Polish buffer recommendations please

Polish buffer recommendations please

Author
Discussion

cuzzaluva

Original Poster:

103 posts

227 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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Hi,

I'm looking into getting an electric polish buffer.

Please pass on some advice which you think is the best and any other tips.


Thanks in advance

portzi

2,296 posts

174 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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get the top of the range meguairs DA polisher, if you get anything cheaper, you will be disapointed, and will end up buying the meguairs one in the end which I did. smile

RichB

51,431 posts

283 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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5.0ltr

2,750 posts

198 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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RichB said:
Similar to my first thought wink

ChimpOnGas

9,637 posts

178 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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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 thumbup

Dave.

ChimpOnGas

9,637 posts

178 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all
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!

ptholt

221 posts

277 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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After reading lots i went das-6 route as well, but went with the auto finesse kit which is similar, three pads plus three compounds and and pad lubricating spray, had good reviews on other forums.

allanb

309 posts

182 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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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 !!

Really good choice from my point of view.

Gazzab

21,061 posts

281 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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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

johnS2000

458 posts

171 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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Can you feel the scratches with your finger nail ?
If you can then its generally accepted the answer is no.

Rib

2,548 posts

188 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
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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

Rib

2,548 posts

188 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
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I cant wait to get into the new tamoras paint work, got some new denim orange peel pads too to get a proper glass finish!

MrChips

3,263 posts

209 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
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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...

kris450

658 posts

193 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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Just spent the weekend using my Megs 220 DA Polisher to bring back a little shine to the Chim.

It isn't rocket science to be honest. Read a few threads on detailingworld.co.uk on how to work with GRP, approach it with common sense and you should be able to make quite a difference.

Bets of luck biggrin




RichB

51,431 posts

283 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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OOI how does the task of polishing fibreglass differ from steel or aluminium?

kris450

658 posts

193 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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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 biggrin

RichB

51,431 posts

283 months

Monday 22nd September 2014
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Thanks, I've got a DA Polisher (well my son has it at the moment) so I might give this a go.

Dischordant

603 posts

200 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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yeah I find the smaller pads on the meguirs DA useful as the Tuscan is such a curvy beast!

shake n bake

2,221 posts

206 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Have you used a machine polisher before?

RichB

51,431 posts

283 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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shake n bake said:
Have you used a machine polisher before?
Who me? Yes, I used it on my Griff when I got it a few years ago.