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Having just recently finished the final sanding on my car, I can give you the procedure that worked best for me. The finishing process is 7 step process to get a show finish, and if the body shop says they can do it in a day, then the results would not satisfy my pickyness. It's slow and hard work, but the results speak for itself.

I did try the 3M Trizact/Hookit II system for a DA on my doors and while it worked OK, IMO it was actually slower than doing it by hand. You didn't mention it, but I'm assuming that you are finishing a basecoat/clearcoat paint. If so, here are my procedures. The part numbers listed are those for 3M products.

1) Wet sand with a hand backing pad using 1200 or 1500 grit paper. My orange peel was preatty severe so I used 1200. The 1500 takes longer and tends to leave low spots where extra time is spent in certain areas.

2) Wet sand by hand (no backing pad) with 2000 grit paper. This step will greatly reduce compounding time.

3) Machine compound with 5936 Perfect-It III Extra Cut Rubbing Compound with a 5703 Superbuff double-sided wool pad. Be sure not to exceed 2000 RPM with your buffer or excessive burning can occur. I will do a 2 x 2 area and use two passes it this step. Use a spray bottle filled with water and give the pad a squirt occasionaly to help keep it from clogging. Clean surface with wax and grease remover to remove left over film and abrasives.

4) Machine compound with 5933 Perfect-It III Rubbing Compound with a 5723 Hook-it foam compounding pad (white) using the same procedure as above.
These steps should completely remove the sand scratches leaving only swirl marks from the compound.

5) Machine glaze with Perfect-it III Trizact Machine glaze with 5725 Hook-it foam pad (black). This step will remove the swirl marks and one pass is normally all that is needed.

6) Finish glaze with Perfect-it III Finishing Glaze with a 5739 Hook-it II pad on a DA. This step will leave a mirror finish on the paint.

7) Finish with wax of preference. I used the new Meguires NXT Generation wax and really like the results.

If you do sand or burn through the clear it is best to stop and apply more clear since you cannot touch or buff the basecoat. I personally do not like the foam pads in the first compounding step since it tends to leave dimples in the finish, or at least it does when I do it.

Hope this helps. Its really hard work and easy to screw up, but if you take your time should work out well. The 3M website has a step by step procedure also.

Brad W.