[jaddie]

Hey Everyone,

Just wondering if people had any suggestions for what the best way to start out doing polishing and stuff is?

I am looking at getting http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meguiars-Act...ction+polisher and was curious if anyone had experience / what they thought about it?

I want to care for my car and the last thing I want to do is damage it or use a naff product on it, I really want to make it shine and glisten, after it came back from the dealer covered in swirl marks I wasn't exactly thrilled...

Also after polishing the whole of a range rover sport by hand (my mum's) , I'd rather find something that makes my life easier haha.

Any info or pointers people might have for a slightly nervous/cautious newbie would be amazing

Jaddie

[originalgoods13]

Hi and welcome to the world of taking care of your paint work!

My suggestion is to get a Griot's Garage dual-action polisher, they have lifetime warranty.

Backing plate you can grab 5" and 4" for tighter areas

As for pads, I had good luck with Lake Country foam pads. I use Menzerna FG400 as my go-to cut/polish and Menzerna SF4500 for that added gloss which surpasses OEM gloss.

My common combination are

FG400 on orange pad for painted metal surfaces
FG400 on yellow cutting pad for painted plastic panels and covers
SF4500 on gray/black foam pad for finish

I used to use Menzerna Powerlock for sealant, lately I have used GTechniq C1 nano coating with EXO V2 durable gloss coat and had good results.

At the end of the day, you must ensure you perform the proper washing method, and never ever have anyone especially the dealer wash your vehicle

[squidlyboy]

i could have written your exact post about 6 months ago

I wanted to test out the whole detailing waters without breaking the bank. Everyone was raving about the Porter Cable 7424XP DA polisher that was about $120 when i checked it. I ended up getting a Harbor Freight DA Polisher for about $50 USD which has equivalent functionality. I figure it was cheap enough to give this polishing thing a try and no harm no foul if it didn't work out. Six months later, my DA is still going strong and i'm getting ready to do another 2-step polish on my car next month to get rid of all the collected swirls from the last time i did it. This thing kicks serious a$$

I don't know if HF ships out of country, but good luck in whatever you decide to get. I'm sure you will get addicted to detailing your car once you see your results for the first time.

[jaddie]

Thanks for the heads up guys, I looked but I am not sure there is anywhere I can easily get the Griot polisher from sadly, but awesome heads up with what to use and where!

[35mmSummicron]

I have the Porter Cable 7424XP, which I recommend.

[smithf80]

I bought the harbor freight one and have been using it for years with no issues, I love it.

I've detailed many cars over many years with it.

[435MSport6Speed]

I spent a good amount of time on Autogeek.net watching Mike Phillips videos. You learn more than enough to use a DA. I went with the Griot's, the smaller backing plate (5 inch pads are easier to work with) and Lake Country "flat" white pads. White is a great multi-use pad.

The reason for all of this was to take swirls out of my other car. I used Pinnacle Advanced Swirl remover with unbelievable results.

Good luck and have fun with it.

[zinner]

Just wondering why you are polishing a new car (assuming you have a 2015 like your info says). I just had wash and wax my car. If I had swirls in the clear I would agree polish, but I can't see doing it without reason, as it just eats into clear.

[F48_Driver]

Originally Posted by zinner

Just wondering why you are polishing a new car (assuming you have a 2015 like your info says). I just had wash and wax my car. If I had swirls in the clear I would agree polish, but I can't see doing it without reason, as it just eats into clear.

There are always swirls...even on new cars dealers would tend to wash it for you. They think they are doing you a favor but they just don't know the proper techniques to avoid swirls. Its not so bad on a white car but on darker cars...they show up and they are an eye sore if your eyes are tuned for it.

As for the Polisher....if you are doing an entire car I find that the dual action very slow. A full 2-step would take around 8 hours. I am thinking that if you get a rotary ( is that what they call it? the Dewalt ) and get some practice on an older car you can save yourself a lot of time.

[F48_Driver]

Originally Posted by Garmz

There are always swirls...even on new cars dealers would tend to wash it for you. They think they are doing you a favor but they just don't know the proper techniques to avoid swirls. Its not so bad on a white car but on darker cars...they show up and they are an eye sore if your eyes are tuned for it.

As for the Polisher....if you are doing an entire car I find that the dual action very slow. A full 2-step would take around 8 hours. I am thinking that if you get a rotary ( is that what they call it? the Dewalt ) and get some practice on an older car you can save yourself a lot of time.

