I've got a 2000 A4 2.8 with the sport package, which means I have the ten-spoke
wheels that come with that combination (or at least they did with mine).

I went to buy a wheel brush at the auto store recently and noticed the warning on the
brush: "do not use on mag wheels". So, two questions:

1. Do I have "mag wheels"? I don't know squat about aftermarket products (I'll leave that to you 1.8T guys :) but I'm think that maybe "mag" refers to magnesium (metal), and that magnesium is easily scratched. Dunno, I'm just guessing -- perhaps it's a historical thing, and all fancy wheels now get called "mag", regardless of composition. What do I have?

2. Either way, I assume that what I've got on these wheels is really a clear coat that is not going to be damaged by a brush, but I thought I'd check here: are brushes OK? I really don't want to have to use a cloth -- with 10x4 spokes, cleaning the wheels takes just as much time as cleaning the whole rest of the car ...

Thanks.

...for any alloy/apinted/clearcoat/polished wheel, but you are right it does really mean Magnesium which is pretty rare today and was seldom coated, only polished.

I have a split bristle nylon brush (from a local auto parts chain) and a boars hair brush (from Griots - for wheels), both for wheels and neither have ever scratched painted or clearcoated wheels. I cant speak for every wheel brush on the market, but I know the Griots is safe, as is my nylon one (but I dont know the brand).

Use whatever you use on the body of the car...just get a second one to use on the wheels only. You're right, the rims are painted and clear coated, so it's best to treat them just like you treat the paint on your car. Wash gently, dry, and wax twice as often as you wax the body of the car (heat build up breaks down the wax quicker on the rims).

For proof, head down to your local car wash. They all use stiff nylon brushes. The cars coming out the "clean" end of the car wash will all have damaged clearcoats on their rims. Granted, those brushes are pretty stiff, and they turn pretty fast, but nevertheless, nylon brushes are as good as sandpaper.

I keep mine clean. The brushes in those carwashes have HUGE amounts of grit embedded in them - I found one strand stuck to the wheel that my old car pulled off when going thru one of the ones that does "cloth" (which also scratches like crazy whe as dirty as they get) on the body and brushes on the wheels/tires. The strand itself was white when viewed closely but looked beige at arms length due to the number of sand bits literally embedded onto the strands surface.

That was the last time a car of mine went thru a machine car wash.