So I bought a Rotary polisher

[TW]Fox;16114815 said:
Almost all my paintwork is less than 3 years old anyway so my car isnt a swirltastic mess.

Given this, what do you recommend I go for product wise for my DA? It was suggested to me before to try various Mazerna bits and peices but would it work just as well simply using it to apply my usual combo of Super Resin Polish and various sealents or what?
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Clarkey, somebody else and myself answered that question in the other thread.

What do you want...remove the swirls or hide them? SRP is full of fillers, so the Menz and Megs recommendations would still stick I would have thought. Your sealant / wax is again a personal choice of durability and look.
 
I don't even know! Remove I guess? There isnt many but I can see them under petrolstation light.

I want to be able to go 'look!' when asked how I'm getting on with my Xmas present :o

Everywhere I go on the internet I read different opinions ranging from 'You will die in a fire' to 'Use 500 different 3M products and Akimbo Rotaries or you are wasting your time'.

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed :o

I just want a really shiney car.
 
[TW]Fox;16114888 said:
I don't even know! Remove I guess? There isnt many but I can see them under petrolstation light.

I want to be able to go 'look!' when asked how I'm getting on with my Xmas present :o

Everywhere I go on the internet I read different opinions ranging from 'You will die in a fire' to 'Use 500 different 3M products and Akimbo Rotaries or you are wasting your time'.

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed :o

I just want a really shiney car.
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This is one of the problems with the whole shiney car thing. Everybody is an expert, a lot of people want to sell you stuff and nobody ever wants to admit they have bought the wrong product, like an expensive wax that is no better at the end of the day than a £15 tub. I've already offered to send you the polish free, but if you prefer to pay, there are a couple of sites that will gladly take your pennies.

Stick with the recommendations in the other thread, You have a DA, no point in buying a rotary. A small outlay will get you some products that should hopefully bring it up to what you want, but 90% of it is prep I reckon.

That's from somebody who has overspent too many times, emperors new cloths and all that.

If you need it clearer, I can post again what pads and polish would give you a fighting chance.
 
Yea please do. I get a 'good feeling' from your opinions which I've not had elsewhere if you know what i mean.

I'd like to spend a couple of days in a couple of weeks time 'doing' the car, and I'd like some of this time to include using my DA. I'll be claying the car as well, obviously.

Do the Mazerna products replace the SRP? ie I dont need to use it as well?
 
You wont need the SRP. I need to pop out, I'll be back tonight and I'll stick it in the other thread, all explained with links. All special, like.
 
Depending on how bad the defects are, I'd be tempted to go for Menz 85RD or RE.

RD is the stronger stuff, RE is a very light finishing polish.

I have to admit I've never used RD, but for what it is, RE is a superb product. It has a very mild cut so don't expect to remove anything other than the lightest swirling, but it has a really long working time and finishes down beautifully. I hear that RD also finishes down very nicely but has more correction capability.
If I were you, I'd get the smaller pots of both. Start with the RE on a finishing pad and see where it gets you, if it's no good (quite likely) then step up to the RD, if that's still no good then switch to a polishing pad with the RD.
As a note, when switching products on the same pad, brush out the pad in between. Just use a toothbrush with the machine on the lowest speed and brush it out. You can go up in cut level on the same pad but you shouldn't try and go down the scale without a fresh pad or washing out the used one.
 
[TW]Fox;16114678 said:
Surely its quicker than doing it by hand?
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Oh yes! Only the truly masochistic or the desperate would cut back an entire car by hand (properly cut it, not just a quick once over with T-Cut etc.). If you have a DA then use it, I strongly suspect you have a lot more patience than me anyway!

Saying that many years ago I helped a friend cut the paint back by hand on his Triumph 2500 that had been stood outside in the sun for years. A whole weekend and and very aching arms later it looked pretty good, but would have been so much better with a polisher.
 
I love how the modernisation and now "detailing" scene breeds Goggle/Forum experts and now all of a sudden additional risks of using a rotary are internet myths.

Before 56k dialup and forums et all my father was in the business for 14 years, back before it was "detailing" and back before you could go buy a machine polisher package off the internets. I was warned of the risks of using a rotary on paint back then, the risk of heat damage, plastics and everything else you have today.

Random orbitals and more non-professional solutions have been created for a reason, and while some of it will be pushing products out the door I very much doubt it is part of an internet myth culture.

