Paint swelling eh? Alcohol can make "other" things swell though, but not paint.:grinno:
Mostly it's from all the filler removed that shows the defects, not swelling paint.
Just as prior to shooting, a wipe with Prepsol or paint thinners will remove all oils, filling etc so the paint can be applied.
Some polishes just contain more oils and filler from the abrasives left behind that broke down. A wipe can remove all the oils and abrasives, which then shows a light marring. It's the nature of polishes to leave something behind. It could be oil/abrasive mix or a clay filler depending on which polish is used.
Although most general cut polishes are not filling and contain no filling clay, it's just the abrasive size that once they start breaking down from buffing, become much smaller and act in someway as a filler since even wiping it off, you will not wipe out the abrasives that broke down into micro scratches and the wiping action actually increase the abrasive/oil filling capability.
Only when you wipe with a solvent does this remove the oils and abrasives that got trapped in the micro scratches from polishing.
Regards,
Deanski