New Member Question

D

dougbthom

New member
Good Morning:

As a new member to your forum and an auto enthusiast, I am searching for a good car polish. One of my questions: am I much further ahead to use an electronic buffer or polish by hand? As far as a power buffer it has been suggested to me to look at the Porter Cable buffer. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

Doug
 
Go with a DA machine for sure, any of the "big 3" will work(Meguiars G110v2, PC 7424XP, Griot's garage 6"). You won't get nearly as good results by hand, not to mention using the machine will be SOOOO much easier and quicker than trying to polish out your whole car by hand. It truly is worth the cost, and with a DA machine it's very hard damage your paint.



As far as polish goes, there are many good polishes out there. Here is a few for you to look into: Meguiars M205, Menzerna PO106FA, and Optimum Polish II.
 
dougbthom said:
Good Morning:

As a new member to your forum and an auto enthusiast, I am searching for a good car polish. One of my questions: am I much further ahead to use an electronic buffer or polish by hand? As far as a power buffer it has been suggested to me to look at the Porter Cable buffer. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

Doug
Click to expand...





Welcome to Autopia!



Yes, doing it with an electric polisher is the way to go. Period.



The newer version of the PC is pretty good, but also look into the polishers from (well, labeled) Meguiar's and the one from Griot's (which is probably what I'd recommend).



If you want to get a bit more serious, the Flex 3401 is perhaps the best single machine out there, and there's always my old fave, the Cyclo.



Check those out...but IMO (and others will probably have different opinions), the Griot's abd the Flex are the ones for your short-list.



For polishes, I'd recommend the Meguiar's M105/M205 twins, but recommending polishes is like recommending soft drinks, if you get my drift.
 
Thanks for the quick replies. I will take your advice and check everything out. I've noticed a few companies out of Florida that recommend buying their "kits" which include the Porter Cable buffer. Have either of you heard of "Nanowax"? I used this one on a vehicle last summer and it seemed to do a good job and I did it by hand as I haven't purchased a power unit yet.
 
I don't know that anyone keeps up with this, but one thing I'm noticing reading these forums is how often new products come out. It's probably not such a big deal for people doing a decent number of jobs per pay. But, if you're just doing this for a hobbie out in your garage, do you want to pay $200 for a DA?



The answer is, yes. You do want one anyway. But, how often are these things replaced with newer models that make the upgrade worthwhile?



Surely it's not as bad as in the days of the Pentium I or Pentium II computer chips, where every time a new generation of processor came out, you just had to upgrade!
 
levander said:
I don't know that anyone keeps up with this, but one thing I'm noticing reading these forums is how often new products come out. It's probably not such a big deal for people doing a decent number of jobs per pay. But, if you're just doing this for a hobbie out in your garage, do you want to pay $200 for a DA?



The answer is, yes. You do want one anyway. But, how often are these things replaced with newer models that make the upgrade worthwhile?



Surely it's not as bad as in the days of the Pentium I or Pentium II computer chips, where every time a new generation of processor came out, you just had to upgrade!
Click to expand...





There's been a lot of discussion about random orbitals v. dual action - machines with both an orbit and forced rotation - and rotary polishers. My position, which I'd love to defend in person, side by side, against anyone who'd like, say for example someone expert in the KB method, is that a rotary has it's place in scratch removal and that a true dual action is faster at swirl removal when removal, not just filling is the goal.



That said, the Makita BO6040 and the Festool are both dual mode, that is, random orbital and dual action. They both draw more amps and are more powerful than the random orbital only machines and I think, more rugged. They also cost twice to four times what a random orbital costs. Still, even at the exta cost, if I had to live with just one machine, the Makita 6040 because of it's speed and throw would be my choice.



The HD uno challenge is coming up and I've been told since I'm local I'll be getting a call. No matter the outcome, I expect to be a better detailer at the end of the day. Win or lose, everyone involved will leave knowing more than they started.



Robert
 
dougbthom said:
Thanks for the quick replies. I will take your advice and check everything out. I've noticed a few companies out of Florida that recommend buying their "kits" which include the Porter Cable buffer...
Click to expand...



Be careful there; IME the PC doesn't always work well with some of the pads that are sold with it in those kits.

Have either of you heard of "Nanowax"? I used this one on a vehicle last summer and it seemed to do a good job and I did it by hand as I haven't purchased a power unit yet.
Click to expand...



Somebody here must be familiar with it, but not me :nixweiss
 
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