What's the best thing you have found to get rid of the brake dust on the front aluminum rims? I just did a brake job and would love to get the front rims cleaned better. I tried brake cleaner but no good. I thought about trying McGuire's Degreaser but afraid it might be to acidic for the rim coating. Thoughts?

 

I have aluminum rims, a wash cloth with water takes everything right off. Even the inside portion of the rims.

 

To get it off, I've used mequiars hot rims polsih, or blue diamond polish with good results. A powerball/cone will save a lot of scrubbing. If they were neglected for too long, I don't know what to tell you.
To keep it off, ditch the crappy pads, and go to a ceramic. No more brake dust.

 

Not sure what to do when it's caked on there as I've never been in that situation. I've always been able to get by with regular old wheel cleaner on my old trucks that had a decent amount of brake dust on them. This one I've kept up with it (wash them last when washing my truck using the same soap) and taken some preventative measures...

If/when you manage to get it all off, you could wax your wheels. I wax mine and they're significantly cleaner - probably because the brake dust isn't adhering to the wheels because of that layer of wax. Definitely makes a big difference! Collinite 845 wax.