So I have my king shocks removed for maintenance and I gotta say I'm pretty disappointed in how they're looking.

I had BC(?) coilovers on a Maxima for several years through SLC winters. When I parted it out I was surprised how they looked after a simple pressure wash/soapy bath. Had them looking brand new.

My truck's a bay area road queen and I don't offroad. I do put on a lot of miles ~400/week, I don't wash it a lot, but then again it doesn't need it a lot. Maybe every 3-4 weeks. When I do though it's been easy enough to run a rag over the shocks, but they just never look clean.

I'm curious about options/recomendations as far as coatings? I also figure it'd be the time to ditch the blue, for an SF orange accent..

Clean them well, repaint if you want, then clearcoat with wheel clearcoat. It'll last for awhile until you get some pebble chips then they'll start looking sad again.
The best may be remove the paint, polish them up and then clearcoat. A vinyl wrap might be something to try as well. They take a beating whether off road or not.
I like mine to look good too, but it's a battle! If I had Kings I would REALLY want them to look good!