Power car polishing / buffing / waxing

[Goldfish11]

I have just got a Power Polisher and the results are amazing imagine this:

Polish an E Class in 20 minutes, leaving no swirl and creating a near mirror finish. And using half the usual amount of polish or wax.

I did my car this weekend and my neighbours were queueing up to borrow the thing. We ended up doing the equivalent of 3 vehicles in 90 minutes. In minutes you achieve the same finish (or better) that hours of hand polishing would achieve. You can also get away with using less abrasive polishes to do the same job than if you were doing it by hand which is better for your paintwork.

As you can tell I am quite enthusiastic about this so thought it worth sharing my research.

I have put plenty of web links in so those who are interested can take a look without going through the pain I went through with the search engines.

My problem that drove me to this is changing from a silver to a nice Black Car. It looks great when it is clean but when dirty it looks horrid.

I also noticed when the sun shone on it that you could see lots of little fine scratches which are called swirl. These I think were caused by the MB (the previous owner) putting it through a car wash.

In the UK you can purchase a car polisher for anything between £10 and £45 these things you put a sheep skin bonnet on a then put some wax on this. They are low powered and can in some situations cause more damage due to their circular motion. They are like those kitchen gadgets that people buy use once and then never use again. They are OK at doing a basic application but will not solve any paint problems effectively.

The next step up is to go for an high speed circular motion polisher. These need to be used by professionals and can burn the paintwork or inflict serious swirl marks if operated by a the inexperienced.

A safe polisher needs to be “dual action” and or “random orbital motion”. These mimic the hand movement at about 4000 rpm. They cause no heat build up and are idiot proof, the only damage you can really do is by dropping the tool on the car. You can see these in action in the videos at the websites below.

Dual action / random orbital polishers use a foam sponge pad, different grades of foam can be used for different tasks. Mild cutting, polishing or applying a wax.


Through searching through the discussion forums on the net, for example, www.autopia.org , I have found two real options for the UK. Autopia is a US site for those who are car detailing geeks. (Detailing equals Valeting in the UK) So if you have any question about cleaning cars including what type of make-up brush to clean your dash with, this is one place to look.

Option 1 – Makita BO4060
http://www.makita.com/tools_Item_View.asp?id=218

This is a random orbital polisher/sander and can be purchased for about £230. The main benefit of this is it operates on 240volts, the down side is it seems less well tested by car enthusiasts. You will then need to purchase foam pads and these are about £14 each.

Option 2 – Porter Cable 7424 -
http://www.portercable.com/index.asp?e=547&p=2805

This dual action random orbital polisher seems to be the standard and is used extensively in the USA by many car enthusiasts. Lots of advice on its use is available, see for example, www.autopia.org

Meguiars the US car care manufacturers (who also supply all the Mercedes Benz Branded car care products, see leaflet ASM/586/0901) badge this machine. You can see one in action on a web video “Power Polishing Clinic”. There are also other videos about dealing with swirl and other car care issues.

http://www.extremecarcare.co.uk/meguiars.asp?cat=videos

or

http://www.meguiars.com/clinics/clinics_template.cfm




The only downside is it is not available in the UK, so you have to import one from the US. This however is not a problem between placing my order and receiving it from Autopia http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?autopia+MBWu4u+index.html+ it took just 3 working days!!

The second problem is it operates on 110 volts so you need to invest in a transformer or borrow one, this is not a bad thing with the English weather being as it is you reduce the chance of electrocuting yourself if it starts to rain.

The cost of getting set up with this system is:

Porter Cable 7424 plus hook and eye backing plate (needed so you can easily change pads) and 3 pads, one for polishing, one for finishing and one for more serious damage - $179 (see Autopia Kit link below)
(I also bought some additional pads because they only cost about £6 in the US compared with £14 in UK from Meguiars)

Postage was about $40

Total = £120 (at exchange rate of 1.85 dollars per £)

You may get stung for import duty but you may be lucky, this is about £25.

You then need to go to www.screwfix.com to get a 110volt set up. (Screwfix codes are in brackets)

You will need:
110volt plug (19947)
240volt to 110volt Transformer (16158)
110volt 14 meter extension lead (16691) (This is important as you should run the extension from the transformer not run a standard 240v extension to the transformer, I have been advised you may melt your 240v cable. So plug the transformer straight into the wall and then use 110v extension cables from this.)

