50 years ago I had a can of 3M red rubbing compound that was quick cutting by hand. These days though, get yourself a $20 foam pad to use in your drill at least or just have a shop do it for you. What you have to do is start with 2-3000 grit sandpaper to remove the overspray and dust nubs. Then use the foam pad with rubbing compound, then progress through the stuff you listed above and finally a polish. You’ll never get the scratches out using a cleaner and trying to do it by hand.
I just bought a quart of Meguiar’s rubbing compound and it was $20+. The other 2-3 products you need are anywhere from $10-15 each, not counting wax. So if you aren’t going to be serious about it and use a buffing pad, just pay someone to do it. The arrows on the product label indicate how fast they cut. The higher the red arrow, the more they cut.
The numbers are sometimes confusing. You have to look at the label and the red arrow to see how fast they cut. Plus they have both machine and hand use in the same color container. Rubbing compound is about a 12 and the swirl or polishing is a 2 or a 3. The glaze is simply a sealer and has no abrasives. There is a red hand applied rubbing compound. Some of this stuff is hard to find on the shelf though.
In the old days on a lacquer finish, I just used corn starch and water instead of rubbing compound. Just depends how much water you use.
The key reason I am buffing is to remove the lines due to masking tape - again, I am doing it by hand. I am only going to buffing (no separate polishing). The color is midnight blue - so the line is not readily visible.
Since I am doing it manually, I was recommended to get the medium by the local shop which is more expensive than other grades on Amz: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EY5OSK/
Like I said to remove over spray and tape lines, it is really better to use 2000 or so grit paper, then follow that with the compound. Without seeing the back of the bottle,hard to tell if it’s for hand or machine use. It’ll prolly work but if not hit it with the sandpaper then this.
You have to think of it like sanding a board. You start out with a course grit and then work your way to a finer grit paper and finishing with a wax or finish. Each grit of paper takes the coarser marks out but leaves finer ones. If you try to do it with fine sandpaper to start with, it’ll take forever and leave some of the deep scratches.
I have the 2000 wet & dry grit - just worried, making it worse. No experience. I feel the compound won’t damage the shine (worried the 2000 wet & dry grit might)
2000 grit sandpaper has a pretty small particle size, 10 microns I think. So it isn’t likely to do much in the way of scratching the paint surface. If it does cause some minor markings, no worries, you can follow up with an optical grade polish.
I’m going to suggest that you get some 800 grit, 1500 grit and 2000 grit cloth backed (emory cloth) wet or dry. Start with the 2000 for a minute to see if it makes any progress, if not go to the 1500, but you will probably end up going to the 800 to get off to a good start, then 1500 and finally 2000. The 2000 should leave you with an almost polished look.
Keep the cloth and surface wet. Finish with a polishing compound and then wax.