I have a set of EMPI wheels that need a freshen up.

The gold spokes-want to black them out and give the edges a little polish up, nothing too bright or shiny...

Do I paint them or have them powdercoated?
Any suggestions on cleaning the "bright" parts up?

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I would just paint them with high temp semi gloss paint and use white metal polish on the rim. For the cost of powder painting you could buy a new set

Perfect. That's where I was headed.

I had the same wheels on my car when I got it and did that same thing, stripped off 3 layers of paint, down to metal then primer and paint black looked really nice. But offset is not right for the car so dot put in big wheels you will rub

Get the wheels centres really clean and apply a coat of etch primer, the topcoat will stick better.
Good luck.