Yeah, it's a typical thing. Are you using the wool bonnets and the little spinny thing?
The most common problem that I had was using too much polish. I've used less and less and gotten better and better results, even if the whole section I'm doing doesn't turn evenly black.
But, yeah, I end up soaking the things in a bucket of TSP and then throwing them in the washer. So far, Carolie hasn't noticed so I think I'm good there.
I have a different bonnet for each grade (actually two for each grade) and I probably did them all twice in the course of the many months (off and on, of course) of doing the plane.
I fell into the trap that a lot of polishers fall into, also. The first time you polish it you think, "wow, this is the greatest shine ever," and then once you get used to it, you shift to, "man, that looks kinda cloudy; they're going to laugh me right out of Oshkosh."
But, once I got to Oshkosh and examined all the other polish jobs, I found the plane pretty much held its own. There were exceptions, of course.
The downside of a polish job at OSH -- especially if you park in the back of HBC near the road -- is you get dust almost immediately and with the nightly dew, there's nothing you can do about it. You surely do not want to wipe the dew off.
Basler filled up the tanks on Saturday and the guy started wiping all around the fuel tank, grinding in the dust and creating some really awful looking swirls. No matter. The cyclo and the fleece cloth will take them out pretty quickly.
So today I'm going to learn how to hose off an RV without getting anything inside the thing (the seal between the tip-up forward skin and the top skin is fairly non existent; I think I'll run a line of Scotch tape across it). And I've got something to occupy my time until the FAA reissues the med certificate.
Once I'm flying again, I'd be happy to hop down and bring my equipment and add a second worker to your efforts if you'd like.