Power car polishing / buffing / waxing

[Aletank]

Transformers

Would one of these do for a 110v Transformer E-Bay Link

Anyone know the current Dollar to Pound exchange rate?

The tourist rate is $1.79 approx - Sometimes Credit Cards give you the Business rate which is slightly better.

 

[Aletank]

......After seeing Goldfish's Porter Cable on Sunday I have ordered one for myself, the 'ultimate polisher kit'. Should be here for the weekend. Can't wait!! Farewell to swirl marks....

Paul G

Some Before and After pictures would be great !!

 

[Goldfish11]

Halogen light to see swirl and transformer advice

Would one of these do for a 110v Transformer E-Bay Link

The tourist rate is $1.79 approx - Sometimes Credit Cards give you the Business rate which is slightly better.

Unfortunately not, this may burn out quite quickly, if you read the link to the Autopia discussion (Discussion thread for UK users of Power Polishers) in my first entry in this thread you will see many people have tried to take short cuts with transformers. This can result in either the transformer burning out or worse the Porter Cable burning out. Something to do with the way these cheaper units create 110v from 240v they just chop the top of the sign wave off.

The set up I recommend from my research seemed to be the safest, tried and tested approach on the web and I have had no problems. You need over 1000 watts of transformer to cope with the PC. It is 3.7amps so this equates to about 400watts but then it can peak much higher.

Also I bought a 110v 500watt Halogen site lamp from B&Q for £15 its great for finding every little imperfection in your paintwork swirl looks terrible under this light so once you can see it you can remove it. Normally you can only see swirl in sun light, but you are not meant to wax and polish in sunlight but this light reveals all so you can see what you are doing in your garage or in the shade or on a cloudy day.

You can also use it in the rain outside great for playing flood lite football when you get back from the pub or illuminating your garden for BBQs

So investing in a 110v site transformer opens up all sorts of possibilities!
I guess you could also hire a transformer from a tool hire place, I am not sure of the cost of this.


So current cost for PC including postage from the US is about £112 then add on your transformer. It is still cheaper than the UK based alternatives.

 

[Goldfish11]

Some Before and After pictures would be great !!

Check out the links in my first entry on the thread, there are loads of before and after pictures and how the were achieved with the PC.

 

[Paul Grainger]

I already have 110v in my garage (most of my power tools are 110v, I have a 4kvA fixed transformer) so power is not a problem. As Goldfish says, the postage is automatically calculated. You can also pay by PayPal at no extra charge - my total invoice was 223.95 Dollars including international shipping.
Autopia sent me an e-mail today with a shipping tracker number, my Porter Cable is airborne on its way to the UK.

Now for the next hitch - how to get through customs without VAT and import taxes.....

Paul G

 

[230K]

Hi all

Just got E Class back from corrosion warranty work all new panel and a total respray. What is the best to protect it can anyone recommend any of these additional coatings that are put on. Have heard different names like diamond brite and 3M ??. Can anyone help.

Cheers

230K

 

[Goldfish11]

New Paint Job finish.

If it has had a total re-spray so all paintwork is in good condition you only need a sealer or wax. Polish will remove the paint surface so you need something non-abrasive. I have heard you need to leave new paint a good few months before you use a polish as the laquer takes ages to fully cure.

For a long lasting protection you can get Autoglym life shine on Ebay for about £25 for a set that includes Fabric protector, glass protector and paintwork protector. see the www.autoglym.co.uk website for some details.

Diamondbrite can also be purchased on ebay for between £15 and £25. See www.jewelultra.co.uk

If you get a dealer to do this it will cost between £200 - £300 but you can do a better job yourself.

However these things are never totally maintainance free you will still need to wax/polish every 6 months even if they do say they need little maintainence.

A really good long lasting alternative that you can pick up in Halfords is "Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection", I find this will last a good 6 months. You can multi layer this at 24 hour intervals (these products need 24hours cure) to get a really amazing shine. Also you could put this on Autoglym Lifeshine finish.

Anyway these are my thoughts.

 

[Paul Grainger]

...Porter Cable 7424 arrived today, 7 days after order placed (not bad, bearing in mind it had to come from California), no customs problems, no import tax, no VAT...

...I will try it out this weekend on my swirl infested paintwork and report back on the results. I intend to start out with Farecla G3 to get out the bad marks, and then move on to G10 to really make it shine. The final sealing will be with Meguires.

...I will try and take some before and after pictures to show how sucsessful this is. Go on, buy one. You know that you want one......

Paul G

 

[Goldfish11]

...Porter Cable 7424 arrived today, 7 days after order placed (not bad, bearing in mind it had to come from California), no customs problems,

...I will try it out this weekend on my swirl infested paintwork and report back on the results. I intend to start out with Farecla G3 to get out the bad marks, and then move on to G10 to really make it shine. The final sealing will be with Meguires.

...I will try and take some before and after pictures to show how sucsessful this is. Go on, buy one. You know that you want one......

Paul G

Great to have an other Porter Cable user on the Forum. Look forward to seeing the results.

7days is not bad, I must have been lucky with my 3 day delivery.

Remember all those who want to buy one use the e-book link or the Porter Cable link in my first submission on this thread so I can get my Brownie Points

 

[Mambo]

Just about to order a Porter Cable, does anyone have any recomendations as to the best product to use to take out swirl marsk?

 

[Shude]

I have heard you need to leave new paint a good few months before you use a polish as the laquer takes ages to fully cure.

