Following yesterday's fast trip to my local detailer and watching him eradicate a surface scratch with some good buffing compound and a powered orbital polishing tool, I began to wonder if that wouldn't be a pretty damn cool thing to get for myself.

For those of you who wash and wax your own cars, do any of you use a powered buffing/polishing tool? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

Absolutely not ! Do it by hand.... The only way !!

It takes a lot of practice (Hopefully on someone else's car) to really get the hang and experience using power buffers/polishers. I personally think that unless you have this proficiency with the above mentioned power tools, don't try it !

Nothing beats a detail by hand.

 

I could not agree more. Always polish by hand. It is very easy to use a buffer incorrectly, come to an edge and go straight down to bare metal. Despite claims to the contrary, buffers are not for the uninitiated.

 

Thanks for the wise counsel regarding hand vs. machine polishing. I would be just the dope to buff my car down to the metal trying to get something "just right."

I'll keep polishing it by hand (BTW, just bought some Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Professional car wax, which is a real ***** to apply and remove, but what a shine!).

Cheers!!

Ron

 

You can cause just as much damage by hand as with a power tool, it just happens faster. I recommend a 6 or 7" flat foam pad for buffing. Larger and you'll generate too much heat, smaller and it'll take longer and not generate enough heat. Use it by itself without any terry cover. You can get them from a place that sells car paint or maybe on the net. Ask for one with a light cut. Attach the foam pad to a variable speed 7" sander/polisher with a 5/8" arbor (I use a Makita 9217SPC 7" Electronic Sander-Polisher but any good brand will work). Put it on the slowest speed (about 1500 RPM). Always work the foam pad flat against the metal. Don't put a lot of pressure on the pad, let the polish do it's work. Always make sure the pad and the car are very clean. Dust can be ground into your work messing it up. Use a stiff detailers brush or tooth brush blade against the top of the pad while it's spinning to clean the pad. Use a very mild polish. Use one that is oil based and thick like pudding. If you use crap lile Meguires it will spray out to adjacent panels and dry into little hard sanding dots and cause swirl marks when you buff over it. If you get overspray, clean it off first before continuing. Put a splotch of polish in the center of the pad about the size of a quarter. Use that amount to work and area about the 1/4 size of your hood until it mostly dissapears. Wash the car to get the excess off (it's not a wax, so don't let it dry and buff it in). I've showed people in 2 minutes on their car and they gone home to finish. I've never known anyone to damage their paint except one friend that dropped the buffer and nicked his hood (don't do that). The foam pads are very safe compared to wool pads. I would even say it's fool proof but a new fool always comes along to prove me wrong.

If you're unsure of yourself, pratice on a neighbors car while he's asleep or on vacation.

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