ive been lookin at wheels for my car and whats the difference between polished and machined aluminum? and can they be colored or powder coated? what other options is there for painting wheels? any info would help..thanks

 

machine wheels have a duller look to them thats what the factory monte aluminum wheels are polished almost looks chrome but unless thy have a clear coat requiers polishing periodically to keep them looking nice

 

polished aluminum is very very very hard to keep clean, i've heard of people talking about the difference between them and chrome or superfinish, but never the difference between polished and machined aluminum because those are exactly the same, but maybe i'm thinking of something different.

polished aluminum are like the american racing torque thrusts and very very hard to keep clean because you dont just wipe them down like you do with chrome or superfinish

 

well, the guys above pretty much explained the difference between the two finishes. As for powdercoating and painting, yes they can be powdercoated, or painted, whichever you can afford. Powerdercoating will give you a more durable finish, but it's not often that a rock or something hits your rims so the added cost may not be worth it.

 

powdercoating will stand up to taking them on and off a lot too, if they're painted all the paint will flake off in all the bolt holes, where as if they're powdercoated it will be a little better

 

I don't know if you've ever had painted rims, but I did on my last car and didn't have any flaking issues. However, when I had new tires put on they had to remove the balancer weight that was previously installed on the outer lip of the rim so I was left with a nice aluminum patch there since it wasn't painted. But beyond that, no issues with paint flaking. This may be because of the extreme measures I took as far as prepping the rims before I painted them. But I definitely agree that powdercoating will be more durable.

When I get my rims I will be painting them again, although this time I will leave the lip chrome, only painting the center of the rim. If I wanted to color the whole rim again, I'd go with powdercoating.