There were "risks" back then, there are "risks" now. Sure, you are unlikely to totally crap on your paintwork but nobody goes out with a rotary and product with the intent of messing up. Mistakes happen and you are more likely to make it with a rotary and stronger cutting compounds. Lapse of concentration, lack of experience and not making that mistake before etc etc.

My first car was a burgundy Ford Orion with paintwork that was totally shagged. My dad used 1 rotary, 1 pad and 2 products and could get a finish just as good as you would get with 3 pads, 3 products and 50 million of bits and pieces. The products I use are the ones the detailer of my car use, I trust that they work, are good value for money and I simply do not have the time nor effort to go and compare the entire market because quite frankly, the difference is minimal.

He coated my car in that 3 grand a tub Zymol stuff (or whatever it is) and his opinion? Harder to put on, get off and with not that much more result than a tub of poorboys can provide. He has it because people ask for it.

I love the detailing scene, and I love the way it has modernised but people can take it WAY too seriously and throwing caution to the wind on a once a year exercise for the sake of a few hours saved time seems silly.

I know with my wafer thin paint I will not be putting a rotary on it myself. A professional did and had to take care, a paint defect even marred a panel. Honda fixed it under warranty but if it was me doing it, would I of noticed and would I of made a much bigger boo boo? Who knows!
 
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I think what happens sometimes is a few people have no issues with a rotary even as a beginner and wonder what the big deal was. Then somebody else will back it up and within a thread it has gone from the tool of Lucifer to the Fisher Price Paint correction machine.

The myth is then exposed and years of bodyshop experience is baseless. I have no doubt the op will return with a spangly Focus and hopefully without any damage.

But, as Qeffects discovered, not everybody has the same experience. It takes a decent pair to stand up in a thread and that you have ****ed up your paint , moreso in a thread where your mental agility is called into question if you do so. You won't get any pros admitting a burn on a public board for obvious reasons but I can assure you it does happen to the best.

It would be nice to have a bit of sensible middle ground on novice rotary use, not one extreme to the other.

Anyway, to answer the original question...yes :D
 
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[TW]Fox;16114965 said:
Yea please do. I get a 'good feeling' from your opinions which I've not had elsewhere if you know what i mean.

I'd like to spend a couple of days in a couple of weeks time 'doing' the car, and I'd like some of this time to include using my DA. I'll be claying the car as well, obviously.

Do the Mazerna products replace the SRP? ie I dont need to use it as well?
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I've got a feeling that it will be the least rewarding couple of days ever. I had my leon machine polished by a detailer when I bought it. There were no swirl marks and it still beads like a beauty just after a normal wash, but it doesn't give you the wow effect that you get on virtually all other colours except silver.
 
MikeHiow said:
Its only risky for the brain dead, imo.
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Just saw your posts at DW. This is a perfect example of how experience is put to one side in favour of opinion. From what you've posted here, I assumed you had some working knowledge of machine or hand polishing, but you don't. I'm sure you think I'm being a ***** for pointing this out, but this echoing of opinion without experience is how we go from never use a rotary > use one with caution and practice > can your sister do my Aston on Saturday? She can use my Makita.

The time and money issues don't really make much sense if you are now buying a PTG and consider the practice you'll need and how often you'll actually mop your car.

If you get good at it, you will have a new skill though so I understand the attraction, I used to wet polish granite.

DW is a great resource but it's changed massively and not coped with its growth very well. A new member doesn't get 10% of the opinions and knowledge you used to get 4-5 years ago and the whole DA vs Rotary thing has been done to death so many times, a lot cannot be bothered to comment anymore on it.

There is without a doubt a certain cachet in using a rotary over a DA, so I don't think you always get a balanced view.

Anyway, here's one I posted years ago, second car I ever machined polished (so a relative noob), did it as a favour and practice for myself. All DA, Optimum polish I think and took longer than a Pro with a rotary but I'd guess quicker than a beginner with one to get the same results:

p_bliss.jpg


I really hope your ST comes up nice, I'm sure it will. But please don't make assumptions about how thick people are if they damage the paint with a rotary. It really does happen to pros and keen, well-researched enthusiasts alike.
 
Have read this discussion with great interest, as buying a machine polisher has been on my list for a long time.

Fett, thanks for constructing some informative posts, that Ibiza came up very nicely.
 
I said this before but was shouted down, Fett is absolutely right in this matter.
 
Pop over to detailing world and read the articles.

Rotary just rotates wheras a DA rotates in varying orbits to spread the load and heat around to not concentrate it in a single spot.
 
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