Did you upgrade from a DA to Rotary?

S

Striker

Active member
Just wondering if anyone else here upgraded from a PC7424 (or any other DA) to a rotary polisher and was happier with the results?



I have a friend that highly suggests I upgrade to the rotary style polisher due to it producing better results. I see what he's saying tho, because the PC doesn't seem to have as good correcting abilities as a rotary. It often stops spinning even with the lightest pressure applied to it.



Im not starting a war between which is better or not. I just want your opinions to see what its like between the two from those who went to a rotary from a DA.
 
I'm not skilled enough to finish down LSP ready with a rotary. If I practiced enough, I MIGHT be able to, but for me, it's pretty tough.



For others, it's a piece of cake.
 
EisenHulk said:
I'm not skilled enough to finish down LSP ready with a rotary. If I practiced enough, I MIGHT be able to, but for me, it's pretty tough.



For others, it's a piece of cake.
Click to expand...



With harder clears I bet you could finish down LSP ready. I know you could on my car. The very first time I used a rotary on my car I pulled out into the sun and had zero holograms. As much as I would love to say that is was due to my natural rotary abilities, I know the truth is my paint is very rotary friendly. I used to think that it was due to the paint being white and I just couldn't see them. However, Scottwax proved that theory wrong with a picture of a white Mustang that he cleaned up the holograms for the owner.
 
I just think that the rotary produces much better correcting abilities so im just going to stick with that. After seeing what a makita can do as opposed to my PC, im pretty much sold on it.
 
Striker said:
Just wondering if anyone else here upgraded from a PC7424 (or any other DA) to a rotary polisher and was happier with the results?



I have a friend that highly suggests I upgrade to the rotary style polisher due to it producing better results. I see what he's saying tho, because the PC doesn't seem to have as good correcting abilities as a rotary. It often stops spinning even with the lightest pressure applied to it.



Im not starting a war between which is better or not. I just want your opinions to see what its like between the two from those who went to a rotary from a DA.
Click to expand...



I upgraded from a PC to rotary, I have a Makita and a Metabo. The difference is night and day, a rotary is much easier to use, you don't feel like your arms have nerve damage at the end of the day from all the vibrating the PC does. It's faster, corrects heavier damage and for me gives a nicer final result.
 
I love my flex rotary, it works so much faster than my udm ever could. I still do however use my udm for wax applications though.....
 
EisenHulk said:
I'm not skilled enough to finish down LSP ready with a rotary. If I practiced enough, I MIGHT be able to, but for me, it's pretty tough.



For others, it's a piece of cake.
Click to expand...



Hm really?



I said screw all this DA crap, I might as well just buy a rotary instead of buying a DA and then a rotary and realizing I wasted my money on a DA. I had no machine polishing experience and just bought a Makita 9227 and have done 2 cars with soft paint and have had no holograms on either, nor did I find it hard to work with.



I've done a Black Corolla and a Silver Accord, both newer, used Menzerna polishes, 3M backing plate, and 5.5 Detailers domain pads to great success. I didn't even practice, I just went right to work on my car and it was surprisingly easy. I'm very glad I skipped buying a DA.
 
Even though I do all my correcting by rotary, I still use my DA for cleaners, all in one's, glazes and now I attach carpet brushes to them and make short work of mat and carpet cleaning.
 
Guys I need a lil hand with shopping around, heres the low down.



Found a makita polisher localy for 186.99(give or take) This is JUST the polisher. No pads, No backing Plate. Good deal or should I shop online? Let me know.
 
Darkstar752 said:
Hm really?



I said screw all this DA crap, I might as well just buy a rotary instead of buying a DA and then a rotary and realizing I wasted my money on a DA. I had no machine polishing experience and just bought a Makita 9227 and have done 2 cars with soft paint and have had no holograms on either, nor did I find it hard to work with.



I've done a Black Corolla and a Silver Accord, both newer, used Menzerna polishes, 3M backing plate, and 5.5 Detailers domain pads to great success. I didn't even practice, I just went right to work on my car and it was surprisingly easy. I'm very glad I skipped buying a DA.
Click to expand...



