Ok,
Has been a while since I have had to clean a set of dirty alloy wheels that have the clear coat on them

What new products are about these days that will not damage the coating but also bring these little buggers up noice and clean?

im in the process of cleaning up some rims at the moment, using meguiars safe for clean coat wheel cleaner, its around $20, i'd use gloves when you do it though, stings bad in cuts/grazes on your hands

if you have a lip thats not coated use some autosol to give it a good shine :)

Forget about the costly car products. For much less dollars, and direct from your supermarket, Mr Muscle general cleaner, does not harm anything, no gloves required, and removes brake dust really well. Brake dust literally runs off the alloys and then just a quick wipe with an old cloth.

Mr Muscle is actually very caustic, I use it for stripping paint off plastic parts and I would fear the same result with the clear coat on the rims

Mr Muscle is great on alloy parts provided you can seal it again after

Little trick - take a spray bottle to the carwash and fill it with their engine\wheel cleaner stuff.

Spray it on and scrub the wheels with a wheel brush. Pressure wash them and dry them off. Then hit them with the wax.

The wax holds the dust so the next time you go to clean em up, it takes half the time. (props to TUFFTR for the wax trick)

I use Armorall Wheel cleaner, spray on wait 30 sec, hose off. And for more stubbon stains leave on for longer and use a soft bristle brush the hose off.
Very good I reckon. They recommend to do first before washing rest of car.

Mr Muscle is actually very caustic, I use it for stripping paint off plastic parts and I would fear the same result with the clear coat on the rims

Mr Muscle is great on alloy parts provided you can seal it again after

Use the general cleaner not the oven cleaner. I have even been known to use Preen from the wifes laundry.

I use Armorall Wheel cleaner, spray on wait 30 sec, hose off. And for more stubbon stains leave on for longer and use a soft bristle brush the hose off.
Very good I reckon. They recommend to do first before washing rest of car.

Yeah I bought it by mistake, but this stuff works VERY well, half a bottle will do all four wheels very easy.

start by giving em a wash with the same stuff you wash yer car with.... meguiars works well to shift crap them follow up with turtlewax mag wheel cleaner cause it has a repellant in it

soapy water and a rug works just as well, and it is virtually free!! a little dishwashing liquid in about 1 L of water.

On harder stains, try WD40 or equivilent and a rug. My clearcoat still looks very new!

i drown the wheels in engine/wheel cleaner down at the car wash wait about a min then high pressure it off. but i havn't tried the way, will give it ago cause on my **** rims the brake dust is a big problem

start by giving em a wash with the same stuff you wash yer car with
This is normally all I do. None of our cars have dusty brake pads, and they get washed regularly, so the wheels are never that dirty. I use Meguiars Gold Class wash on the bodywork, then use it on the wheels. They always come up a treat.

If your wheels are particularly dirty, I'd try something like Meguiars Hot Rims Wheel Cleaner (http://www.meguiars.com.au/productdetail_2006.php?seq=103&category=CAR%20CARE&subcat=Wheels%20and%20Tyres&subsubcat=&show=1). I haven't used this one personally, but Meguiars are my pick of off-the-shelf products.

Mothers allow wheel cleaner and the Mothers power ball mini
but let the ball do the work otherwise you will take of the clear.