Total Cost = £65

So the total Porter Cable set-up including pads is about £210.

When wiring the plug remember in the US : White is neutral, Black is live and Green is earth. See the following weblink for more details.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Power_plug

Now this may seem a lot of money but if you are investing in the £20 to 30K car this means you can really take care of it. I think I may charge a loan rate to the neighbours to recoup some of the costs!


Other useful web links:

How to guide on Detailing Valeting and Car Cleaning. A free ebook to download. This includes more detail on the use of polishers and the appropriate products to use also links to purchase the polisher. (If you use this e-book link to purchase the polisher the chaps at Autopia know I recomended and I get some "Brownie Points" one day I may get a free foam pad ) See mbclub thread:

http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=7294

Autopia PC7424 kit - this comes with everything you need (select Polishers and Polish for all details) This link also gets me brownie points now! (Can't wait to get a free foam pad!)

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?autopia+MBWu4u+index.html+

How to use the PorterCable 7424 - a brand new article with great pictures showing the results and how to remove swirl. Just about everything you need to know about using this car polisher

http://autopia-carcare.com/inf-pc7424.html


Using a dual action Polisher. more tips

http://www.properautocare.com/witporcabpol.html

Discussion thread on UK users of Power Polishers

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31867&highlight=makita


For foam pads in UK and an other discussion forum on paint care see:

www.meguiars.co.uk

Use of Porter Cable on German Paint finishes (German car manufacturers use a more flexible paint)

http://www.properautocare.com/aregepadi.html

It would be an honour if the moderators thought this worthy of going in the How to section?! :bannana: :bannana:

UPDATE: I have dropped a couple of before and after photos after using the polisher further down the tread (about position 18 on page 2). This is my wife's tropical green car which had not been polished for about 12 months. It is light coloured so it shows the potential benefit of using it on a silver car. (If you ignore the green!!)

UPDATE Goldfish11 - Winner Cleanest Car Competition MBClub UK Summer GTG. As the Certificate states "....has spent far too long washing, waxing and caressing their car, they need to get out a bit more!"

UPDATE To see how my obsession has developed see also http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11481

A picture of the Porter Cable set up and result using Autoglym Super Resin.

 

[sym]

It would be an honour if the moderators thought this worthy of going in the How to section?! :bannana: :bannana:

Lets have it as a sticky in the Bodywork section for now so that people have more chance of reading it !

Great research !!

S.

 

[Goldfish11]

Sym,

Picture is now inserted.

 

[GrahamC230K]

A very comprehensive write up, thanks for sharing and WOW - nice results!

 

[Flyer]

I'll second that - fantastic results. I've just watched the Meguiar video; bit OTT but very interesting. What would Mr Miyagi say though?

It would be really cool if you were to give a demo of that at the GTG, on, oh I don't know, let's say a silver CLK

 

[Goldfish11]

I've got to do the wife's Renault Scenic first, I got into trouble this weekend because we did the neighbours car as a test and not hers!

Check out the autopia forum I am sure there was someone from Merseyside with a Porter Cable and they offered to do someones as a test! They are a little more local to you than I am.

 

[Flyer]

I've got to do the wife's Renault Scenic first, I got into trouble this weekend because we did the neighbours car as a test and not hers!

Check out the autopia forum I am sure there was someone from Merseyside with a Porter Cable and they offered to do someones as a test! They are a little more local to you than I am.

Sorry, I was playing, but I actually meant at the
Summer GTG . Hopefully, you can make it

 

[RichardM]

Good post! I've just watched the Power Polishing Clinic and are they saying you still remove the polish by hand? I thought the idea of these machines was to do all the work!

 

[Goldfish11]

Summer GTG

I may be able to make it as it is reasonably local to me. I have put a question on the Summer GTG thread.

So if your cars clean and there is a spare 20minutes and power we may be able to get the job done!! Bring you microfibre cloths to get off the polish or wax.

Do your revision on the web links above and you can do the job yourself.

 

[Flyer]

Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was only joking in my first post My car will have had a full Zymol treatment the previous day

 

[sym]

Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was only joking in my first post My car will have had a full Zymol treatment the previous day

So you'll have to change your avatar to "uncomfortably numb" after that

Joking aside, please come to the GTG, and do bring the polishing kit - I'm sure we would all be interested to check it out !

S.

 

[Goldfish11]

Removing it by hand

Good post! I've just watched the Power Polishing Clinic and are they saying you still remove the polish by hand? I thought the idea of these machines was to do all the work!

