BBS RS face polishing?

[nathanrw]

I am refinishing my 16" RS' again (the way they should have been done to begin with) and I am doing 1.5" lips up front and 2" slants in the rear. I have completely polished the bolts and have cleaned up all the barrels and faces and have traded my old 2.5" lips for the 2" slants. I am planning on getting the barrels powdercoated some time soon and I want to completely polish the faces. I don't want to drop the ridiculous amount of money on chrome dipping, I would rather put in the work and do it all myself to save money. That being said, I need some tips from anyone that has done it before on what to use, the best way to do it, and most importantly, sanding tips. I am not looking forward to the ridiculous amount of sanding but I know it is going to pay off in the end. Also, I am reusing the original BBS bolts and last time I finished them I clearcoated them with a really cheap clear coat and the clearcoat came off in a matter of a month and the bolts started rusting. So any tips on what clearcoat to use on the bolts? And should I clearcoat the faces at all? I want them to shine really good but I want them to be protected. Thanks ahead of time!

[C.Johnston]

what about trying to find someone to chrome powder coat them? pretty deece depending on who does it.

[nathanrw]

what about trying to find someone to chrome powder coat them? pretty deece depending on who does it.

Good point. I didn't think about that. Anybody done chrome powdercoating before? Any ideas on prices?

[1badg35]

what look are you going for? do you want a mirror polished finish? If so, chrome powder will not give you that look. its slightly duller then a real polished surface. and when cleared, it loses even more of the shine.

mirror polishing rs faces is a nightmare.. ask me how i know. haha.

best bet would be to send them out to be polished professionally. but with that is a bit of cost somewhere in the realm of 5-700$. definitely not a budget friendly project if thats what youre after though.

the bolts are steel, and steel rusts especially when they are stripped and polished. you should likely re-polish and then get them clear anodized or just buy new chrome replacement bolts.

[Stephen]

Or actual chrome

[electricalbox]

Out here in CA there are tons of places that do it so they keep prices low to get business. I would just look on craigslist and see if you can ship a place out here 4 faces and have them sent back if you don't have any cheap places out there..

[nathanrw]

what look are you going for? do you want a mirror polished finish? If so, chrome powder will not give you that look. its slightly duller then a real polished surface. and when cleared, it loses even more of the shine.

mirror polishing rs faces is a nightmare.. ask me how i know. haha.

best bet would be to send them out to be polished professionally. but with that is a bit of cost somewhere in the realm of 5-700$. definitely not a budget friendly project if thats what youre after though.

the bolts are steel, and steel rusts especially when they are stripped and polished. you should likely re-polish and then get them clear anodized or just buy new chrome replacement bolts.

Yeah I wanted a mirror polished finish. I figured the chrome powdercoating would be more dull looking. So it's pretty much either spend the ridiculous amount of money to chrome dip them, pay $500-$700 to get them professionally polished, or bite the bullet and spend 2-3 months polishing the faces.
So i've heard.... I figured it would take ridiculously long. And is there anyway I would have to sand them to make sure it will come out right? And any idea where I could get small enough cotton and denim wheels to fit in the tiny little triangles on the faces?

As for clear anodizing the bolts, prices for doing this?

[C.Johnston]

probably similar in price to just getting new bolts.

[nathanrw]

VIP Modular said they would high polish the faces for $75 a face. I am thinking I am going to do that. But 1. Would I need to clear coat them to protect them from getting corrosion or anything? and 2. They said to strip each wheel it would be $50 per face. Should I do that or could I just cake on air craft stripper to get all the paint off, and then wet sand them down a little with some sandpaper?

[1badg35]

they are going to strip each face down anyway unless you can get it perfect. they will likely dip and then blast the faces so they have no remnants on them and are completely raw.

thats a very good price for the polishing btw

and either you clear the face after youre done, or you plan on hand polishing every month. personally i would hand polish every month, but im a nut

[nathanrw]

they are going to strip each face down anyway unless you can get it perfect. they will likely dip and then blast the faces so they have no remnants on them and are completely raw.

thats a very good price for the polishing btw

and either you clear the face after youre done, or you plan on hand polishing every month. personally i would hand polish every month, but im a nut

Yeah they said $75 a face for polishing and $50 a face to strip them. So basically $500 total. Still not too bad though.

I use mothers mag and aluminum on my lips twice a week anyway. If I did the whole face at the same time do you think I would be okay? And maybe use some wax to protect it a little? Otherwise, are there any clearcoats that would still give it a good polished shine? I feel like at that point I would be better off just powdercoating them chrome if I was going to polish then clear coat.

[nathanrw]

So Rotiform said they can chrome dip the faces for $150 a face including the stripping. VIP Modular wanted $150 for the chrome dipping plus another $50 for the stripping. So I think I might be sending my faces off to Rotiform for chrome. A concern I have read about is that since chrome is thicker, its a challenge to fit the lips over the faces once they're chromed. The guy I have been emailing from Rotiform says I could freeze the faces and slip them on relatively easy. This still brings some concern though, once it warms back up, is it going to be putting too much stress on the inside mounting point of the lips or anything?

[Oh, Word?]

I would be very careful with chrome on the faces with rs's the tolerance between the lip and the face is incredibly tight and if the chrome is too thick like rotiform said they won't go back together. Freezing them might help but I'd stay away from it. I know "Ben bagged" had to get his done 3 times before they came out right and it took months and months. Like its been said I'd have them polished and then keep them raw. but get rid of the junk polish you've been using mothers is terrible. Try and get your hands on southern shine its absolutely incredibly and holds the shine like crazy. I polished my th line faces and stainless lips once from April to November and they never water spotted or corroded. I get it through my work, I repair and paint fire trucks so we have it to repolish diamond plate and stainless bumpers but I honestly couldn't tell you where to buy it from. If by chance you get your hands on some WEAR GLOVES! It will stain your hands green and black for a month.....trust me.

[nathanrw]

I would be very careful with chrome on the faces with rs's the tolerance between the lip and the face is incredibly tight and if the chrome is too thick like rotiform said they won't go back together. Freezing them might help but I'd stay away from it. I know "Ben bagged" had to get his done 3 times before they came out right and it took months and months. Like its been said I'd have them polished and then keep them raw. but get rid of the junk polish you've been using mothers is terrible. Try and get your hands on southern shine its absolutely incredibly and holds the shine like crazy. I polished my th line faces and stainless lips once from April to November and they never water spotted or corroded. I get it through my work, I repair and paint fire trucks so we have it to repolish diamond plate and stainless bumpers but I honestly couldn't tell you where to buy it from. If by chance you get your hands on some WEAR GLOVES! It will stain your hands green and black for a month.....trust me.

Dang really? I will probably ask rotiform to test fit them in some lips and barrels before they send them back to me, if I end up chroming them, just in case.

Also, I feel like the chrome against the polished lips will make the lips look a lot more dull. Does anyone have any pictures of chrome centers with polished lips?

[Oh, Word?]

My friend had chrome faced work equips with polished faces and you can tell the difference when standing in front of them.