I recently got my car painted, and got both hoods painted; so i started off by sanding down the orange peel with 1500 grit (wet). Im using a foam pad on a corded drill with 3M perfect it polishing compound. I cant seem to get the scratches out! I then bought 2000 grit and still had scattered scratches on the paint. Im wondering is my corded drill not fast enough to really polish out these scratches? Any input would be great

 

Your corded drill and possibly pad choice is most likely the culprit here. For wetsanding I normally finish off with 3000 grit and im able to correct that to perfection with an orange lc/purple foamed wool pad and 3krpms on my rotary polisher. Of course ill finish off with a moderate white pad in between with the according polish and then really buff it out with a grey pad/finishing polish. You could try finishing off with a higher grit so that your pad and polish have to work less if that makes sense. What color/brand pad are you using? If your backing plate is not a good size you could possibly distributing uneven pressure as well. You really want to work in steps so that you reduce the chance of leaving buffer/pad trails on the paint.

 

the foam pad is from oreillys. No idea what brand it is. But its is white, I bought a lambs wool pad and it just made it worst by hazing the paint.

 

dude go to autopia.org and read, read, read

 

You really should invest in a porter cable, a set of pads (not just one), and a good compound (youre going to need it). You aren't using the right tools for the job im sorry to say. Rotaries are really dangerous because you can quickly build up some heat and burn the paint. A corded drill is also no where near as stable as an actual tool meant for polishing cares, thus you're not able to apply completely even pressure across the area. jm2c.

Are the remaining scratches in the clear coat or through the clear coat?