Alloy Mirror Caps - Refinishing

[JS1500]

Hey all.
I should be receiving a set of alloy mirrors from an ASN member shortly (cheers mate).
As I don't have them yet, and every 8L S3 I see locally has body-coloured mirrors, i'm not entirely sure of the standard finish...
I think they're polished/laquered alloy?

The main reason i've created this thread is because i'd prefer a brushed or beadblasted matte/satin finish and would like your experience or opinions.

Has anyone achieved this 'naked alloy' finish by hand using Scotchbrite pads or similar?
Is it likely to take me ages to get through all the coats of laquer, to the bare alloy? I've done an entire titanium mountain bike frame with Scotchbrite pads before and it was messy and took ages, but I love the end result!

Do you think i'd be better off asking a local business to bead-blast them and clear-anodise them?

I have proper Audi laquer for coating them afterwards if I go the Scotchbrite route.

Cheers y'all.

 

[hades-]

are they defo alloy as most now are ABS

 

[JS1500]

I believe they are genuine Audi solid alloy mirror covers.
It's the 8P and aftermarket caps that are alloy-effect plastic, correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[hades-]

ok ill put it this way
NOT all are ALLOY audi swapped to abs a while ago and yes there oem
look inside on the numbers if its got ABS there they you hit problems with what your thinking of doing with them

 

[JS1500]

I don't have them yet, as stated in my first post, but i'll ask the seller to double-confirm.


Just for yoooou.

 

[s3dave]

I tried doing just that with disaster, i thought they were polished but they are anodised then laquered and will go an horrible grey colour when you try and do anything with the finish, i ended up spraying the backs black and left a chrome band round them, look quite good....

 

[jojo]

ok ill put it this way
NOT all are ALLOY audi swapped to abs a while ago and yes there oem
look inside on the numbers if its got ABS there they you hit problems with what your thinking of doing with them

8L ones are all alloy if from the factory, but you can buy InPro chrome ones which are the plastic ones coated in Chrome. Just FYI, the genuine alloy items are quite a bit heavier than the colour coded caps, so you are essentially paying £500+ for more weight! though not enough to make a difference to performance I would have thought. lol

 

[JS1500]

I tried doing just that with disaster, i thought they were polished but they are anodised then laquered and will go an horrible grey colour when you try and do anything with the finish, i ended up spraying the backs black and left a chrome band round them, look quite good....

Thanks for the input Dave.
I read your thread before posting this one but must confess I didn't really understand. If it's just solid alloy with clear laquer on top how can there be 'layers'?