Using orbital sander for polishing?

[gmaz]

I usually hand-polish my car after a wash, with Autoglym super resin, but I was wondering if there is any good reason not to use an orbital sander and I picked up a cheap parkside unit from Lidl, the one below, but I paid £25.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parkside-Cordless-Comfort...

And ordered polishing pads

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09WJX64MW?psc=1&r...

Will this work OK? Any tips to ensure a decent job?

[jfdi]

Even the low speed is far to fast for polishing. You'll end up burning your paint.

[anonymous-user]

"Darling, I'm just going to try the new orbital sander to polish the car"



20 minutes later...

[gmaz]

jfdi said:

Even the low speed is far to fast for polishing. You'll end up burning your paint.

Yeah, low speed is 3000, which seems to be at the high end for a polisher. I guess I'll have to try it on the wife's car first.

[Novexx]

gmaz said:

I guess I'll have to try it on the wife's car first.

Quality!!

[drmotorsport]

A DA unit is the usual place to start if you want to try machine polishing and waxing, about £90+ for the unit and then you can go nuts on backing pads etc

[Bluevanman]

gmaz said:

Yeah, low speed is 3000, which seems to be at the high end for a polisher. I guess I'll have to try it on the wife's car first.

It's the orbit you need to worry about as much as the rpm .
A DA polisher generally has a much wider orbit than a DA sander so you're not in the same spot for as long.
Personally I wouldn't use a DA sander for polishing ever