Finishing Down with a Rotary

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bigjizzles

New member
I am thinking of picking up a Makita soon.



Just need some advice on what finishing down paints without holograms.



What combos etc?



With my D/A I can finish well with UF or 85RD on white.



Would you guys reccomend 85rd ona blue pad or something to finish donw without holograms or buffertrails? also at what speeds?
 
I stole this info from one of my older posts a couple of pages back.



I will say that I am on the UF bandwagon. As long as the marring is very light UF with zero cut foam pad (I use a LC blue) will finish out great. It won't remove much as to swirls or other marring, though. I get a perfect finish without a lot of headache. UF also adds tons of gloss.



I only had an issue on the Honda CRV's hood that I could not get the machine to play nice. Everything I tried on that hood acted weird, though.



Spread the polish at low rpm/work the polish at 1200-1400 for a few passes/at the final pass as the polish is "cleared out" I back off the speed to 900 and make a final slow pass over the area with no added pressure.



UF can be messy if you use too much, it will sling out of the pad at the higher RPM. When that happens grab a new pad.



I spin the pad at 3000 (short burst) while the pad is inside of a clean bucket to remove the excess polish. *disclaimer* Be very VERY careful if you do this as it can make a mess or potentially cause injury. Make sure to turn the speed back down.
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I try to get the paint as perfect as possible before moving on the finishing. That way you can concentrate on getting the most from your effort. A finish polish and a blue pad is very mild and won't remove much visible marring.



I think that 85rd would be ok as long as your paint isn't real soft. I use the UF w/o issue most of the time. If you can't finish the car with the rotary, there is no shame in using a PC. Be sure to inspect your work well, ipa wipe downs, full sun, etc...





Important for rotary noobs:

A rotary will cut paint much faster than a PC, so take it easy and keep the pad moving. Watch for excessive heat, its always bad. You will notice that fairly mild combos used on a PC will correct swirls with a rotary.



I used OP and a white pad on a Honda to correct 3 years of DD swirls. They weren't *bad* swirls by any means, but I would have been there all day with a PC. The point to my rambling is; try a less aggressive approach than you think you need. You can run out of clear fast.



Do some reading on the machine polishing stuff. :woot:
 
bigjizzles, one of the big steps in finishing a rotary down well is knowing the paint that you are working on. Sometimes what will work SUPER easy with a certain paint won't work on a second paint, just because whether it be the pad or environment or product or a combination a handful of things. You just really need to know or at least know what is ahead of you, where experience with various vehicles comes in.
 
I will admit that I am not good enough to finish down with my DeWalt Rotary without getting holograms, therefore, I always finish down with my PC with a blue LC pad (usually) and PO85RD topped with a wax and sealant.
 
Street5927 said:
I will admit that I am not good enough to finish down with my .. Rotary without getting holograms, therefore, I always finish down with my [other polisher]...
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Same here, though I never tried finishing with Ultrafina.



It's just not that easy. Even after you do X number of jobs.



Heh heh, doing OK on white with a PC is the other end of the spectrum from finishing out on black with a rotary. I'd expect *anybody* to do great on white with a PC, first time every time...there's simply nothing to doing that IMO. Can't say the same about using a rotary on *any* paint.
 
I will admit that I am not good enough to finish down with my DeWalt Rotary without getting holograms, therefore, I always finish down with my PC with a blue LC pad (usually) and PO85RD topped with a wax and sealant.
Click to expand...



Keep trying. And when you do it's, "Ah ha!"



Try keeping the rpm's low (-1000), use enough product to keep

a barrier between the pad and the surface. Finish off while it's

still "wet." 50% overlap. Slow passes. No pressure.



Small 1.5' x 1.5' sections.



Wipe clean with iso, check, then maybe repeat.
 
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