I picked up this set of aluminum wheels off of a 95 Accord for $80 earlier this week. As you can tell, they were winter wheels.

So far, I've stripped the clear coat off, which has helped some, but most of the scratches are somehow in the metal, including the crackly-looking ones in the worst wheel on the lower left. The ridged machine finish is still intact, but I've tried polishing with foam, cloth, a toothbrush, even a gloved finger, and I can't shine those areas up for the life of me. I'm certain it's not lingering paint.
Unless someone has a technique or product that would get these blemishes out, what I'd like to do is just paint the wheels a satin metal finish.
I don't need them perfect, I just want to cover up the shitty off-color marks on the finish so they don't look quite so bad. I don't have the equipment, time or a good enough looking car to bother grinding and sanding out the larger gouges, so those can stay.
What I'm wondering is if I can just spray on some wheel paint, or if I should use some body filler to fill in all of the ridges on the machine finish before I paint. I figure the texture will transfer out through the paint to some degree, but could be polished out easier than prepping the actual metal. I've never done anything like this before, so I'm not sure what the best plan of action is.
I don't have any grinder wheels or whatever and I'm not that serious, they're going on a beat up 97 with 175k on it, I just don't want these things looking as they are, glinting and displaying what look like varicose veins all at the same time.