I know this will seem a little silly but it works.

Living on miles of dirt track means my wire wheels get quite dirty and very dusty, after a good clean I spray them with Rain X the stuff you use on windscreens. Then when they get dusty and dirty I first blow them with my leaf blower which gets rid of the loose stuff and then give them a blast with the hose and the muck falls off,

IIRC, there's a warning not to get Rain X on painted surfaces ?

No problem for the last ten years on my stainless wheels.

I clean my black painted wire wheels with WD-40

Yep. For all its faults as a supposed lubricant or water dispersant, WD-40 makes a flippin' excellent degreaser and cleaner.

Well that's mission accomplished, here's an example. (I had them re-balanced as I wasn't pleased with the way it was done when the new tyres were fitted). They shouldn't need doing again for a while ! It's amazing how well they have survived for almost 14 years, not a mark on them.

They look great

Impressive and a worthy accolade from Craig

Thanks chaps, in the nude (without a covering of road crud) they really are a thing of beauty. Now I realise why it is that a set of wires is so expensive, the quality of the materials, and all that workmanship. Must make sure I lock the spare in position, as it would be eminently nickable.....

Fancy cleaning mine?