I'm assuming these won't rip stuff out of your hands like a wire wheel?
Nowhere near as easily. They'll still grab stuff if you're not careful, but if you rate wire wheels as a 10 on the rip-out-of-your-hands scale, 3M convolute wheels rate about 3, except for very small parts that are nearly impossible to find on the floor, halfway across the room. The wheels just know to grab those.
Better yet, they won't give you anywhere near the "road rash" a wire wheel will if your fingers accidentally brush up against the wheel.
They wear kind of fast and you have to be careful with the more dense ones because it will grind away material like a stone if you aren't careful.
Which type are you using that wear kind of fast?
I'm asking because I've had exactly the opposite experience with the 3M EXL-series convolute deburring/polishing wheels.
This one his been in use for 6 years, and it's been used a LOT:
If you use them for snagging and deburring they'll wear faster, but for rust removal and polishing, they'll outlast wire wheels 10 to 1 in my experience. The one in the photo has only lost 1/8" in diameter in 6 years of use. By comparison, the fine 6" wire wheel on the other side is just about worn out and hasn't been used anywhere near as much as the 3M wheel.
More importantly, they're far better balanced than the current crop of wire wheels are (far less vibration), they don't throw shrapnel at you, and as noted above, they're far less likely to grab parts out of your hands or bark your fingers.
Their disadvantage is that they're not flexible, so they won't fit into tight convex curves or polish rough finishes (like cleaning rust out of knurling or pebble finishes and so on). They'll also remove sharp edges, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on what you're using them on.
I've got that 1/2" wide x 6" diameter wheel and on another buffer, I've got 1" and 2" wide x 8" diameter wheels for heavier use. I hardly ever use wire wheels anymore except where the convolute wheels won't fit, or to blend a finish (with a fine wire wheel).
The 1/2" x 6" one pictured above is this one:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/3M-Convolute-Wheel-4ZR80?Pid=search
At $71.40 it may not seem cheap, but considering how much better and longer-lasting it is than a wire wheel, it's well worth the price IMO. I'd include a McMaster link for the same, but I don't think they carry that size.
For finer polishing I use this:
It's a rubber-bonded abrasive wheel, like a Cratex polishing wheel, but cheaper than actual Cratex wheels.
