Rotary? Yes or No

J

JeffM

New member
I got a pickup that is a couple years old, it is grey with black on the roof and hood-around the doors ect.



If i were to use a PC on this i am looking at maybe 10 or more hours of polishing to get it where i want it.



I catch on quick and will go the extra mile to tape off edges and whatnot, but i have no experience with a rotary.



I know it seems like every month a post like this comes up, but i never read them lol.



The issues my paint has is something easily handled with DACP and an orange LC pad x2 /w the PC, so how does that translate to rotary pad/ polish ?



So if you people were me, a marathon weekend with the PC or a marathon Saturday with a rotary?
 
If you are confident that the PC will take care of the issues, than the PC is probably your best bet. Even if you are a fast learner, using a rotary for the first time could cause more problems than it fixes. Save the rotary for the major defects that a PC can not handle. Where are the pics?
 
I would be hesitant to use the rotary, but then again it's your truck. Using a rotary can't be that difficult if you have a little common sense, but undoubtably, your first time with the rotary will not turn out perfect and you will need to follow-up with the PC anyway. Your decision. Good luck



JJ
 
If i were to use a PC on this i am looking at maybe 10 or more hours of polishing to get it where i want it.
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I don't have a PC but I do have a Cyclo. I just ordered a rotary from Harbor Freight so that I can take 10 hours of polishing down to much less.



So if you people were me, a marathon weekend with the PC or a marathon Saturday with a rotary?
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Marathon Saturday :)



I plan on using a mild polish and a polishing pad to start with and taking things slow and carefully, so I think that I will be okay.



Let us know what your decision is.
 
JBM- If two passes with #83/orange/PC would do it, I'd stick with the PC. But IMO jobs like this are usually a lot tougher than people expect and the rotary can be a great time saver.



As long as you *really take it easy* with the rotary you should be OK. But yeah, expect to do a follow up with the PC too. Once you pull it into the sun following the rotary work I think you'll see what I mean ;)



But if you consider the rotary a time saver, as opposed to a machine that can *really* do aggressive work, you should be OK. Don't go for perfection and be *very* conservative on delicate areas (crown lines, painted plastic, etc.). If in doubt, don't even hit it with the rotary, just the PC.



Heh heh, but then, when you factor in the taping of trim and the slow going that first-time rotary experiences usually entail and the need to do a quick pass with the PC anyhow, I dunno just how much time you'll *really* save on this particular job.
 
Accumulator said:


Heh heh, but then, when you factor in the taping of trim and the slow going that first-time rotary experiences usually entail and the need to do a quick pass with the PC anyhow, I dunno just how much time you'll *really* save on this particular job.
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That is exactly what I was thinking. I figure that my initial rotary job might even take longer then if I did it with my Cyclo. Since I have never taped off trim I think that between taping the trim and cleaning up polish splatter that a considerable amount of time will be added to the first rotary detail.
 
Sullybob- I agree. In fact, I *never* use the rotary if the Cyclo will do the job. If I *need* the rotary to do the job (in a reasonable amount of time) then I'll use it. But that's hardly ever the case in my situation. Most of the time, I either don't require perfection or I'm dealing with soft enough clear that the Cyclo can handle it, and do it in a timely manner.
 
Accumulator, how much time does a rotary save you over the Cyclo? I have done a couple of my families cars that took me a while with the Cyclo so I am trying to figure out how much time a rotary will save me once I become more proficient with it.

Basically I am wondering if the rotary will turn a 5-6 hour Cyclo job into a 2-3 hour rotary job.
 
Dano I agree. I have two cars lined up right now to practice on. Both cars are in terrible shape. I am friends with the owners and they don't care if I burn the paint. One car is a salvage title that had a crappy repaint in Mexico. The owner of the other car is going to have it repainted in the near future.
 
sullybob- I really don't think I can put a number on the time-savings of the rotary. What it really does for me is let me correct paint that would take *many* hours (if I could do it at all) with the Cyclo. Like the Audis, there's just no way I can really *remove* significant marring from them without a rotary, the clear is too hard.



