I ran across the same issues you're having and nobody really told me the "secret" to getting a nice result. I've just been trying different things and reading this forum from one end to the other trying to pick up tips.
I'm not sure when to use what compound and honestly I'm not sure there's a "right" way to do any of this per se' - I think it's just a matter of touch and personal preference. I'm sure my methods are different from everybody else's but they seem to work well for me.
I've been having better results lately by raking my wheels every so often as I work and spending most of my time with the sisal wheels and black compound after the initial sand. I don't go past 320 grit and try to rotate my sanding direction 90 degrees between grades of paper.
When I begin polishing, I move against the rotatation of the wheel only and continue to "cut" until all the scratches are gone. I seem to get good results by using firm pressure to heat up the parts and get the compound moving. Once all the visible scratches are gone, I move to a tight spiral wheel and brown compound and again, only in the "cut" direction. I usually find a few scratches here and there during the brown session and I just grind 'em out with the brown, or pop back to the sisal/black for a bit to clean 'em up.
Once I move to the white, I only move with the wheel, in the "color" direction. Once I'm done, I clean the parts with laquer thinner, wipe dry with a polishing cloth (Pickd up several at the local auto parts store) then give it a good coat of wax.
I think you just need to "experiment" to find out what works for you. My parts are still not perfect, but as my assortment of bobs, wheels and compounds grows and I learn "on the job", the results get better and better. It's not difficult by any means, just a bid tedious to figure out what's going to work and what's not.
Again, good luck!!
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