You heard it here, scratch your chrome and your screwed

 

I've got a buddy that swears by steel wool for removing his old lady's boot marks from his exhaust. I've never tried it as it just doesn't sound right to me, but his pipes look relatively good to me.

 

Now that you have read this thread, take a closer look at your friends pipes. Odds are they have swirl marks on them if you look closer.
Our chrome is some fairly soft stuff. It's doesn't take much to put a mark on them.

I know that I personally have replaced a shield before because of .0000 steel wool.
Maybe I rubbed too hard, but I assure you that I won't try it again to find out. LOL The small shield between my head pipe and my baffle.