Topic: Budget polish tools..

[lil goat]

Def did indeed instruct me but I of course mostly ignored him and then read on line he was right, man was I pissed. I hate it when he's right, I guess if you can polish a battleship even he can learn something.

[Demothen]

Well, got the car back last night.  The paint looks pretty good in daylight, but since its been cloudy it is hard to be sure.  Last night under parking lot lights I noticed I could clearly see swirrel marks from where the body shop polished it.  I'm bringing the car back soon for a few minor tweaks and some parts that didn't make it in time, will have to see what they say about those marks, my guess is the swirrel remover and wax will hide them, but I have to wait a month for the paint to cure before I can wax the car.  I do have a couple of spots on the hood that I'm not happy with, it looks like the paint or clearcoat pooled up when they painted it, hopefully the shop can fix those for me as well.

[Imaj]

Demothen...You should see swirl marks. Those marks are part of the finishing process. Your paint has to cure for some time before you can polish and wax.

[Demothen]

Demothen...You should see swirl marks. Those marks are part of the finishing process. Your paint has to cure for some time before you can polish and wax.

Oh okay, thanks for the info.  Have never had any sort of bodywork done

[smartin]

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...

I learned everything I know from Pockets!

[Go-N Def]

 

I learned everything I know from Pockets!

Bite you're tongue! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even know Pockets!

[smartin]

Bite you're tongue! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even know Pockets!

Actually, it was Morfious that did that!

[Go-N Def]

Did what?

[jwvess00]

Hi there!

I've used my rotary buffer on my Solstice but it's a bit of a pain.  That's the first car I've ever waxed primarily on my back.  Next time I'm putting it on jackstands first!

Demothen...You should see swirl marks. Those marks are part of the finishing process. Your paint has to cure for some time before you can polish and wax.

Swirl marks are a part of the compounding process.  They will go away with swirl remover and polishing.  I'm a bit surprised the body shop let it out like that, but they should be able to fix it without much trouble.

Wait times for waxing after painting depend on the brand and type of paint material used.  Modern basecoat/clearcoat paints are essentially fully cured as soon as the car is finished, if the shop uses an oven to cure the paint.  Otherwise, you're fully cured within 72 hours on most good systems.  We've been spraying PPG's Concept 2002 with SuperCharger catalyst for a long time, and if you don't sand for polishing within the 72 hour period, you're going to have problems sanding it later.  It's hard as nails.  Recently our jobber has been pushing me towards their Global clear, which I may try next time.

Older paint systems, like acrylic lacquer, acrylic enamel, and probably some single-stage urethanes need longer cure times, but it's not universally true for all automotive paint systems.  Your body shop can tell you what they spray and how long to wait before polish or wax.

[Demothen]

Thanks for the info.  The body shop actually told me to wait 1 month before I wax the car...Which is TOTALLY killing me cause I feel like the paint's gonna get ruined while I wait, but I'll do what they say.  Hoping to have the car back into them soon for a few minor details that I'm not happy with, and a door handle that's definitely not fitting right.  It's a base/clear system, but I have no idea what kind.  1 month seems like an awful long time to leave the paint unprotected, but they may have put something on when they gave me the car.  Sort of unfortunate as I don't have a garage to work in, so it  may not be very easy to catch a warm day in November to wax the car.

[Morfious]

Actually, it was Morfious that did that!

Did what?

Introduced smartin to pockets.  It was at Poor Boys last detail meet in NY that I begged everyone to come out to.  Smartin was one of the handful that made the trip.  Pockets showed her how to use the buffer and what to do.

back on topic:

Cheap tools are ok if you only plan to use them 1x.  Buy something worth while and it will last a lifetime.  I would much rather save up and spend my $$ once then buy different versions of the same thing over and over again only to be disappointed everytime.  That being said we are not talking about thousands of dollars, we are talking about $200 or less.  Look for sales/craigslist/e-bay whatever you need, but do get the Porter Cable 7424.  It will last you forever and is the "benchmark" for all other polishers.  I'm not saying it's the best, but it will be one that they will compare every polisher to.  It is the "gold standard" that everyone knows and agrees is a darn good unit.  Right now it's on sale at Autogeek for $119.

tack on a few CCS pads (white, orange and black at the very least) and you will have a great unit that will be able to do anything you need it too.  You can play around with cheap alternatives, but you will be disappointed with the results.

Eat PB&J for 2 weeks instead of buying lunch, there is your buffer!

[Go-N Def]

It was me that introduced everyone to PBW and that was in the SF.  Before that, some of the products were being used, but they were being marketed as Gary's products (lil goat's find).  I also introduced Steve (Poorboy) to this forum... 

So, if it weren't for me, no one would know Pockets   

(Blowing my own horn takes talent  )

Other than that, I agree with you on 100% on the your topic-related comments... 

[jwvess00]

Hi there!

The only DA equipment I have is my 6" pneumatic DA sander, which while you can fit it with a buffing pad, I don't recommend it.  I've considered getting a small DA electric polisher for applying polish and wax, but it's almost just as easy on a Solstice to do it by hand.  The buffer does help on my S-10, though.

Dad's Black&Decker rotary buffer (circa 1969) was great -- reasonably heavy, good control, lasted until the late '90s when we couldn't get repair parts anymore.  We replaced it with a $150 Milwaukee, which works great but is so heavy that it's tiresome to use.  Cheapy consumer rotary buffers like new B&D stuff didn't do the job.

We've settled on two low-cost rotary buffers, plus the Milwaukee (though it almost never gets used anymore).  I found a Wen for $42 right after we bought the Milwaukee, and it's been a good buffer.  It has some weight to it but not too bad, and good control.  It's noisy but it's lived for almost 10 years now.

The other is a Chicago Electric buffer #92623.  A friend bought one to quickly fill a need, and we liked it enough that we bought a few as presents.  I've got one right now and it does a reasonable job.

For pads, I usually end up with 3M pads, though I've had good success with Meguiar's pads, too.