Not as easy as I thought

Well today I learnt why a professional cut and polish can cost $200 or more. See, when I got my car, the paintwork wasn't 100%. Due to the water restrictions we have here, I'm guessing the previous owner probably used one of those car washes that use the broom method for scrubbing the car. As a result, there were swirl marks all over the car. In most situations, or from a distance, these swirl marks are hardly noticeable. However once there is some bright light and you are catching the reflection off the car, they are very noticeable and really subtract from the overall appearance of the car.

I was going to get my car professionally cut and polished, but since I already have an orbital buffer at home, I thought I would give it a shot. I used Kitten Cut & Polish, and after like 100 passes, I've managed to reduce the swirl marks by about 75%. It took me all day to do that, and all I've managed to cover is the bonnet, roof, and boot. It looks like this is going to be a long process. Due to my TAFE and work commitments, I only really get one day per week to get stuff done; Thursday. So from the looks of things, I won't have the paintwork at 100% for at least another two weeks.

I could have used a more abrasive cutting compound, but probably run a higher risk of runing my paintwork. I think I'll just stick with the lighter abrasive and just keep running over each surface again and again until it finally clears up. The swirl marks are rather light, so this cutting compound must be pretty weak. As I said, it would probably be better to be on the safe side. So next week I plan on cutting and polishing the doors and side panels, which I should be able to get to a 100% perfect finish. Then I guess the week after that, I will go over the bonnet, roof, and boot yet again and try to get that to 100%. I want my paintwork to look as close to new as possible, so this is going to be a long task. I guess it will all be worth it in the end though; so long as I take extreme care when washing and drying it in the future.