRAGUY95
Everyone has there own opinion I guess , I personally don't think taking care of polished wheels is a big deal if you know what your doing and if you have the right products. So I guess I don't understand what your saying because you have all this negative input on polished wheels but you wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. Have you ever owned polished wheels? I'm guessing your talking about something you know nothing about?
yes. what cleaning agents you use makes a big difference in how well they clean and how often you need to do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by black 10th vert
As someone who has had fully polished, high end wheels in the past, I totally agree! I wouldn't, however, recommend having them on a daily driven car, though. For that use, chrome will always be better/less maint. If/when I get around to getting some TF wheels for my car, I will definitely choose the polished, or powdercoated finishes over chrome, because it really accentuates the quality of the forged wheels better than chrome does. Inmo, if you just want "chrome" wheels that look cool, you don't need to spend 3k, you can just pick a cool set of chrome, cast wheels for 1k, or less...
true. you can really see the craftsman ship in a polished wheel. chrome kind of hides it and if its an ALL chromed wheel, the centers and lips kind of just blend in together. they still look GOOD but dont set apart from the off-the-shelf type wheels as much. and NO cheapo wheels come in highly polished aluminum. not like ours/ccws/etc... because we all used forged billet aluminum. the cheap wheels are made from cast aluminum and cannot possibly be shined up as much. if you see a set of well polished ccws/tfs/etc.. and then look at the "polished" lips of a cheaper wheel (or even the entire wheel if fully polished) you will see the difference in the luster and quality.
for guys who enjoy cleaning the hell out of their cars. spending hours claybarring and polishing it. who like to keep the car in showroom condition. polished is not such a big deal for them.
for guys (like me lol) who wash the car when they have time and detest cleaning cars, chrome works better. i used to spend hours cleaning my cars but no longer have the time nor desire to do so.
for me, ill stick with chrome lips from now on and just avoid any polished parts at all if i can (either with brushed or powdercoated centers). works for me. some things work for other people. thats why we offer many many choices with our wheels
CLEARANCE WHEELS currently available:
18" 2 piece polished Victory for 94-04 mustang http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...-victorys.html
20" 3 piece Sebring for GT500/SN197
20" 3 piece CHROME Speed 5 for GT500 sold
19" chrome Speed 7 for 03 cobra/g35/350z/charger/300/magnum
20" brushed Speed 6 for bmw 5,6,7 series
19" satin black Mach 5xl for bmw 3 series
20" chrome 3 piece for 05 mustang/supra
Dang Steve, hey what about... oh you said that, but what about... oh you said that too.
Glad you stepped in to check it out. The ZOOP worked out great as you can see. The wheels never go without compliment. Thanks for making such an awesome product.
i polished thm one more time before i left home and resealed with rejex again. It works pretty good, I got caught in a little rain and when i got home, i jut wiped the wheels off with a microfiber and they were good as new. for some reason they look a little dull in this pic but i guess its just the lighting
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Pimp, I ain't no pimp. I'm Walt Disney and dis is Disneyland
NO company, be it HRE, 360 forged, Assanti, etc... provides anything but raw inners. and if you see them on a set, i guarantee you they were charged for it. 
Dang Steve, hey what about... oh you said that, but what about... oh you said that too. 
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