Thanks to all who have provided input.
I still find it hard to believe you can use so little!!!! It would seem the pad would be doing most of the work with that amount of polish on there. I guess this does bode well from a business perspective...I can see my 32 ounce bottles of OP/OC lasting for DECADES!
One comment I noticed was that the finish looked perfect under flourescent....mine did too. Perhaps it is more the nature of silver paint, as I recall Accumulator addressing this topic some time ago, but the flourescents did not show any micromarring on my silver paint. It was only with an incandescent light that the marring became VERY evident.
The situation actually worked out well, because since the car was new (and prepped properly by myself) it was totally swirl-free. Only that one area was swirled and very slightly so. That enabled me to polish that area only, and, conversely, have a good litmus test as to how the polishes were working - since it was only a part of the hood, I could see the light relefting from the same angle on the non-marred part as well as the marred part....
What I think is disappointing is the finicky-ness of the OP/OC. I don't mind putting in the time for proper technique, but I must say I've become a bit spoiled with the
menzerna products which, for all intensive purposes, have been very technique-independent.
With regards to poli-seal, I've had decent luck with it as an
AIO, but there are 2 issues I've had - one documented and another I haven't read too much about. The first is that it "disappears" - you just have to trust it is there. The second is the work time. I've read that it has some swirl removing capabilities, but I've yet to see it make a dent in any type of swirling, no matter how minor. This may again come down to work time, as we've been discussing here with regards to the OP/OC. Perhaps my impatience is to blame for all of this disappointment!!!
As far as rotary goes - that makes sense as a rotary completely changes the dynamics of how a polish is worked/broken down, but at the same time, I'm reticent to use a rotary on a job that I know can be easily accomplished with a PC - I guess that goes back to the whole theory of using the least abrasive product for the job - I view tools for the job the same way (pads, buffers).
Another thing I've been thinking of is the color of the paint itself. Being that it was silver, it makes the product harder to see on the surface, which may have contributed to me using too much. With Menzerna, I already know how much to use, so it didn't matter what the surface looked like during buffing - I knew I was working the proper amount. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I've sold my black car, and don't anticipate owning another black car again, so I'll have to find a willing friend or colleague with a dark vehicle to test the Optimum on, as I'm still nervous about using it on a customer vehicle, due in part to my lack of familiarity with it.
I saw some mention of buffing videos, does anyone have a video of the optimum polishes being used by PC and/or Rotary? I'm determined to become proficient with these products!
T
There are things that others do better than I do and things that I do better than others. Heh heh, I have a pretty favorable opinion of my abilities (and an ego the size of a small planet 
), but I'm a realist about this stuff.
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