should alloy wheels be cleaned as if they're clearcoated and thus
polished and waxed?

or should they be cleaned with something like Blue Magic metal
cleaner?

:)

Soap and water will work. Or you can purchase a cleaner made for alloy wheels.

If you do purchase a cleaner made for alloy wheels, made sure that it's made for
coated wheels and not cast wheels, as it will totally dull and eat up the clearcoat.


should alloy wheels be cleaned as if they're clearcoated and thus
polished and waxed?

or should they be cleaned with something like Blue Magic metal
cleaner?

:)

so..... most likely the alloy factory wheels are clearcoated?

???

Yep. Early alloys were not, and people had problems keeping air in the tires. It was soon discovered that the alloy was porous enough that over time air molecules would leak through the wheels. The easy solution: clear coat.

I suspect it is a different clear coat than what's on the body of the car though. I've been told that regular auto body clear coat will slightly distort the color if used on wheels, it will have a slight yellow tint. I cannot speak to this first hand, just what a guy who has show cars told me. He found that clear powder coating did not seem to have any color distortion.

-Rod