Wetsanding/polishing by hand?

[91black5spd]

I have a small spot on my my jeep with some orange peel. It is a new vehicle and the dealer damaged the tailgate and then had it repaired at their bodyshop. In the end it came out OK but has some orange peel which I would like to remove. It is only a small area(about 1 sqft) and I want to do it by hand. I read the wetsanding posts and want to try it but I don't have an orbital buffer. It seems like I could still do it by hand with some elbow grease for the polishing step but I wanted to ask here first.

btw, I do not want to bring it back to the dealer/bodyshop, had to many bad experiences with leaving a vehicle at a bodyshop.(more damage, overspray, etc...)

[JaredPointer]

I think you could do it by hand, but you'll have to be really easy with the sanding and use some pretty high grit stuff (continually stepping up) to be able to remove the sanding marks by hand using a hand-type polish. But yeah, I think it can be done.

The problem you'll have then is there will be a flat (no orange peel) really reflective area while the entire rest of the car is covered in orange peel and you'll have to level the rest of the car.

[91black5spd]

Originally Posted by JaredPointer

The problem you'll have then is there will be a flat (no orange peel) really reflective area while the entire rest of the car is covered in orange peel and you'll have to level the rest of the car.

The rest of the vehicle is the factory paint which isnt too bad so hopefully it wont contrast if i flatten out the area of the tailgate.

I think i might try a step up approach:
1st just with rubbing compound by hand, if that doesnt work then: wet sanding with 3000 grit, then 2500, etc... I dont plan to go any lower than 2000 because I am worried about not being able to polish out the scratches.

[JaredPointer]

Factory paint = orange peel. That's what I was referring to.