swirl marks question

[SCWDP911]

I am trying to piece this together in my mind. The finish on my 83 cab looked great for a 25 yo car. The rear deck had been replaced at one point with a non-tail unit. The paint match looked pretty good though.

So a few weeks ago, I finally decided to REALLY clean the car up and I clay-barred the paint. Everything turned out great... except the rear decklid. Now, it looked somewhat dull and I could see bad swirl marks... looked to be in the clear coat - I think

I finally got the gumption to go ahead and buy a better buffer and went to work on it with Meguiar's Swirl Mark 2.0... looks a LOT better. I have not put polish or wax on yet. And that got me to wondering. Could the reason that I never noticed how crappy this looked be that wax and helped mask it, and the clay bar removed the wax? The swirl marks were so bad I was really tempted to do a wet sand with 2000 first.

I am posting this in Paint and Body as well.

Thanks

[BB_A2Z]

The trunk may not be clear coated, so you may want to be careful buffing it to much. you could wet sand it with 2000 grit, but again just watch for the paint gettin too thin. I would try that then hand rub the area with a fine cut compound with a back and forth motion( not circular). i like to use a glaze to finish it. it will restore any depth to the paint. Good luck!