I stripped the rims on my old GS550E with some aircraft paint stripper. Good for aluminum. Not so good for bare skin, so put some gloves on.
You know funky, I never really gave those chromed sidecovers a second thought, but they look nice on your bike. Mine looks pretty much the same as yours (well..a bit more lived in perhaps) except black. I think those sidecovers might look the biz. /hijack