If you use the Meguiars product be very careful not to use it on aluminum, highly polished and anodized wheels, otherwise it's a fine product for the price.

 

Mark,
Sonax worked really well. I used them on my MB wheels and it did a great job on truly filthy wheels. The Germans are notorious for really bad brake dust.
To your point however, I did use the Swissvax brush a little. Not so much as elbow grease but just to move it around a little.
A little wipe down after and they looked great.

 

Thanks Jerry!

If I have to go spoke by spoke to wipe them down anyway to get them truly clean, I'll just stick with my
method and save money and shelf space for another car product that doesn't do what I want.

 

Unless you are working really slowly and carefully, shouldn't you wash your car after you wash the wheels? Otherwise, you run the risk of water spray/splash onto your now clean car.

 

I wash the car, then the wheels then rinse down the entire car again then dry it with a leaf blower.

So that final full rinse would get anything off that might get on the fenders from washing the wheels.

 

Never been a problem for me and I'm not really slow and careful. Risk is extremely low in my experience unless you're really sloppy. Do what works for you though.