i bought some cheviot mags

Not much info on the internet but the least reliable source, Wikipedia, says Magnesium wheels are not made anymore is that they did in fact catch fire on race cars in the UK:

"following fires which are very difficult to extinguish. Mag wheels have been known to catch fire in competition use after a punctured tire has allowed prolonged scraping of the wheel on the road surface.[citation needed]"

Sorry if this is off topic to the Thread starter.

I'm a newb at polishing with anything other than Autosolve and Mark 1 Arm with a rag. So which brand of polishing lathe do you use and can it be bought from Repco or an even more specialist shop.

Thanks very much Dave!

If the mags are your $100.00 set of mags you posted a couple of days ago then they look pretty good already and under no circumstances should you even think about touching them with wet and dry unless they have major gutter rash on them. Get yourself a heap of CLEAN rags, old flannel shirts, old cloth nappies, or old singlets are the best choices or a roll of cheesecloth from a speed shop if you cant get old rags that have been through the washing machine a Gazillion times (highly technical term, that one). Grab your Autosol metal polish, thats the one that comes in the gold coloured tube, don't use Autoglym in the silver tube as its too greasy and doesn't come off properly, sit down and expect to spend at least an hour or more per rim. Smear the Autosol on the rim and using the rag, rub it in until it goes black, then rub heaps more. Dont change the part of the rag you are doing this with as changing it takes the moisture out of the polish. Keep adding more polish as you go to keep a good covering on the metal. When you think you have got it as smooth as possible, change to a clean dry rag and polish off the black, keep turning this rag to keep it clean and to buff off the polish. You will see the shine come through and the more you buff the shinier it will get. Keep going until you totally hate those wheels and couldn't give a stuff whether they were polished or not as this is about the time they should be starting to look good. This exercise can be expensive as a tube of Autosol won't be enough to do all 4 rims you will probably need a tin and thats about 35 to 40 bucks.
If you go to one of those Cheep Cheep shops ( I don't know what they are called but they are like a 2 Dollar shop here in Vic where everything is really cheap) they have little yellow chickens on them, any way go to a 2 Dollar shop and get a bulk pack of tubes of toothpaste and use that. Toothpaste is an excellent cutting paste which all metal polishes are anyway and your wheels will smell nice too. If the backs of your rims are really cruddy, clean them up with a worn nylon scourer but don't let your Mum catch you pinching it from the kitchen sink,I say a worn one as it is not as harsh on the metal as a new one.This will leave the back of your rims silver but not polished. If your rims have bruises and gutter rash on them, use wet&dry on the damaged area, starting with 600+ paper and progress up to 1200 in steps, always rub in the same direction, if you cross your rubbing you will never get the scratches out! and use diesel or kero not water for lubrication. Oh and have fun!
Cheers
Dick