DA Polisher and Nooks and Crannies

J

JerryInOCMD

New member
Sorry if this is a silly question, but this is all new to me...



I've been reading up and watching videos on using a DA Polisher to remove swirls, etc. from a cars finish. There are lots of great videos out there, but they seem to be lacking in one area that I'm curious about. All of the videos seem to show the detailer working on a large flat surface (usually the hood of the car). What about polishing the smaller areas of the car (i.e. pillars, around sunroofs, roof racks, etc)? Do you just need to do these areas by hand? My VW Sportwagen has roof racks, and I'm just not sure how to polish that area. Thanks...
 
JerryInOCMD said:
Sorry if this is a silly question, but this is all new to me...



I've been reading up and watching videos on using a DA Polisher to remove swirls, etc. from a cars finish. There are lots of great videos out there, but they seem to be lacking in one area that I'm curious about. All of the videos seem to show the detailer working on a large flat surface (usually the hood of the car). What about polishing the smaller areas of the car (i.e. pillars, around sunroofs, roof racks, etc)? Do you just need to do these areas by hand? My VW Sportwagen has roof racks, and I'm just not sure how to polish that area. Thanks...
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There are 3" backiing plates and 4 inch spot pads that you can use to get into tight areas.
 
HD, Buff & Shine and Uber pads have a recessed velcro for an added measure of safety when polishing around proturding objects. As someone relatively new to machine polishing I found they allow me to polish up close to things like roof racks, mirrors etc even with 5.5" pads. For smaller bits I use 4" pads (with the same recessed velcro), but there are always going to be areas that you need to do by hand (like door handle cups as an example) so I cut up one of my orange pads into small squares to use for these areas.
 
Well, sometimes you just have to buff a little by hand. There are some pads made for this and they work very well. I found them usefull removing the lady's fingernail scratches behind door handles - a little M101 and it's as easy as those scratch removers on TV!

It seems like lately I've been doing much more of this, I guess I finally realized it was actually faster and safer too.
 
01GreyStangGT said:
I have the Gruots Garage 3" DA for those.
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I absolutely love my GG 3" pneumatic, but there are still always plenty of areas that need to be done by hand. With today's products it isn't *nearly* the PIA it used to be. A few years ago it was easy to spend entire days doing a few areas on hard-clear cars.
 
I take 5.5 in LC flat foam pads and cut them into different sizes and use them by hand. Area's like under door handles and tight spots on rear quarter windows, etc. I have found that under door latches a lot of the "scratches" are actually finger nails that have been transferred to the paint.
 
David Fermani said:
They make small attachments/backing plate for pretty much most buffers including rotarys & standard DA's:





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David,



If it was anyone but your and a handful of other people I would be flipping out from that pic. I can honestly say with no qualms I have not reached that experience level yet.
 
LilJayV10 said:
David,



If it was anyone but your and a handful of other people I would be flipping out from that pic. I can honestly say with no qualms I have not reached that experience level yet.
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Haha! Thanks for the compliment! It just takes a steady hand and some careful angles. Just go slow. :)
 
David Fermani said:
They make small attachments/backing plate for pretty much most buffers including rotarys & standard DA's:





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I've searched the Net but can't find anything like the adapter your using. Mind sharing the source?
 
"I've searched the Net but can't find anything like the adapter your using. Mind sharing the source?"



The backing plate is a Rubbish Boys 75mm BP that I picked up from carnuba wax shop in the UK when I was ordering various pads and MF's. Although I have a few 3" bp's I like that one because the foam is a little stiffer and the profile is thinner so that I can get into and under various spots. The extension is just a hex shaped rotary extension that you can pick up stateside at any retailer. I wrap all my extensions with tape so as not to damage anything incase of incidental contact.
 
mikemurphy234 said:
... I wrap all my extensions with tape so as not to damage anything incase of incidental contact.
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Ahh. That had me fooled. Didn't realize it was tape. Thought it was part of the BP.
 
Catch-22 said:
Looks scary. I think I might just resort to doing tight areas by hand.
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Definitely would not start learning rotary on tight areas. But once you understand the dynamics of using a rotary on paint, you know that rotaries were built for complicated panels.
 
Sorry if this is a silly question, but this is all new to me...

hu11f.jpg
 
 
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