you said you were getting ready to switch to 800 grit.
Still way too coarse. Throw that 400 and 800 away now before something else happens.
I do not share pooch's concern over paint thickness. At all. I have painted more than 50 cars, trucks, and motor homes, and done countless spot repairs and blending.
By the time you have properly prepped the existing color, or what is left of it, there will be very little paint on there. If you fail to use 3 fresh
medium topcoats once again you will NOT have enough thickness to buff, and you will get to do it yet again.
When you paint we assume that you overlap each pass by 50% with the next pass. That is NOT considered 2 coats; that is how one coat is laid down. We assume you are using the fan and not over-reducing. Some ppl over reduce to stretch the paint because they do not want to ante up for the proper amount of paint. You will effectively end up with only 2 coats worth of paint if you do this.
As far as cost, take comfort knowing the markup in the paint industry is over 300%. Now, don't you feel better already

I don't
With dark colors, your first grit s/b 1500, progressing to 3000. Wet, obv.
Use a DA, and keep it moving at all times. Use a flood of water, you should be getting soaked yourself. . Stop
often and wipe dry so you can see just how much orange peel you are removing. Put
one drop of dishwashing detergent in your water bucket.
Be sure to change the water out whenever you go up to the next grit.
Be sure to use the soft 3/8 foam interface pad on the DA, never use the hard DA pad surface directly.
If you do not have a DA do not paint.
Be very careful around openings and edges, else you will go thru immediately. For example, on a Roadster, the hole in the body where the top rest post screws in, avoid that hole altogether, go around it, and stay about 1" away from it. Yes there will be some peel left there, but NO ONE will see it. Buffing is all about fooling the eye.
You may be surprised to learn that you need not remove 100% of the peel. If you remove 90% by wet sanding, and then go to machine polishing, I promise the eye won't catch it. OK to remove 100% if you are skilled and experienced, but then you are at the point of no return