Disasterous to down and dirty paint job

I spent the morning cleaning my bike. In the past,I ignorantly have used abrasives like cleanser, and steel wool on my exhaust chrome before, and it may never be truly bright again short re chroming. I read somewhere on one of these forums that all you can really do for chrome is to clean it, like with Windex.
I have a drill, and will get some kind of buffing wheel, and one of those colored sticks that you rub against the wheel to polish my aluminum, unless you guys suggest a better way.
I would like to win some prizes some day at a bike show. So after dusting the Hawabusi, getting the ex-Fatboy chick, advising my Gump following, and winning the bike show, I might enshrine my Kawasaki in a climate-controlled glass case, and charge admission to view and just be in It's Presence. Now, how special is your bike?