The ball works really good on the pipes, wheels, and bumper, maybe on the swinger if yours is chromed or anything. it's not so good for smaller, tight areas. The ball gets torn up, and sometimes it might get greasy, which is a pain to get clean.
I use the Mother's chrome polish for my wheels, aluminum ITP's. It does pretty good. I use the generic metal polish for pipes.
S.O.S. pads, just a steel wool pad, with some soapy stuff that helps get it really clean.