I am guessing the lips are polished, which is why its a pain to keep them looking their best. You do have a few options to make them maintenance free, would be a shame to get rid of such a great wheel just because of a polished lip.
You could lacquer them as you say, but as Kyle says, overtime you will get the odd white worm where water gets in, but i would say, they would last a good 2 or 3 years before you need to do them again, well worth it to keep some epic rims rather than something "practical" that everyone has.
Another option is to get them split and lips polished and then clear anodised, this will protect them for ages and are then a simple wash down as any other wheel, maybe a light rub with some metal polish at the start of a season.