The stripper works, but it fucks the polish up a bit. Like dulls it and makes it murky. Sandblasting will take you to place worse then starting with a factory stock wheel as far as polishing goes.
Paint stripper, and you can get the felt and sisal wheels and any polishing compound bars you might need in stock at Princess Auto. You shouldn't have to do all the wetsanding again, just the final (white and/or red bar) stage of polishing, and then finish with a Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish.