Need help please with cleaning wheels with tough brake dust

Hello all, I have a ford explorer which has 18" chrome-clad wheels. I have used Sonax to clean them but there is still some tough brake dust that will not come off. I could scrub them but I don't want to ruin the finish. They are in generally good shape as the first pic shows, the 2nd pic show the dust that will not come off (sorry about the pic quality) Does anyone have any idea on what could help? Thanks!

http://imgur.com/PHb6Hv0

http://imgur.com/WWKFNC9

 

I would try some clay to see if that takes it off. Or you can go with a diluted APC

 

I agree.

A guy brought me his truck (with chome wheels) he had tried a pressure washer with and couldn't get everything off. There was even some rust on them. I used a combination of things. W-99 on the front two wheels. I have a solution diluted about 50/50. (My wife swears by W99 around the house.) I sprayed it on and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Went ahead and sprayed the back wheels. Then I used Adams APC and WD40 (for the rust) and worked that in with a superfine steel wool. I mean this wool is almost like cotton. With each rinse more gunk was coming off.

At the end, even though they were relatively clean, I used one of the wheel cleaners as normal and it was night and day. Just the OCD in me.

I would have tried clay, but didn't need to.

Something else I have used is Stoners Tarmintor and 3M adhesive remover, you just have to be careful.

 

Clay and then a metal polish or regular polish. If that doesn't work try a compound. Use a MF applicator instead of foam.

 

Hi all, I finally got around to it and the clay worked perfectly! Of course, I'm not looking forward to claying all four wheels, but whatever. Thanks for all the help!