Just a follow up to my post..if this is a new car the swirls are most likely very light so a DA would work well for your application. I was thinking that a rotary polisher like the Flex would work much better for older cars.

As for being nervous...I was nervous too when I started but this guy made some very basic videos that made me feel comfortable detailing my car:
Junkman2000 YouTube Channel

[casualDIYer]

I have the Porter-Cable7424xp but I am strongly considering switching to the Flex XC3401. The positive reviews on this thing are unreal. While I'm sure it's partly hype it does have at least one advantage over the 7424XP--the pad always spins. This is not the case with the XP.

At 2.5 times the price it's on the expensive side but the most common thing said about the XC is how much time it saves.

As for polish, etc. Wolfgang is really nice (the sealant is great) but I've learned a lot of it is Menzerna OEM so I'm putting in an order for Menzerna this time. I hear so many good things about it . . .

[F48_Driver]

Originally Posted by menncars

I have the Porter-Cable7424xp but I am strongly considering switching to the Flex XC3401. The positive reviews on this thing are unreal. While I'm sure it's partly hype it does have at least one advantage over the 7424XP--the pad always spins. This is not the case with the XP.

At 2.5 times the price it's on the expensive side but the most common thing said about the XC is how much time it saves.

As for polish, etc. Wolfgang is really nice (the sealant is great) but I've learned a lot of it is Menzerna OEM so I'm putting in an order for Menzerna this time. I hear so many good things about it . . .

There seems to be a new griots polisher out there.

Some long throw polisher. It's called the best in show system.... BOSS.

Looks interesting.

[sirhawes]

I have one of those meguiars da drill pieces, works alright. Going to step up to a torq 10fx soon because its a great deal on a well engineered da polisher

[Exterminador]

Originally Posted by jaddie

Hey Everyone,

Just wondering if people had any suggestions for what the best way to start out doing polishing and stuff is?

I am looking at getting http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meguiars-Act...ction+polisher and was curious if anyone had experience / what they thought about it?

I want to care for my car and the last thing I want to do is damage it or use a naff product on it, I really want to make it shine and glisten, after it came back from the dealer covered in swirl marks I wasn't exactly thrilled...

Also after polishing the whole of a range rover sport by hand (my mum's) , I'd rather find something that makes my life easier haha.

Any info or pointers people might have for a slightly nervous/cautious newbie would be amazing

Jaddie

If you are just getting in to this as you stated, I would recommend the Porter Cable XP unit. You would have to hit the car with it to damage the paint. More sophisticated equipment requires knowledge and technique.

Unless your paint is all jacked up you don't really need it anyway. I am very happy with the Porter Cable.

[casualDIYer]

Originally Posted by originalgoods13

. . . .

At the end of the day, you must ensure you perform the proper washing method, and never ever have anyone especially the dealer wash your vehicle

What? You don't want your car run through the steel wool washing machine at the dealer? How are you going to remove chunks of molten lava from your car?

The dealer told me "We even put a Maserati through our car wash". Wow. That must have been an interesting conversation.

[Detailed Image]

For the average DIYer, I would highly recommend the Griot's Garage 3rd Generation Polisher. This machine is similar in size to the also popular Porter Cable 7424XP, however the Griot's machine is more powerful and is backed by a manufacturer lifetime guarantee (if it breaks due to manufacturer defects, it will be fixed or replaced!).

I recommend purchasing a 5" backing plate and 3" backing plate to go along with the Griot's Machine. This will allow you to use 6.5", 5.5", 4" and 3" pads all on the same machine! For correction work, we have found that 5.5" pads seem to be the optimum size for the GG machine as 6.5" pads won't generate quite as much correction due to their larger size on these smaller machines, however the larger pads can be great for light polishing or spreading sealants quickly. The 3" pads are a necessity for getting into smaller areas such as pillars, bumpers, around emblems, etc.


Please feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.


Zach McGovern
Detailed Image Ask-A-Pro Blog Author
www.AttentiontoDetailingPeoria.com

[mcleod52]

if you grab the Harbor Freight DA polisher make sure you buy a replacement backing plate and do a couple of the mods floating out there on YouTube. I did the power button mod and did a regrease job.

[Daas]

As long as the buffer spins and/or oscillates without bogging down (regardless of which brand it is), it will do it's intended job. You still have to get the right accessories, pads and polishes to bring it all together; otherwise you'll end up blaming the poor buffer.

I have the Porter Cable and I find it to be powerful enough for my needs (mostly minor to somewhat medium paint correction). I use it few times a year.