Learning how to take care of paint

[cxwrench]

Got a DA polisher from Harbor Freight. Bought some Meguiars polish and some really fine (1000, 1500, 2000) sandpaper from O'Reilly's. Touch up paint from Ford dealer. Managed to use all of these things in the correct order after washing and claying the car. Turns out I suck at touch-up but am ok at polishing. Seems that the touch-up paint is a little harder than the clear coat and the sanding block I used was too soft. It looks decent up close, great from 5 feet. I'll fix it properly in the spring. I'm pretty happy that I have no more swirls. First photo is before I did anything, second after the wash and clay bar, last one is after everything and a coat of wax.

 

[Ford ST]

Most people suck at touch up paint if it was easy to get good results you would have touch up paint jiffy lubes. Touch up paint is for looks good from a distance in the parking lot it's never going to look good up close unless you like some super amazing gifted professional.

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[Dpro]

I think you need to outline better what you were touching up. In the first two photos I saw what looked like a paint chip from a rock. Its really hard to tell exactly though, as the last photo is from a completely different angle and highlights a different area of your hood.

It also looks like you gotta a little heavy on the buff towards the center of the hood and possibly burned some clear coat off causing slight discoloration. Hopefully thats just some kind of weird photo reflection and not what I stated it looks like.

 

[cxwrench]

Cloud reflection.

 

[pmboy506]

The hood looks awesome!

Did you use the sandpaper and do it by hand or did you use some kind of cutting pad? Then polished it using the DA polisher?

Can you describe the process you did? What were some of the mistakes that you made with the sanding block and why did the hardness of the touch up paint mess it up?
Sorry for all the questions, I have a harbor freight DA polisher and touch up paint as well and have been wanting to do this once the weather gets nicer and once I do some more research into cutting pads and polish

Thanks!