Pretty sure I'm going about cleaning my wheels wrong
 

Alright so heres the deal, I just got back from a 1700 mile drive this past week and needless to save the truck is filthy and the rims (the fronts especially) have aquired these nice little spots all over them with brake dust baked onto the inside lips/corners of the rims (the wheels are actually rough to the touch in places). I've tried just a sponge with soap and water but it didnt even touch it. I used Mother's Billet polish on one of the wheels as I already had it laying around from when I do polish my wheels and although it is taking most of the junk off it seems to me that this isnt really what I should be using to get this stuff off as my wheels are not dull at all. Is there some kind of cleaner that would be better suited for what I'm looking for? Maybe along the lines of p21s or Meguiars Aluminum Hot Rims cleaner, or something of that nature?? Oh and just for reference the wheels are uncoated polished aluminum. Thanks in advance!

I've nver tried the Meg's Aluminum Hot Rims before. I left my raw polished aluminum wheels on all winter because I was too lazy to remove them. Now I'm paying for it. My wheels are pretty far gone but I got one straightened out. I used a liquid metal polish (ECP Metal Restorer Polish) and #0000 steel wool. This was doing a really good job on all of the super baked on brake dust. It left a matte type look though but going over it again with a finer metal polish fixed that.

i put my raw aluminum wheels on too early and got hit with road salt and bad weather a few times. i just polished with powerball and polish and coated with wax! they still look new

I find those "magic erasers" do a good job cleans junk off just about anything. I use them on my bike rims all the time to help get all the brake dust and lube from my chain off my rims. Seems to work good for me.