I like to wet sand the stainless to keep the swirls down it also beads the material away from the surface I need to work and not chasing uneven
scratches and also different buffing wheels {Mops as popeye calls them }helps during the buffing stage along with proper RPM to achieve good contact
and take down works wonders and keeps from fighting the desire your looking for then I finish my stuff off with a product called Blue magic .
polishing different alloys need to be taken in from stainless to alum and even gold can reduce the strength and even warp the material
by all means ware a dust mask
,some buffing compounds are very toxic
.... and should be done in a open ventilated area so this year I haven't gotten around to clean up my buggys