[posneg]

To recap, it was recommended to me to (1) get a faster instrument, (2) clean the surface between stages, and (3) use a lower grit sandpaper, possibly the greaseless compound.

Since I don't have the greaseless compound yet and I'm pretty impatient I got a new drill (2500 rpm) and some paint thinner for cleaning and tried again.

However, this time my results look just like the pictures above. I thought that even without resanding the surface I would see at least a SMALL improvement in the finish. But I haven't seen anything.

Any other tips?

I can understand that for a really good finish you need to have proper sanding and cleaning between stages, but is really not possible to get a better finish than what I'm already getting even with the improvements I made?