On the rent-a-Suburban, I was taking a *long* time with the Cyclo, upwards of an hour a panel, with a lot of marring remaining. The rotary *did* cut that in half (or better). I just used it for a sorta quick pass to knock off most/the worst of the marring and then I went at it with the Cyclo. Again, I can't put a number on it, but it made a job that would've been overwhelming turn into a job I could handle. Hey, this was a huge black rental, not something I wanted to knock myself out on ;)
 
:up Thanks for the comparison and the analogy.

Again, I can't put a number on it, but it made a job that would've been overwhelming turn into a job I could handle.
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That makes perfect sense to me. I have been reading the rotary "how to" threads in preperation for my first rotary detail. I also will watch the Meguiars rotary video again before I start.

The only thing I am waiting on at this point is my backing plate.

Come on UPS!:)
 
One thing to watch out for when getting acquainted with the rotary is the "just a little more.." mentality. IMO you oughta *not* try to fully exploit the rotary's paint-removal abilities. Don't go for a "flawless everywhere" finish, leave plenty of clear and just try to do what you would otherwise spent forever doing with the PC. That "little bit more" can quickly turn into trouble ;)
 
More great advice. Thanks.

Here is my plan.

Polishing pad and something mild like SSR1 or Optimum, then finish with the Cyclo for gloss and any marring. Feel the paint often to make sure that I am not getting it to hot. Inspect pad often to make sure I don't have a dry pad or a loaded pad. Buff off of edges (if I even try that at first) not onto edges.

Are you saying that you make one pass with the rotary? Meaning that you go over a 2x2 section of paint one time?
 
Thanks for the advise guys. I did the hood of the truck with the orange pad, and yes it took 2x DACP to get the swirls out.



I took a good long look at it in the sun, and the swirls look like a repeating pattern, or they did on the hood.



I think it is rotary induced swirls, but the scratches look like diamond cut or something coarse.



There is just a slight amount left on the hood, and the grey section isnt noticable until in direct sunlight but i can see something funky, like holograms with swirls or something. Maybe it was just a dirty pad.



I told the dealership not to touch it, but i bought it used, so whatever was underneath the glaze when i looked at it is coming through now.



I just moved, so my camera is packed up somewhere, but i will get some pics soon.
 
sullybob- On the Suburban I did do only one pass with the rotary for most of it, but I went over a few "trouble spots" more than that. But I will say that one pass with 3M PI-III RC (05933)/polishing/rotary does a lot more than multiple passes with a PC!



Your proposed work with the rotary and SSR1/Optimum sounds nice and mild. Maybe too mild ;) but it's smart to err on the side of caution.



JBM- Sounds like you're making progress. See if a follow up with a milder product gets rid of the rest of it.
 
I did the hood with the pc to determine how aggressive i needed to be to remove the swirls, and besides the hood is black, looked like crap.



Oh ya sure, it looked awesome on the dealer lot with a fresh glaze on it.....



I decided that i will just PC the truck. It might take me 3 weekends, but i will hold off on the rotary for now.



What about the cyclo though?



If anyone cares, google a 2003 ford f150 heritage. What a nice truck, and 18k or so cheaper than a new one....
 
I was were you were about a month ago and I practiced on Camry before I detailed my MR2 Spyder. At first I was over cautious and set the speed low and as I was working the polish and as the detail progressed I bumped up the speed a little because not much work was done then I was getting some results but I still didnâ€â„¢t push it. The Camry turned out great but there were still some minor swirls.



This time around with the Spyder I think the pervious experience helped me go further then before and now I have removed more Swirls and I was able to remove some spot imperfections.



The only thing I could improve on is less splatter but other than that it wasnâ€â„¢t as hard as some make it out to be. :cool:



BTW I found the Chicago rotary much easier to use then the Milwaukee.
 
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