Topic: Budget polish tools..

[Demothen]

Sooo, as the topic suggests I'm on quite a minimal budget, but would like to polish my solstice this weekend, followed by a wax.  My hood has quite a few medium to fine scratches, plus the entire car is covered in extremely fine scratches.  I already have a cheap hand-me-down 6 inch buffer, but I do not believe it is D/A.  Would this be safe to use to apply polishing compound?  What type of pad would I want to use? My other thought was the drill-powered ball-shaped buffing device for paint.  Has anyone tried one of these for polishing paint?  The bonus here is that it seems like a good way to polish up my wheels (clear coated polished aluminum variety).  I tried some of my paint polishing compound on the wheels, and that seemed to work well.  The caveat to all this is that I have a bad wrist, which pretty much eliminates hand polishing the car.  (waxing isn't bad, but polish/claybar is out of the question for now)  I did manage to clay bar the entire car a few months ago, so the plan this time is to polish, then use swirl remover, then finally a coat of wax, over the long weekend. 
Thanks!

[duckSol]

The car needs a thorough cleaning and clay bar all over.
More than a weekend chore.
Try these sites,

I like the man here, Bobby Meguiar,
http://www.meguiars.com/

Costly but I like the
http://www.adamspolishes.com/p-57-adams-premium-bucket-caddy-grit-guard-caddy-ships-separately.aspx

and got one but jury is still out on
http://www.adamspolishes.com/

These site are very instructional and with hard  price shopping Meguiar's is very affordable for the bang/bling.

[Critterman]

And don't forget one of our vendors here Steve at Poorboys

[duckSol]

And don't forget one of our vendors here Steve at Poorboys

Did not mean to slight him. Good also.

[LiquidPT]

I like the man here, Bobby Meguiar,
http://www.meguiars.com/

Erm, the man's name is BARRY Meguiar, and he and his wife are very nice people. Met both of them one day when I was at Meguiar's HQ for a class (taken several there).

My buddy now runs all of their online stuff and training classes, so I'm kind of partial...

[Yamatr3]

I thought this thread was going to be about left handed screwdrivers and adjustable metric wrenches...LOL

[LiquidPT]

Oh, and to the OP to answer the orginal question. If you have one of those big cheap buffers, all it's really god for is speading wax and taking it off. It doesn't have enough power to help you out with a polish/paint cleaner.

If you have a high-speed rotary, then those can be dangerous in the hands of soemone that doesn't know how to use it. It only takes a few second to burn thru paint, and I'm seen more swirls/holograms installed by an unskilled rotary user than anythign else.

A DA is a good, safe tool for the home user. Ya, they're a little more expensive ($100-150?), but I look at how much time it saves me and how much fear and aggravation it saves me from trusting my car's finish to someone else. There is a VERY short list of people I would trust to detail my car.

[Demothen]

Thank you.  Yeah, the buffer I have is pretty high speed, and does not have any sort of random/DA action.  I ended up manually polishing the hood today, followed by a glaze and wax.  It looks good, still not perfect, and there were some scratches that were too deep.  Still have some hairline scratches, but honestly I'm the only one that will probably notice, the car is daily driven, and still in far better condition than anything around here.  The car was recently gone over entirely with a clay bar (2-3 months ago) so that did not seem necessary at this time.  I do not have a garage, or really any way to wash the car at my own house, I have to resort to using a quarter-fed car wash to keep the car clean, so it's not going to be a show car anyway.  

Edit. Looked more at the polisher I have now, 2000/2500rpm kmart branded one.  Probably not something I really want to go at it on my solstice with...

[duckSol]

Erm, the man's name is BARRY Meguiar, and he and his wife are very nice people. Met both of them one day when I was at Meguiar's HQ for a class (taken several there).

My buddy now runs all of their online stuff and training classes, so I'm kind of partial...

  I know better, flashback maybe to Me an Bobby McGee   

I would really like to see Him at Nationals. His show on Speed Channel is great.

