I think they only offer brushed and not polished. The brushed wheels still are clear coated but you dont see the chips the way you do with the painted wheel.

As for powdercoating I think they chip nearly as frequently as the painted surface so brushed is really the way to go.

If it helps at all your wheels look great in pictures. I bet you only see them when you are washing the car but I know that can be rally annoying to look at every time you clean her up.

 

nice & Clean!!

 

Are you trying to say HRE does not offer a polished center of the wheel? If so that is wrong.

 

Thank you friendly chap

 

My centers are brushed and the lips are polished.

My front wheels are also 19 x 8.5, but the offset is 28 (not 36 like psk145 has). I really have never understood this offset stuff - does anyone know if I can run 255s on my front wheels with this offset, or will they rub? Thanks, in advance, for any advice.

 

Still not sure if that was a real question you asked or not?

 

I would say no to the 255 since your wheel sits 8 mm closer to the fender lip up front. Off-set is the distace from the cetner line of the wheel that the wheel mounts to the hub. The lower the number the closer the wheel sits to the fender and the higher the number the more inboard the wheel sits. The 28 mm off-set means the wheel will look very aggressive and have a nice stance but it also limits your ability to go larger than the oem spec 245 front tire.

For example the CLS55 wheels do not fit an E55 very well especially with the CLS spec tires (255, 285). Those wheels have a 25 mm off-set so they really dont work well with 255 mm tires. I have put a 30mm off-set wheel on the car up front and it was able to work with a 255 but it was very close. At a 30 mm off-set the 255 was a pretty wide tire and I figured it would rub but it did not. I think that 2mm may be the difference between ok and slight rubbing. The front fenders tend to cut the tires pretty badly when it rubs and it also leads to bent fenders and cracked paint where as rubbing in the rear is more of pain in the rear with less risk.

Also, the width of the wheel changes the off-set because it adds wheel to both the inside and outside of the wheel and that throws the off-sets off. So these specs wont apply to a wheel that is say a 9 inch wide up front or a 10 in the rear. You can calculate the difference though buy drawing it out and doing some simple math.

Hope this helps.

 

I did some research about wheel finishes and now see they offer painted, brushed, and polished. I just never see many polished wheels as its a bit to bling for most people. The Brushed wheels have the best finish for durrability I think since you dont notice rock pit marks and chips the way you do in a painted surface.

Brushed is clearly the way to go but also the most expensive by a good margin.

Thanks

 

CynCarvin32:

Thanks for this explanation. I can now visualize the concept more clearly. It has been explained to me before, and the more times I hear it, the closer I am to getting a handle on it (I'm a slow learner). Still, whenever I get new after-market wheels, I will always defer to people in the know, like you, rather than trusting my own faulty judgement and screwing it up. The HRE rep (Guy Atherton) basically told me what I needed for size and offset on my car, and pretty much guaranteed the fit with no rubbing. He was right on! For me, this type of customer service is worth the extra premium you pay for getting a "name" wheel like HRE. Have a great weekend, and thanks again!

 

Looks Awesome!

That seat will give you at least 50hp!

The little one is cute! Congrats!

 

Yeah, i personally do not like polished either.

Brushed are very nice and you do not see chips that well. But now what HRE does on most of the old painted faces is powercoat them. I have the flat black pwercoat wheels on my viper with no clear coat and it is truly amazing how durable it is. There is not a single rock chip on them, which would be easy to see on black. Also, around the lugbolt holes there are no scratches at all from my wheels being taken off all the time. It was a nice switch for them to start to powercoat.