You can use the machine with a microfibre bonnet to buff it off and they say you get even better results. This will be my next investment.

See the meguiars.co.uk and then select the "enthusiast" and then "accessories" bit for their "Ultimate Bonnet", this fits the system.

However I just used an old towel and a microfibre cloth from Halfords.

The thing is the polish layer is so fine means getting the polish off is really easy, no effort is involved at all. Its more of a dusting excercise than a hard polish.

An annoying issue with Autoglym Super Resin is the amount of dust generated when you hand polish and then rub it off. With the Porter Cable there was little or no dust when I came to remove the stuff. It also dried to being ready for removal in just a few minutes.

Seriously wiping it off was not an issue but I guess using the Porter Cable to do this with a bonnet would be more fun :bannana: and would remove the chance of cloth inflicted swirl . I was told I could use the gray finishing pad to remove polish, I have not tried this yet but this could be next weeks test.

 

[Goldfish11]

Sym and Flyer,

I will definately try to make the GTG event and will put the polisher system in the boot.

Do you really have to clean and polish the car before you attend? I was hoping to not have to polish mine again until mid July .

Flyer - Joking aside, if you want a go on the day you are most welcome, it will get out all those swirl marks you polished into the paint the day before with the Zymol !!

 

[Tan]

An annoying issue with Autoglym Super Resin is the amount of dust generated when you hand polish and then rub it off. With the Porter Cable there was little or no dust when I came to remove the stuff. It also dried to being ready for removal in just a few minutes.

I used to use Autoglym, now I use Meguiars Gold Class, its much better, less dust and gives a superb deep colour and shine, especially on Black cars.

Great write up btw. Can these units be hired from hire shops?? If so I may do that to try and get rid of the worst of my swirl marks.

 

[RichardM]

One thing I've found with the Meguiars Gold Class is it is a wax not polish, and won't remove any marks on the car. Good results though!

I have a wax wizard which I bought from Costco for under £30, it is the random orbital type which won't create swirls. Does the job for me.

 

[Flyer]

Flyer - Joking aside, if you want a go on the day you are most welcome, it will get out all those swirl marks you polished into the paint the day before with the Zymol !!

Benefits of silver - what swirl marks? (and, of course, Zymol is not a polish, it's a luvverly smelling wax ).

 

[Tan]

One thing I've found with the Meguiars Gold Class is it is a wax not polish, and won't remove any marks on the car. Good results though!

I have a wax wizard which I bought from Costco for under £30, it is the random orbital type which won't create swirls. Does the job for me.

The meguiars scratch-x is supposed to be good for removing swirls, so if these more reasonably priced orbital polishers are guna do the job its worth buying one.

 

[Goldfish11]

I used to use Autoglym, now I use Meguiars Gold Class, its much better, less dust and gives a superb deep colour and shine, especially on Black cars.

Great write up btw. Can these units be hired from hire shops?? If so I may do that to try and get rid of the worst of my swirl marks.

Unfortunately, you cant hire a random orbital "Porter Cable" type but you probably can get the circular motion type as these are more commonly used in UK, but beware of circular motion types if you are unskilled. You can hire the the transformer etc from a hire place. I have seen that some Porter Cables are available for $119 but beware of import duty.

 

[Goldfish11]

Gold Class and Scratch X.

One thing I've found with the Meguiars Gold Class is it is a wax not polish, and won't remove any marks on the car. Good results though!

I have a wax wizard which I bought from Costco for under £30, it is the random orbital type which won't create swirls. Does the job for me.

Maguiars Gold Class is a combined Wax/Polish like AutoG super resin. I gave them a call sometime ago to check this out. Meguiars advise using Scratch X and then Meguiars Gold Class to deal with swirls. I tried this by hand but it did not solve the problem for me. Hence investing in the polisher. My swirls are greatly reduced now. I think I may give it another go over in a few weeks to see if I can completely remove all of them but I am becoming and obsesive perfectionist.

I am going to try some Gold Class once I have exhaused all my AutoG super resin. I have heard the wax wizard is not bad for application, they are also available on ebay.

 

[Goldfish11]

Wife's car before a quick polish

Just to show some results on a light coloured car. I finally got around to testing the "Porter Cable" on my wife's car (very tropical greeeen and very bad paint!! )

Any way here is the before ( next will be after)

[/IMG]