Hard to say if you need something more aggressive without a before pic of the panel. You said you are using setting five with SSR2(medium swirl remover), and then for SSR1 you are using setting 5-6. Is that right?
Correct
If so you could be instilling swirls yourself.
I do believe the marks in the pic are more prominent after using SSR2 in fact
How did the polishes and technique you are using workout on other parts of the car? Did you do a test spot on each type of paint that is on the car(OEM and repaint w/BMW hardener)?
The rest of the car didn't need swirl remover at all. I used Pro Polish on a white pad as the only product and those areas turned out great. In fact, with this particular panel, I used the pro polish first ( probably should have mentioned that ) but it didn't have an affect on it, I moved directly to SSR2
It looks that you should slow down your hand/arm speed with the SSR2 and make sure the pad is primed before working the polish.
That is something I will try.
Yes, the pads are primed ( something I learned the hard way long ago lol
You may even want to use setting 6. Keep a count on how many passes you are doing that way you can do a couple lighter passes before the polish is used up. This should help mitigate the amount of work needed with the SSR1. If the swirls are still there after the SSR2 then there is no reason to move on with a lighter polish. If you do follow with a lighter polish the polisher speed should be slower than what you used with the cutting step. The pressure should be less as well, and the arm speed can be a little quicker.
Were the swirls in the pic there before you started polishing that panel?
There were swirls before but they weren't as bad I hate to say. Using the SSR2/orange pad made them worse. When I used the Pro Polish at first, it had zero affect on them.
If the paint is harder on that panel and you're not getting the same results as on the rest of the car, then you probably need a more aggressive swirl remover/compound.