Finally finished! FYI - Andy (and others) was correct - the swirl marks are just a trick of the reflection. The underside of the covers are indeed smooth - the CNC tracks reflect the light looking like grooves in the pictures!
It took me 3 months to get them polished - that was done in May - and 3 months additional to source a pair of gaskets. I was reluctant to remove the stock covers without being sure I could replace the gaskets if I needed to. In any event, my dealer finally came through with a pair, which thankfully I didn't need to use!
I outsourced the polishing, as it looked to be more than me and a bunch of Cratex wheels could do. The polishing company, which did a great job, had way more hours into them than what they expected, but the end result is they look like they belong on the engine. Black between the fins would have been way easier, but would not have looked right on a polished engine.
Installing them wasn't as simple as I hoped, as I needed new (shorter) cap screws, and smaller diameter washers, tricky to source, to fit the recesses in the new CNC covers. I sourced some stainless cap screws, then polished them to look like chrome. All in all, I really like the new look! The stock covers are surprisingly heavy, the new aluminum ones lighter by a fair bit.
Here are pics of the covers and the finished engine, click on the picture for a larger view..
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tm-img.com/images/2022/09/28/M3W-Valve-Covers-8.md.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tm-img.com/images/2022/09/28/M3W-Valve-Covers-7.md.jpg)