Well, of course it's entirely your decision, but imo the lip will just make the wheel look smaller on the car than a mono chrome paint scheme will. At least that the decision that I reachwed whwen I was shopping. Since I stayed w/17's for weight consideration, I didn't want my new wheels to look smaller than the OE's did. Especially the hatch does look better w/18's, so it was a trade-off for me.
I considered the Enkei RP-1's but saw some pics on a hatch and even though it's a painted lip, it's fairly wide and made the car look like it was riding on 15's or 16's at best... plus they were about a pound eaheavier than the Kosei's.
Black works well on black, but a polished lip will just break up the scheme too much and make it seem unbalanced.
Just my .02 on the situation.

 

Well again, I'm just trying to give you something to think about based on my own experiences. It's all about personal choice.

 

ok damn dude your car is HOOKED UP,.,. do you have any Pics in here? i wanna start doing some stuff to my ride, its a 06 m3 black hatch, auto. 5 speed auto,[X(]

 

I'm not sure you're talking to me,but I think so. If you are, thanks! It's taken me a while to get this far, but I am a home owner w/a wife who thinks I spend too much time on here and thinking about Mazda's/cars in general. She is NOT a car gal, so I have a bit of a conflict in the marriage department.
I've made some pretty obvious changes to my car (the AE grill and then later, the change back to stock for example) that she wouldn't even notice for 3 months, or until I pointed them out to her.
I don't have any pictures uploaded to this site, but have a number of them posted in various places.
I host them on photobucket. Real pics as well as photo-shopped ideas and other silliness. You can check it out if you want to. Ask any questions, etc, feel free to ask me....
http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...in1/?start=all

 

imo, i actually like chrome/polished lip rims. when a black car rolls by with all black rims, it just reminds me ofpeople who spray paint there hubcaps black. black rims on black car looks good only when parked or stopped, not when rolling. thats my opinion.
i live inoakland,ca and damn.....i never knew san jose was north cali, thought southern.been cold and windy lately, huh ethereal...