yes thats the real trick. its all about knowing the paper and how far you need to go with each grit and since you cant see the scratches when its that fine, you need to go by experience.
couple tips that may help....
1. sand only 75% of the orange peel with the 1000. leave some behind. this gives you something you can visually see when working the final 25% out with 1500. you will also be able to tell when the 1500 dulls out because you can see it cutting slower. if you work out the last 25% of the peel out with 1500 then you should be good to go with blue bufflex.
2. use blue bufflex WET. just a spray bottle of water is fine. work the blue in a small area until the slurry gets a little pasty and then move on. once the slurry dries on the panel it should be solid white. you should not be able to see color through it. if you can see color then you need to slow down.
3. once you have done 1 good pass with blue, wipe the whole area clean with a microfiber. do it one more time a double speed. if it took you 10 min to do the side of the car, go back and do it again and spend 5 min. it just makes sure your 100% and didn't go light in any areas. after this, if the clear has sat 2 days or more then you can go over it with 8000 if you want.
if you follow the steps and all is good then it should buff like butter. you can almost do it and not even pay attention and come out with a perfect finish.
@Lizer, i know you were doing single stage when you tried it. i always have way more trouble with ss than clear as well. was curious if you had a chance to try it on clear coat?