By Hand

[Concours.John]

I'll add one thing. If you can pick up a scrap hood from an older vehicle that is in decent shape it is great for practicing the steps. Plus you can lay it against the wall when not in use.

The benefit is you can use it to practice scratch/chip repair. You can swirl it up with a scotch brite even after you work on it to try different techniques/polishes and pads. Once you wear the paint off trade it in on another.
It beats messing up on your vehicle and dealing with a learning curve on a vehicle. It's also a great way to test a new products durability. Just set it out back and do nothing to it for a while.
I learned rotary and spraying/painting techniques this way.

 

[theamcguy]

The difference between the hand and the machine, the amount of time it takes to do the job. Machines were invented to allow detail professionals to do multiple jobs in a day. Perfectly good results can be obtained by hand but it takes longer and may need multiple steps. If you are really serious about doing i by hand then plan on the job taking place over multiple days, rather than in a few hours.

 

[classofshine]

The difference between the hand and the machine, the amount of time it takes to do the job. Machines were invented to allow detail professionals to do multiple jobs in a day. Perfectly good results can be obtained by hand but it takes longer and may need multiple steps. If you are really serious about doing i by hand then plan on the job taking place over multiple days, rather than in a few hours.

Ive had it take days using a machine as well! Correcting by had just isnt practical, unless you are doing only 1 panel or some small area. Now cleaning by hand is very doable if that is all you are looking to do.