rubbing compound is for your hand and will swirl the fuck out of your car..... spider web scratches....

polishing compound is to be used with a polisher (not a buffer) and it is used generally to polish from wet sand to high gloss

then a product called hand glaze is used to remove the light swirl marks left from the polisher..... can be used with a buffer but just as good with your hand

then wax the fuck out of it.