Aldi car polisher?

[GWC]

Aldi have a car polisher in their special buys tomorrow for £14.99 it's 3,000rpm turning speed with a 10" pad. Would I be wasting my time (and money) using one of these. I have bought other tools and bits and pieces from them before and they've always been ok for the money.

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3...

[skene]

I'm pretty sure these can cause a lot of damage to paint if used incorrectly. Unless you know what you're doing I'd steer clear. But then again if you did know what you were doing I'd suggest you wouldn't buy an Aldi polisher

[Boba Fret]

i've used similar, and it was ok, and frankly for £15 what have you really got to lose? (Apart from £15)

[dudleybloke]

Boba Fret said:

i've used similar, and it was ok, and frankly for £15 what have you really got to lose? (Apart from £15)

its ideal for cleaning the bathroom too!

[TheLurker]

Ive used similar too. My conclusion is that it just saved time over what you would achieve by hand. It is not a professional quality tool, and wont give any better results than by hand IMO, just make it easier.

[Six Fiend]

I have a similar Halfords one, I don't use it on the Jag (had that detailed properly) but do on mother's Ka (it's old but scrubs up very well indeed with it). Great for cars where you're not ocd about the paint i.e looking for a professional finish

Saves aching joints (arthritis y'see).

[Baryonyx]

My mate uses something similar. It produces a good quality finish quite quickly and has never damaged his car. for £15, it's not a bad buy. When it wears out I expect he'll purchase another one!

[Jimmyarm]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Silverline-Silverstorm-Rotar...

Something like this would be much more useful.

The random orbital ones like you linked are ok for a light buff but don't really do anything you can't do by hand.

A rotary polisher can be used for correction once you get used to it.

Don't believe all the rubbish about burning your paint etc, its really really hard to do it and you would have to be a complete tard !

SRP + Rotary on its lowest setting will give much better results than one of those all day long

[GWC]

For £15 I'll give it a go, at the very least if the weather holds I'll get a suntan!

[Jimmyarm]

GWC said:

For £15 I'll give it a go, at the very least if the weather holds I'll get a suntan!

Don't, as soon as you use it you will realise how cack they are and that you want a rotary !

[hornetrider]

GWC said:

For £15 I'll give it a go, at the very least if the weather holds I'll get a suntan!

I might give it a go as well, try it out on the ol' barrrrge!

[blearyeyedboy]

I wonder if it'll be hard to get replacement pads for a one-off from Aldi? (Or other non-mainstream source.)

Is that true (anyone who bought one)?

[slipstream 1985]

blearyeyedboy said:

I wonder if it'll be hard to get replacement pads for a one-off from Aldi? (Or other non-mainstream source.)

Is that true (anyone who bought one)?

theres usually a help number on the boxes where you can order replacement pads

[GWC]

Jimmyarm said:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Silverline-Silverstorm-Rotar...

Something like this would be much more useful.

The random orbital ones like you linked are ok for a light buff but don't really do anything you can't do by hand.

A rotary polisher can be used for correction once you get used to it.

Don't believe all the rubbish about burning your paint etc, its really really hard to do it and you would have to be a complete tard !

SRP + Rotary on its lowest setting will give much better results than one of those all day long

Thanks for the link and advice, I hear what you're saying, I only really want to give the cars a bit of a buff up after cleaning, not start correcting etc. If I don't get on with one of the Aldi one I'll look to what you're suggesting.

[Greeny]

I have tried the more exspensive Halfords version, and yes you will be wasting your time and money!

[Six Fiend]

This is how my old 5yr old 75k mile Passat turned out using the Halfords rubbish

Decent polish (Autoglym super resin) and wax (Mequiars TechWax) and do it properly. Apply by hand using applicator sponges then buff with machine before finishing by hand for all the tricky bits the machine can't reach. Meguiars #83 by hand also helped remove a fair amount of swirls and scratches.

Once like this it was easy to maintain using the buffer now and again

Before:


After:

Edited by Six Fiend on Wednesday 27th April 20:15

[jaf01uk]

Jimmyarm said:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Silverline-Silverstorm-Rotar...

Something like this would be much more useful.

The random orbital ones like you linked are ok for a light buff but don't really do anything you can't do by hand.

A rotary polisher can be used for correction once you get used to it.

Don't believe all the rubbish about burning your paint etc, its really really hard to do it and you would have to be a complete tard !

SRP + Rotary on its lowest setting will give much better results than one of those all day long

Anyone who is not experienced will burn through paint in seconds with one of those especially on the edge of panels/shut lines, it is a grinder with a cloth pad after all! What you want is a proper porter cable/meguiars/Kestrel random orbital which is just as effective but safe in inexperienced hands and gives excellent results, you can leave it on the same spot for ages and it won't burn, the Lidl and Halfords ones are basic randoms but lack the power and control of a proper machine,
Gary