[lil goat]

Check out the Autogeek.net forum, everything you ever wanted to know about detailing and more. If you join the forum you get free shipping on products from autogeek, they sell Poorboys and Meguires as well as damn near everything else including buffers.

[duckSol]

The guy is on a BUDGET! 29 bucks for a wheel detail brush 

http://www.autogeek.net/ezdebrfca.html

Go to the Dollar Store/Dollar General and anywhere else that carries Meguiar's and buy on sale

Use old wore out cotton towels and a clean sheet rock bucket with one and only one thing, an Adams grit guard or a similar feat of engineering design to keep from transferring grit from a dirty wash pail to the paint

[lil goat]

I would not buy a wheel brush, and didn't tell him too. The how to on the forum is free, I sure as heck wouldn't do what you said. If I can't afford micro fiber towels I should sell the car, there is much better advice on there FREE forum. I long ago quit telling people what brand to buy, I will tell them where they can find some good info on a lot of different products. I have also met Barry Meguire, I won't use his consumer products but his Pro products are excellent.

[Demothen]

I'm not sure this post is quite going with what I was trying to ask...I'm not so broke that I can't buy microfiber towels or reasonably priced product, I just don't really have 150 dollars to drop on a buffer, was hoping to find something a bit more reasonable to help use for polishing since I can't really work the whole car by hand anymore.  I already have a pretty complete collection of wax, glaze, polish, etc (mothers and meguires mostly)  I did find a 10 inch random orbital 2800rpm  for 55 dollars (which includes several pads), as well as a 7 inch random orbital 3800rpm for 40 dollars. Both by a quality brand..would these be reasonable for polishing/waxing?  It seems that the 10 inch models bonnets are not great, the 7 inch model might be a better choice.  I guess I am moderately confused in the difference between random orbital and dual action terms.. Sort of a moot point on all of this since its raining all weekend when I'll be in a good area to do the work though.
Thanks for the input guys.  

[duckSol]

The 7 inch you found sounds good as long as there is a reliable source of replacement pads

Don't feel bad about the rain, my last application this past weekend was interrupted by a frog strangler and I had to finish up in the crib.
Dual action by the definition I have seen, have a switch to select between random orbit (best) and just around & around(less desireable).
Either can be had for under $50. I have a random orbit Black & Decker 5 inch.
The larger the arbor the harder for some to use on complex surfaces (Solstice trunk humps), splash guards and spoilers.
These you still have to work by hand along with badge areas.

My problem is finding 5 inch pads. Go on line to the sites suggested and look at the most common sizes and again I suggest go smaller from the utility of use standpoint.

I see no reason to spend over $60 for a low rpm buffer like you have found.
Nor to spend $25 for a three pack of foam rubber applicators or $30/3 for Chinese cotton fleece pads. As long as the applicator/buffer material is NOT abrasive and does the job without swirls, use it.

I have no problem with the methodology or detailing suggestions discussed on these sites, just the marketing of some but not all of the products solicited. That was where I was coming from because I bought a 3 pack of different colored fleece rags for $2.99 at a truck stop that sell for $18.99 elsewhere.

[FieroVin]

I've been using a 6" Compact Palm Polisher from Harbor Freight.  I wouldn't want a larger one.  They list it for $18 bucks, but every once in a while they go on sale for $15.

[odiaz]

LOL, I'm like the rain man. If we're having a dry spell and we need some rain all I have to do is wash the car

[Demothen]

Like the rain man?  Dustin hoffman is that you!?

[lil goat]

For applying wax most of the cheaper buffers do a decent job, for removing those light scratches and stuff, I found they weren't much help, I could do better by hand. I use a Porter Cable, yes about $120 and a mildly abrasive orange pad with Poorboys polish, then wax. I still can't get all the micro scratches out even with the expensive DA. I may move up to a Flex at some point, a bit more power but twice the money. I have 3" pads for my DA that really are handy for zeroing in on a small scratch. I search the internet for pads periodically, try and catch sales. I got some 2 for $9.99 recently and they are the double sided Edge pads, and they through in some free MF towels. Got them from the Pakshak dot com. I never heard of them before but got a good deal on the pads. I don't know of a cheap solution to your problem. I have 2 of the less expensive buffers collecting dust on a shelf, in the long run would have been cheaper to just buy the better buffer first.

