Maybe you guys can help, and maybe I am just not competent at polishing. I got some Turtle Wax polishing compound and tried to polish some of my car. Well turns out I was making things worse, there were tons more tiny scratches then before. I followed the directions perfectly. Don't have an electric buffer. Am I using the wrong cloth or something. I was quite unhappy. So any help would be appreciated, don't want to do anymore for fear of making things worse. Maybe I should leave it up to the professionals and just do the waxing myself.

Umm.. basically. Clean car.... apply...wait to dry, buff to a shine! Thing is about polish is that it has small abrasives in it....its really meant to be apart of a whole system, wash, clay, polish, wax, seal. but if you have scratches..i would go at it with a MORE abrasive polish like scratch x.

first off, throw away the turtle wax, IMO.

You should wash and clay bar your car before you polish it. If your paint surface doesn't feel like smooth glass before you begin to polish it you will only be rubbing in surface contaminents.

What are you using to apply and remove? how new are they?

Also can you post a pic of the damage. We can help you through the problem.

Oh, and yeah! good point, wrong cloth. Make sure when washing, polishing, waxing and sealing, ALWAYS use a nice clean microfibre cloth, cotton and such can make swirls. Also yes. Like i said, its better as a package. But it is veery important that you make sure that you are only rubbing on a perfectly clean surface, no metal fragments, absolutely no dirt, no other chemicals, etc. Bad idea to do it unless you have a clean slate. You can make things worse, REALLY fast.

Sounds like you did exactly what I did a few years ago on our Mountaineer. I had some paint transfer, and at the time knew nothing about detailing so I bought some Turtle Wax rubbing compound. It ended up looking like crap just like you described. That compound is a very aggressive stuff, like using sand paper. Now you need to follow up with a fine polish. Really, if you have the money, you would be better off getting a decent polisher and some good polish. Like corvettecrazy said, that compound isn't very good stuff either IMO. At least make sure you have a microfiber or sponge applicator and then a microfiber cloth to buff it off. You could try the Meguiars 3 step polish system. I've used the Step 2 polish by hand, and it was OK stuff.

good, made in the USA 100% cotton towels will NOT create swirt marks. I don't understand why everyone thinks this.

get yourself a low rpm buffer... heres some tips for compounding

1. Tape off all moldings and plastic parts (trust me)
2. Wash car ( i leave a little dust on it ) think about it whats in any major compound..
3. Apply liberal amounts of compound to area never more then 1 panel at a time.
4. Spritz water on compound (you will get less haze with this method)
5. Work compound in with low speed buffer in a side to side motion.
6. Keeping compound wet while working complete panel

7. Wipe panel down with a soft towel move to other panels following same steps.
8. Remove tape wash car.

9. Follow up with a good polish notice you will not have the haze as compounding with dry compound thats why we used water... change the pad and use a polishing pad.

10. Apply good quality wax by hand drink beer admire your nice paint.

* Remember you do not need to max out the rev'* with a hand held polisher low works real well just remember to keep it moving when the compound starts to get thick apply more water... I was taught this technique by a man who at the time was polishing air planes that was 15 years ago I have mastered this and when i do it commercially I can pull in 40-75$ an hour. I sometimes get called in to various dealerships and have save cars from going to paint now and then.

ReallyAGXP: I am curious as to why you take off the molding. Since the bonneville moldings are painted and can be buffed.

The only reason I could see taping it off was if we had textured plastic molding like chrysler vehicles or the plastic on the bumpers of the tahoes.

cause in most cases the molding will burn if caught and we are not talking about moldings were talking about compounding lol

An hour spent taping is 3 hours saved cleaning

the only thing you really want to hit with compound and a buffer is painted cleared surfaces moldings least the ones on my GXP are not cleared they are black but i wouldnt want to hit them with a compound.