I have had good results with orange degreasers and if you get to the point of wanting to use steel wool, try using a citrus based hand cleaner that has pumice in it first. The pumice citrus ones work really well and don't scratch much at all. I would say not at all, but if you try hard enough it will scratch. Just squirt some on your finger and rub lightly.
I started out trying to use this for tar but is much better for the goldish stains. Also really helps break up the gunk on barrels. With rims in extremely poor condition, a polish step really will be needed anyway after extreme cleaning.
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"The more answers I seek, the more questions I find."
Just about killed myself cleaning up some neglected old chromers a few months ago. These actually had lots of rust on the surface from pits but I got them looking pretty good. I would keep spraying them with a wheel cleaner and let it soak in and do it's job. Then add a toothbrush, plastic dish scrubby and lots of elbow grease. The plastic dish scrubby trick worked fantastic on some old painted Jeep rims I did yesterday.
Hard to tell for certain by the pic, but it looks to me like the chrome plating is worn through to the nickel plate. The yellow/gold cast you're seeing is not a stain - it's the nickel plate beneath the chrome. If that is truly the case then re-chroming is your only option.
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