Waxing/Polishing/Buffing?

[SQMonte]

Wait, so you polish, wax, wax again, wash then clay? Say it aint so

[SmallTruk]

My point is the more work u put in the better

having just painted my mustang and having wet sanded with 3000 grit tyvec pad is the ultimate option if you have 2 hrs for every square foot of car

Then you still have to buff throug cleaner/polish wax, then I do yellow wax, then wax, wash it off then clay bar

This will remove the swirls like monte said depending on how bad, u could sand with 2000 or 2500 and spray a light clear ontop again

I would reccomend u get a orbital buffer for $20 and go at it with some good compound don't push hard or ull increase the swirls

Your techniques are almost irrelevant to this situation. The OP wants to detail a car that's probably never been detailed and is factory paint that's who knows how old. I doubt your new paint on your mustang is single stage (like a lot of newer cars are) let alone as thin as factory paint jobs are. He takes your advice and he could go right through the paint in the first 5 minutes.

I agree with you SQ, the car needs to be seen before the correct technique can be given.

OP....unless you really want to get into detailing her car regularly and spend the money associated with it I'd say just take it to one of those parking lot detail tents, spend the $75 or so and let them deal with it. Your girl obviously doesn't care much about taking care of her paint job so anything better than what she has now would be an improvement.

[SQMonte]

Either way you go, start out with a polish first rather than a compound. It's always easier to take more material off than it is to put it back on.