In general, yes.

A glaze is not something to be used if you're trying to get rid of defects. I think of glaze something that makes the paint look good. A true glaze has no cutting abilities.

depending on the actual defect, usually you go from: compound->polish->wax

Of course there are other minor inbetween products you can use, but for the most part, this is it.

On some wetsanding, I was able to get away with using a polish (as long as it was able to remove 2000 grit). Other times I have to bust out the compound and then following with a polish.

Not all compound and polish remove the same defect. They have different grades. But I recommend 3M rubbing compound first since it's more aggressive than the Meguiars Deep Crystal, and you can easily find this. Not to mention, 3M makes great products!

 

gsteg: i do have a bottle of paint cleaner (deep crystal system as well). will that work? or i need something as aggressive as compounds that "cuts".

 

the Deep Crystal system wasn't meant to do any major work. The cleaner cuts very minorly. It's cutting ability was meant for removing very light oxidation, surface contamination, etc.

Anytime I'm wetsanding, I use compounds first and then polish, unless I'm using a DA sander with 2000 or 3000 grit (equivalent to 3000 and 4000 grit by hand, respectively), then I wouldn't need a compound. But since this job is small, I highly doubt you'll need a DA sander. Just a sanding block and some wetsanding paper should do the trick.

 

ok that clears things up a lot more. I'll definitely post results when i'm done. thanks guys, especially gsteg.