Paint being polished off?

I picked up my Sprinter van back in May. Knowing that it will not be garaged and the time involved to clean such a big vehicle, i decided to give Opti-Coat a try. During paint peperation I did some light polishing with Optimum Polish II on a soft pad and I noticed the blue vehicle paint is transferred to the pad and the microfiber cloth. At the time I did not think much of it, guessing that it's a single stage paint, but moved on with the process. After the Opti-Coat is put on I was really hoping that it would give it a good protection and easier to keep clean. I did have to polish out some spots to even out the high spots of the Opti-coat, still noticed some vehicle paint being transferred to the pad and cloth, and I started to question the effectiveness of the coating, whether if it is being rubbed off.

After about 3 months of ocassional car wash, I noticed that there are water spots all over the van. I worked my way up from the least aggressive methods (quick detailer, clay, Poli-Seal) with no luck. It will only come off with a good polish (still have to really work it). I used HyperPolish with my DA polisher and it finally came off.

Thinking that the Opti-Coating is probably gone, I put a layer of Opti-Seal finishing it off with OCW. It may be over done but I am getting frustrated with the paint. Other cars that I've worked with in the past do not have that big of a problem with water spots. E.g. I didn't get to clean the roof of the van after a rain storm. After 2 days the leaf left it's imprint on the roof. I didn't bother polishing it out but I was not happy at all.

Just today, I noticed that a portion of the panel that I worked on is lighter in color. I find it hard to believe that a new vehicle has such a thin layer of paint. It can't even last 3 passes of polishing.

I am running out of ideas on how to maintain the paint. The questions I have are:

1. From the way the paint behaved it is a single stage paint right?
2. Does that mean the vehicle came with a super thin layer of paint?
3. Obviously polishing will take the paint off, how can I clean the paint?
4. Is there something I did wrong? I used the same procedure with my other car and it turned out great.

Thank you for the feedback guys.

where are you located? I've never seen or heard of that kind of van before.

you say it is a new vehicle but are we talking new new or new to you?

a coating is probably the best way to go. Now that you have some experience, you can probably apply it without the need to polish down high spots.

Perhaps you should consider Cquartz this time since it can be layered. Most people do 2 layers. I think a 50ml bottle should be enough to do your van with at least 2 layers.

I'm in New Jersey, right outside New York City. It's a brand new 2011 Mercedes Sprinter van. Most of them are used as commercial vehicle, so I wonder if they cheap out on the paint job since most of them put decals on it anyway.