Andrew,
I had curb rash on my 2 right wheels when I bought my car. The smaller of the 2 was approximatly 3 inch on my right front. I am familiar with polishing metal (metallurgical engineer) so decided to give it a try myself. The rash wasn't too bad but you could definitely see it. I used 120 grit wet/dry sand paper and sanded the rub until the ridges were gone. I used small sections of the sand paper and my thumb to slowly sand back and forth. I then moved on to 320, 400, and 600 grit paper. You use the 400 and 600 to fare in the clear coat so it will have a smooth transition to the aluminum. I then used Novus #2 fine compound (designed to remove light scratches)to regain the original polish then put on a coat of polymer wax. When I was done, I could honestly not see the repair spot. The right rear was much worse and I used the same technique and it came out pretty good. You can see a slight waviness in the clear coat but it is hardly noticable. Overall I was satisfied with the fix versus new wheels, $$, or strip, polish, and re clear coat. I did my repair 7 months ago and just put on a fresh coat of wax today and the exposed aluminum was shiny and had not oxidized. It still looked good after 7 months.
Give it a try. Worse case is you can have the pros repair your repair.
