Refurbishing Alloys:
After they've been painted or gone dull - you can not straighten or remove kerb damage yourself!

Step 1: Cleaning.
You need to clean then well, with de-greaser if necessary(wash off afterwards!) , even if they are really manky.

Step 2: Hub's/Mounts.
This must be done to ensure safety !
Using a wire brush or a drill brush clean the inside of the alloy, especially the inner center which mates with your wheel hubs. This must be perfectly flat, clean and free from any lumpy crap or corrosion. I would recommend using a drill brush for this work!

Step 3: Stripping.
Ask a local bit of totty to.. oops, err..
If the wheels have tyres on them - cover them up. Use paper and tape or even a piece of  card with a circle cut in the middle.
DON'T use barrier cream or soap. This may be alright for paint masking but stripper will easily munch through it!
Buy some Nitromors (doesn't have to be vehicle specific, any one will do).
Put some gloves on, unless you fancy burning your hands or getting skin cancer, and brush the Nitromors thickly all over the alloy. Leave the Nitromors to work for a few minutes.
Now start scraping off the Nitromors Residue and paint/laquer. You may need more Nitromors for stuburn areas.
Once all the mank has gone give the wheel a damn good scrub and wash.

Step 4: Sanding.
Using a sanding block finely sand down any corrosion (white lumps) and try and sand the entire wheel nice and smooth.
Pay special attention to the bolt holes and other areas such as under edges and lips.

Step 5: Painting.
Buy some proper wheel paint. NEVER USE NORMAL PAINT ON WHEELS!
Wheel paint dries to a stretchy rubbery finish. Normal cellulose paint dries brittle. If you paint your wheels in normal paint (even Hamerite!) it'll all chip off and flake within weeks. Also wheel paint doesn't require a laquer top coat.
Make sure there's nothing important (like a garden seat) under your wheels before you spray them. Believe me, you wouldn't be the first person to spray the lawn silver!
Using wheel paint (available in White, Chrome and Silver at time of writing) spray the alloy all over using opposing strokes.
Basically it goes on like normal paint. Slap on a few coats and it'll last for ever.
My Pepperpots are still going strong after 4 years - not on my car though!
I used Silver for mine because this is a very close match to the original alloy colour but I bet the chrome looks wicked.
Solid colours (ie White) always look shit - no matter what you think at the time, trust me...they do.