[Go-N Def]

I'm not sure this post is quite going with what I was trying to ask...I'm not so broke that I can't buy microfiber towels or reasonably priced product, I just don't really have 150 dollars to drop on a buffer, was hoping to find something a bit more reasonable to help use for polishing since I can't really work the whole car by hand anymore.  I already have a pretty complete collection of wax, glaze, polish, etc (mothers and meguires mostly)  I did find a 10 inch random orbital 2800rpm  for 55 dollars (which includes several pads), as well as a 7 inch random orbital 3800rpm for 40 dollars. Both by a quality brand..would these be reasonable for polishing/waxing?  It seems that the 10 inch models bonnets are not great, the 7 inch model might be a better choice.  I guess I am moderately confused in the difference between random orbital and dual action terms.. Sort of a moot point on all of this since its raining all weekend when I'll be in a good area to do the work though.
Thanks for the input guys. 

Sorry I missed this thread until now. 

There are basically 3 different kinds of buffers as defined below:

Random Orbital - Makes little circles like a handheld sander and is the safest to use since it doesn't build up the friction needed to remove clear coat and paint.

Rotary - The whole pad spins in one direction like an angle grinder and is the most dangerous to use since it can build up friction in one spot which can burn paint.  Novice detailers should stay away!

Dual Action - Combines Random Orbit with Rotary and is almost as safe as a Random Orbital since it doesn't build up too much friction in one spot.  It is best to get trained on this by someone before you use it so that you can get the full intended use out of it.



If you have any other questions on equipment or technique, let me know...

[lil goat]

Def has tried to convince us he is a Medic in the Navy, what he really does is polish battleships. He orders his supplies in 55 gallon drums, I will admit he learned me some stuff.

[LiquidPT]

Sorry I missed this thread until now. 

There are basically 3 different kinds of buffers as defined below:

Random Orbital - Makes little circles like a handheld sander and is the safest to use since it doesn't build up the friction needed to remove clear coat and paint.

Rotary - The whole pad spins in one direction like an angle grinder and is the most dangerous to use since it can build up friction in one spot which can burn paint.  Novice detailers should stay away!

Dual Action - Combines Random Orbit with Rotary and is almost as safe as a Random Orbital since it doesn't build up too much friction in one spot.  It is best to get trained on this by someone before you use it so that you can get the full intended use out of it.



If you have any other questions on equipment or technique, let me know...

I don't think a DA requires any more training than a random orbit. With a DA, if you push too hard it stops rotating (and just does the RO movement). Perfectly safe.

[lil goat]

As Mike trained me on the DA, I believe he is referring to speed as what you need training on. I was polishing the hell out of out of everything at high speed then slinging wax everywhere, high to polish low to apply wax.

[Demothen]

Thanks for the explanation of the different types!  Unfortunately or fortunately this won't be a concern for a bit as I sort of got in a fender bender in the sol, and will (hopefully today) be getting the car back with a brand new bumper and hood (which were what needed the buffing most). The car should be getting buffed by the body shop pretty much as I type.  Here's hoping it looks good!

[LiquidPT]

As Mike trained me on the DA, I believe he is referring to speed as what you need training on. I was polishing the hell out of out of everything at high speed then slinging wax everywhere, high to polish low to apply wax.

True, any polisher will need some "training". With a RO or a DA, if you dont' do it right, you'll just push product around and make no progress. But you shouldn't harm the paint (unless you drop the machine on it... )

[Go-N Def]

Goat was right. (Did I just say that???)  I meant that you need some guidance on a DA to get the full potential out of the products you are using.  I did it by trial and error at first and then by researching it. 

Since then, I've passed that on quite a few - lil goat, Morfious, DBG, Dark Tech, Chuckdoc, smartin, IslandHopper and Cheers to name a few.  I would have said Critterman, but I only end up "Showing" him how to do it everytime.  He's a good sport and always offers up his car for demonstrations...