What is the best thing to use to take off severe brake dust and dirt off the rims (rims haven't been cleaned for months). On the polished lip of the rims, there are a whole bunch of black spots that won't come off even if i scrub with a green pad. What should i do?

 

Try the mesh-netted dish washing sponges with some Simple Green, or what I have, this stuff called "Awesome"

I know to prevent times like this...when you get them real nice and clean, you should wax them. It's said that you can literally pretty much just blow the dust off or with the spray of a hose.

 

Use a wheel cleaner.
I use P21S liquid wheel cleaner for really dirty wheels. To show you what it's capable of...

 

Wow...and where do you get that at? An online store? That looks damn good and so does the clean wheel well. I'm a neat freak that pays attention to little things like that. Good job.

 

I got it at http://www.autogeek.net

Please realize that those wheels didn't come clean like that just from spraying and rinsing off. You still need to do a little scrubbing with a firm sponge. You will also use less product that way.