I live in the great state we call Nebraska, and I have the good rims (sorry to offend anyone who does not have these beauty'*). Anyway, when I washed them the other day I noticed tiny spots on them. Kind of like rust. How can I get rid of those and more importantly, other than buy a set of crappy rims for winter, how do I prevent them?

mothers chrome polish... polish the **** out of em!!!

I use that Mother'* chrome polish, too, and it is absolutely excellent for polishing those rims right up. Takes anything right off: rust, hard water deposits, corrosion, etc.

Those specs you are seeing could be rust, but I'd bet they are debris from the brake pads. Upgrading to ceramic brake pads will pretty much eliminate the occurances of those specs, as well as improving your braking. Just make sure you have good quality brake rotors or the ceramic pads will warp them.
And ditto on the Mothers Chrome Polish. Wipe the rims down first, then use a clay bar to get the specs. Follow up with the Mothers. Weekly, or as needed.

Before polish you need to clean them. The best way to do this is to go out and pick up a gallon of muriatic acid heres the steps..

1. wet the wheel really good
2. spray down with Muriatic acid (don't get to closes to the over spray and wear gloves)
3. rinse well and repeat if needed
4. dry and then polish

Just make sure you dont spray and leave it sit for too long 30 seconds at the most. also make sure you dont spray it on the paint. you are better to have the whole car wet

I would wash and use a clay bar, and then polish.

I used SOS pads on my rims. The brake dust and winter dirt was bad, I wet the wheels and got the SOS pad soaked well in water. I gently rubbed the rims with the SOS pad and waxed them after they were rinsed well.

oh i forgot in my original post..

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers

amazing.

That'* exactly what my wife just used on the white stripes on the side of my car she put there by side-swiping a fence. It took it right off.

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers......LOVE EM!!!! If I could marry them I would