You can bring pretty much any polished aluminum rim back to life it depends on what amount of time you want to spend to make it look good.
I use a 8" buffer on a stand to polish all of my aluminum parts big or small if the rims are beyond using Mothers or Meguiars then the next step would be getting it down to clean aluminum and this can vary but I usually start with Scitchbrite pads and if it still isn't deep a enough then sanding will probably be required, you can also sand down nicks and scratches on the outer edge of the rim.
The key is to have the cleanest and smoothest finish prior to buffing with the wheel and I use various cutting compounds to get to the desired finish and after I bring back the shine I finish them with Meguiars aluminum polish to get even the finest scratches out.
I use the same procedure for anodized or powder coated parts but the coating has to be stripped and usually requires some sanding.
I wish I had some before and after pictures of rims I have done but all of them I bought cheap and resold them after i polished them but everything that is polished aluminum in my engine bay I polished, from the radiator to all my brackets that I made to the valve covers that were previously anodized silver.