Be careful with steel wool on chrome. If it's super fine, I've heard it's safe, but you can scratch it if it's too coarse.
Did you try any polishes or products on the wheels? I use a bottle of Brasso on the machined lip on mine and it seems to do a pretty good job.
I got 00 grade steel wool and that got everything off even the water spots, then i polished them with cali gold chrome polish. Killer combo, i found that that grade of steel wool wasnt close to scratching the chrome even with alot of pressure on it