Lip polishing question (Large Pictures, Sorry)

[Visi_SC]

Hello,
I just made my first attempt at polishing some lips on a wheel build i'm doing at the moment.
I bought the lips second hand and they had a few light scratches, and some damage from mounting tires.
I wet sanded 600/800/1000/2000 grit wrapped around a sponge as an improv sanding block, and then went over with mothers mag/aluminum polish.
It came out decent, but the finish still has noticable scratches in certain lighting.

My question is, are these scratches due to improper technique, or are are they just due to not buffing with a proper buffing wheel and compound after sanding?

Any help is appreciated! I'm just trying to see if I should redo the sanding process, or go ahead and invest in some decent buffing tools.
Here's some pictures I took along the way.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Those are scratches from a previous sanding step that you've not gotten out. With each step, you've got to get every last scratch from the previous step out of the metal, because each subsequent step removes less and less and less.

I'd probably go back to 1000 or so and repeat the subsequent steps.

[zoo]

Agree with the above. Also, consider an intermediate step(polishing compound) between 2000 grit and Mothers.

[staystetti]

Also good to watch out for dirt that may have gotten into your polish or rags.

x2 the rubbing compound, it's a superfine grit that will remove most 2k lines. And the usual make sure you are actually getting the previous grit out with the current grit your on.