Wetsanding/polishing by hand?

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...)

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. :)

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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. :)

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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.

Factory paint = orange peel. That`s what I was referring to. ;)