Totally agree. On hard Audi paint the rotory is so sweet! Took forever correcting with a PC so bit the bullet on a great barely used pre-owned deal from a fellow autopian for $169 with two extra backing plates and bag.



Went to town on the Audi and couldn't believe how easy, fast and great the paint looked. Rotary is oh so smooth too. Took my time, was careful around edges and let the makita do its magic. I like the flow of using one (gently guiding vs putting 30lbs pressure on a PC) and making countless passes even with 4" pads. Can finish down to a LSP ready. Paint just sparkles now and the makita made quick work of some wetsanding.



Trust me, the rotary is not that tough. Just read up on all the great posts in here, and tape up sensitive areas. You won't regret it and its cheaper than a Flex (especially a used Makita). And since most tend to start with a PC, just keep it for carpets or applying sealants/wax. Then you have a terrific arsenal that will tackle just about every job.
 
I like the PC since it's safer than a Rotary. But if you want more corrections, go with a Flex. Greg carries them. DetailedImage.com
 
another convert. Had my DA for about a year, goofed around with all types of polishes and waxes with it and it worked well. After a year I decided to give learning the rotary a try and was WOW'd!



The rotary wasn't too hard to learn and the rotary just works a heck of a lot faster. I will admit that I break out the PC/DA to apply wax.
 
I moved to a rotary, I am glad I did. I get more correction, faster and I can use a less aggressive approach. That means less steps, too.



I can get good correction out of OP an a white pad, the polish breaks down in 1-2 min. With a DA it would take 5. I would need to use an orange pad to get the same correction, that means having to clean up haze and micromarring. I also get a clearer, sharper finish by rotary. I could probably get the same results w/o it, but it would take way more time.





If you are thinking of doing it and you are serious about detailing, you would be happy with a rotary. There are many very informative threads in the Machine Polishing forum that you should look at. Also you can find some videos on youtube.
 
If somebody's doing this stuff professionally...doing many vehicles, then sure they oughta learn how to do as much as possible via rotary; the time spend would pay off after a while. But for an amateur like myself, today's pads and products (and machines like the Flex 3401) make a rotary unnecessary. I no longer use either of mine, even on the Audis.



[shrug] I never did finish out 100% hologram-free with either of my rotaries and I simply quit trying..don't see the point when it's so easy to do my finish-polishing via DA with no downside (and I greatly prefer using the Cyclos over *any* other machine anyhow). No, the holograms probably weren't so bad that anybody else would spot 'em...But still, I couldn't do it.



Sure, it's easy to do correction via rotary, I took mine right out of the box and did my S8 with no practice at all (and nobody would've *ever* spotted the holograms except me). Burning paint, cut-throughs...that stuff is *VERY* easy to avoid IMO.



But nowadays there are pads/products that'll do the work just about as fast (I've compared different systems on my '97 M3's hard clear), and that's with no taping, no sling (I know...it's user-error when that happens), and no holograms. If some correction is taking many passes then you're simply using the wrong pad/product combo. My rotaries simply sit on the shelf gathering dust.



Use what you like...there are many roads that lead to the same end-result.
 
I too moved to the rotary. I had a couple black cars and it was taking for ever to get measurable results. Well it only got worse, I now have a 3rd black car which is also in need of a good polish.



(Don't you hate it when you buy the car and it comes fully equipped with holograms and scratches like they used a bloody Brillo pad?) :)



So I finally got tired of getting the vibrations of the PC for hours to no end.



Do I need to learn? Oh my for sure. It is a slow process since I only do my cars a few other friends and relative's cars and I do spend the time to make them look as nice as I can.



Cheers



Nick
 
I went to a Hitachi rotary and found them harder to use. So I dropped back to the FLEX 3401 and love it. It has done everything I have ask for.
 
What the hell is everyone doing with a rotary that they are getting holograms and can't finish down LSP ready?



I have yet to find a hologram, and I look hard with iso, halogens, and a LED flashlight. Of course if I use M105 I'm going to have holograms, finish it up with some quick passes of Ultrafina, there is no haze, nothing on that car. How anyone can not finish down LSP-ready is far beyond me.
 
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