Polish buffer recommendations please
Discussion
Like most things these days 99% of the polishers on the market are made in China, thats not a bad thing as there are good & bad Chinese polishers.
First of all you want a dual action polisher as these are far safer to use than a high sped orbital polisher which can easily burn your paint if you've not got the experience to use one.
Dual action polishers are dead easy to use and still give excellent results.
The Meguairs DA polisher mentioned above is just a re-branded Chinese made Kestrel DAS 6 Dual Action Polisher, this model works brilliantly whatever sticker they put on the side of it so if you're not bothered about branding buy the Kestrel because its exactly the same machine for a lot less money.
Here's one for less than £80 delivered to your door:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kestrel-DAS6-Dual-Action...
You will not be disappointed with your £80 investment, but before you buy it have a look at some bundles where you buy the Kestrel DAS 6, a set of pads & some different compounds.
Buying a bundle in one go is nearly always cheaper than piecing together your own kit, I bought just such a kit that came with:
1. The Kestrel DAS 6
2. Three different grade pads
3. Three different grade quality brand name compounds
4. Some proper 3M automotive grade masking tape (blue stuff)
5. A natty little bag to keep the whole lot in
From memory I paid around £125 for that lot which was excellent value as it would have been around the £200 mark for the same kit with a Meguairs branded machine, which like I say is exactly the same device as the Kestrel.
The kit I purchased is very comprehensive giving me everything I need to complete medium to light paint correction and comprehensive detailing. I've since added some microfiber pads for very fine work and the "wax on - wax off" process.
Once you've used a dual action polisher you'll never go back to detailing by hand, the kit I bought has proved to be an excellent investment.
I guarantee that you'll be amazed by the results you can get from the Kestrel, some well chosen compounds and a decent finishing wax.
Enjoy
Dave.
First of all you want a dual action polisher as these are far safer to use than a high sped orbital polisher which can easily burn your paint if you've not got the experience to use one.
Dual action polishers are dead easy to use and still give excellent results.
The Meguairs DA polisher mentioned above is just a re-branded Chinese made Kestrel DAS 6 Dual Action Polisher, this model works brilliantly whatever sticker they put on the side of it so if you're not bothered about branding buy the Kestrel because its exactly the same machine for a lot less money.
Here's one for less than £80 delivered to your door:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kestrel-DAS6-Dual-Action...
You will not be disappointed with your £80 investment, but before you buy it have a look at some bundles where you buy the Kestrel DAS 6, a set of pads & some different compounds.
Buying a bundle in one go is nearly always cheaper than piecing together your own kit, I bought just such a kit that came with:
1. The Kestrel DAS 6
2. Three different grade pads
3. Three different grade quality brand name compounds
4. Some proper 3M automotive grade masking tape (blue stuff)
5. A natty little bag to keep the whole lot in
From memory I paid around £125 for that lot which was excellent value as it would have been around the £200 mark for the same kit with a Meguairs branded machine, which like I say is exactly the same device as the Kestrel.
The kit I purchased is very comprehensive giving me everything I need to complete medium to light paint correction and comprehensive detailing. I've since added some microfiber pads for very fine work and the "wax on - wax off" process.
Once you've used a dual action polisher you'll never go back to detailing by hand, the kit I bought has proved to be an excellent investment.
I guarantee that you'll be amazed by the results you can get from the Kestrel, some well chosen compounds and a decent finishing wax.
Enjoy
Dave.
Just found this for you at £110.00.
Comes with pads, compounds & bag so everything you need to get started.
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...
Bargain!
Comes with pads, compounds & bag so everything you need to get started.
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...
Bargain!
ChimpOnGas said:
Just found this for you at £110.00.
Comes with pads, compounds & bag so everything you need to get started.
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...
Bargain!
I did this last year, and for this kind of money, and the fact I was a newbie to machine polishing, I got some phenomenal results !!Comes with pads, compounds & bag so everything you need to get started.
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...
Bargain!
Really good choice from my point of view.
Sorry to jump on a thread but is the above package any good for trying to polish out scratches on a Tvr (suspect paint is soft)? In a rush to wash the car I dragged the jet wash hose against a wing and the tiny bits of grit left lots of scratches. Is like to see if I could polish out (but think it probably needs painting). Thanks
Just to add, I use a silver line rotary which came pretty highly recommended for value. Then bought chemical guys hex oads and wool mop and most importantly some gtech p1 polish. Takes an eternity to burn through paint with that stuff and is a one size fits all polish, will heavy cut with the wool mop but will also finish off with a finishing pad. Also water based so cleans off easy and doesn't fill any of the swirls leaving false results
A good dual action polisher should do the trick to get out a fair amount of the scratches and generally bring the paint back to good condition. They won't work miracles but great results are definitely possible.
Here's a local Chim I did a while ago... The flattish yellow really did come up a treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJr5rys_8z4&li...
Here's a local Chim I did a while ago... The flattish yellow really did come up a treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJr5rys_8z4&li...
RichB said:
OOI how does the task of polishing fibreglass differ from steel or aluminium?
Heat, in a word.GRP, fibreglass, plastic etc is a terrible conductor of heat compared to metal. Technically you could risk burning the paint/clearcoat and striking through. Then its respray time.
Having said which, with a dual action (DA) polisher you'd really have to be going some to strike through. As in you'd probably have to be actively trying to wreck the paint. Just approach with a bit of care and there shouldn't be any problems.
In may ways a TVR is easier to polish than a lot of other cars actually. In all my research the overwhelming consensus was that not only is TVR paint very hard, the boys in Blackpool pretty much slapped it on with a dulux roller, so its very thick as well. No idea if this is actually true, but as said my research definitely leant towards this being the case. Then you have the added benefit of most TVRs having very few straight edges anywhere. They are mostly all curves. Straight edges/creases/swage lines can cause heat to be concentrated on their thin profile and thus heat build up occurs much more quickly and is more focused on one spot, leading to potential damage occurring quicker.
Of course the down side to this is that it can take a bit more time to correct the paint due to its hardness.
I'm no pro, so if anybody cares to correct me then please do, this is just from quite a bit of research done before the polisher ever hit the paint
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