With the paint that your speaking of I have a few answers. With the paint being that old, I would say first sand w/1000 git to get out orange peel. The paint is going to be harder that a rock to sand if it is 9 years old. I would then go up to 1500 and finish it off w/2000 grit. I know it's a lot of work but you will be happy with the results.
All of these sanding grits are aval but you will have to do it by hand. Your other option is using a DA sander. 3M makes a sanding system for DA's that a lot of the body shops use. It's call Trisact. You can get 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit sand paper for 6 inch DA's. The price per sheet is over $1.00 but it does save sometime. By the time you hit the car w/2000 grit you should only have to go over w/compound twice to get a high gloss shine.
As far as polish goes. I would use wool pad on buffer w/a extra cut compound and then go up to normal compound. You can use a grey foam pad for your finish glazing. You shouldn't have to worry about swirl marks since the color is light enough. If you do have swirl marks on surface I suggest Meguires swirl remover. This can be put on by hand like you waxing your car. Finaly put a good coat of normal wax on and you should be good to go!!
These are only my suggestions going off my 7 years of body shop experence.
