after I completed the rub down with the 1500 sandpaper it would have been good to go 2000 or 3000 grit. the better you work the surface with the sandpaper in the long run the easier and better the shine. I would say any one who had a tired looking paint job in good order would be safe using 1500 or 2000 grit as its very mild in the cutting and does a good job.
now if you made the mistake and say ran 800 or lower grade paper over your job I think you would be very sorry and -big mistake. so 1500 to 2000 and it gives you time to see what's going on and to think it out. now I know you wouldn't use 800 or lower and there's was no need to specify ....DON"T!
1. I used the G3 compound to work the chosen are - left stripe and closest half panel to the stripe. the golden colour under the clear wasn't striking to the eye but 10 years ago it was just the supercheap export paint for $3.00 a can and then clear coated over. saying that I think it's done alright and come up pretty good
2. two microfiber cloths were used -one to apply the compound and one to clean it up. I applied the rubbing out process in an up/down - sideways - and circular motion. don't think this part matter much. the power buffers are running in circles anyway.
3. small area at a time and you could see the shine coming through. after that I moved to a less abrasive compound -more on that later in the SE work ahead. then finally a bit of polish to finish it off.
didn't really take that long to do and I did get a pretty good shine on what was once a very tired surface. I regard it as well worth the effort. the better you prepare the work area for the wet sanding and I mean 1500 grit up to even 3000 grit paper -the better the shine. as the grades of paper go up they remove the previous grades larger scratches
looking back at the panel I can say it didn't look that good when I first did it
so I guess there's the improvement alone. when you look close at the photos -the stripe on the left appears more golden now and the green paint too. so from the right side stripe to the right edge it's untouched. left side stripe and half left panel cut back with 1500 wet and dry sandpaper and then 2 different cutting agents - one course or med course and one fine plus the polish
so in a way a pretty useless exercise when I could have been working on the red car plus when the daughter see it - I could end up with more work too
I can smell the $$$$$ 