If it was baked then it's ready to go as it leaves the oven

 

[Goldfish11]

Just about to order a Porter Cable, does anyone have any recomendations as to the best product to use to take out swirl marsk?

I used "Meguiars No9 Swirl Remover 2.0" to do mine, From the Porter Cable kit from Autopia I used the orange pad on the bad stuff and the white pad on the not so bad stuff.

I got this over the web, most sites are doing free postage and are matching the Meguiars list price.

 

[Mambo]

Cheers Goldfish, just ordered it. Can't wait for it to get here!

 

[Paul Grainger]

Have now used my Porter Cable.

My car is black. This is the second black car that I have owned. The first was a BMW 520i - I swore that I would never buy another black car because of paintwork problems. Time goes on, memories get dulled and three cars later I bought my CLK in black. I viewed & purchased the car on a dull day, and was lured in by the beautiful shiny paintwork. A few days later the sun came out, and I looked in horror at my car that now had the appearance of a well used ice rink.

I have spent two years and every product under the sun to try and get rid of these swirl marks and the myriad of tiny imperfections that show up so badly on black cars in direct sunlight. In two years of trying, all that I have achieved is to make the car look worse. It was so bad that I would hide the car in shaded areas out of embarassment.

Then I read Goldfish's thread about the Porter Cable. I took all the rave reviews on the Autopia website witha sceptic pinch of salt but the results from this machine are STAGGERING. After a few hours work the paintwork on my car is like glass, and completely swirl free. And it's not even hard work.

Let me give some advice to potential purchasers. The polishing pads wear quickly when the machine is used at higher speeds. I wrecked my orange (cutting) pad in three hours, and my white (polishing pad) in about 4 hours. I didn't order spare pads when I bought the machine, so I was left feeling somewhat 'stuffed'.
You can buy Farecla cutting and polishing pads in the UK, and they are cheaper than the USA ones. I paid £12.50 for a pack of two polishing pads (same size and hook & eye arrangement as the PC pads), and £5 for a cutting pad. Farecla products are very widely used in the motor trade, I got these pads ex-stock from the first place I tried.
Farecla cutting and polishing compounds work really well with the PC machine - I would recommend them. They are not cheap - but neither are most of the other polishes recommended on this thread.

I don't plan to use this machine on a regular basis. It cuts paint quickly - it would be very easy to end up with visible patches of primer (shock horror), but I do intend use it for periodic application of wax polish. If you have paint problems (swirl, orange peel, overspray, oxidation etc etc) then this machine is a godsend. It is IMHO - without a doubt - the best 'bodywork' tool I have ever purchased.

Paul G

 

[Goldfish11]

Paul Grainger,

Great to hear about your Porter Cable success. An Excellent Forum entry.

I am suprised about you wrecking pads, I am still on my original pads (My most used is a white and and have done about 8 cars on this). The key seems to be keeping the pad flat on the paintwork, if you use it at a slight angle this seems to cause stress on the pad and they break. I have had a white pad go, but I lent the machine to a neighbour who just could not keep it flat even though I kept pointing this out to him! My Orange cutting pad has been used for approx 12 hours and there are no signs of significant wear. The maximum speed I use the Porter Cable at is level 5. Generally I use it at 4.5 (which is what Meguiars recomend).For finishing wax coats you can use it at slower speeds.

I did buy extra pads with the machine, 2 extra white and 2 extra gray and one orange. This was recommended by an other PC user on an other forum and the costs involved are small when buying the kit from USA. The main reason is that you do not need to wash the pads after use so I leave the polish on them put them in a bag and label it. Then when you need it again just get it out the bag give it a tap and apply new polish.

Come to think of it the one pad I washed is the one that has broke! So maybe it was not my neighbours fault but the fact I washed the pad. (Meguiars recommend you should never wash pads)

Did you wash the pads by any chance?

If you use the white polish pad and the finishing pad and a wax/low abrassive polish there is NO DANGER of cutting to much paint, infact less danger than working by hand as you can achieve constant pressure.

The key thing to check is that the polish or wax is compatable with the Porter Cable or Random Orbital Machines, hence I use the "Meguiars Swirl Remover 2.0" for any cutting activity this is designed for this type of machine. I also spent time contacting the other polish/wax manufacturers to check I could use there products on the machine. The www.autopia.org website has lots of discussions and recomendations on this. The key thing is always start with the least abrasive pad/polish combination.

You are right about not needing to use it regularly, now my paint is sorted I use a lambs wool mitt to wash it with and I use the Porter Cable every few months to give it a quick 20 minute polish with the soft foam gray finishing pad and either Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection (which is completely non abrassive) or Meguiars NXT Tech Wax. This really gets the polish deep into the paint and creates a fantastic glass like finish.

The problem is you can really start experimenting, I started layering the Autoglym using multiple thin coats, I did this one morning and got amazing results, it is so easy to wax the whole thing can become quite addictive!!

PS. Where did you get your Farecla Pads from? Are they available over the internet, this sounds like it could be a good find.

PPS. Have you got any photos?

 

[Paul Grainger]

Whoops - yes I washed the orange and the white pads. Thoroughly. I thought that I was doing the right thing by washing them (I thought I read that somewhere that they should be washed....) but I could have been wrong!
I have held the pads flat as much as possible (difficult when polishing over radius areas), I actually thought that I might have done the damage by running the machine too fast (full speed).
Do a web search on farecla - they have a web site site that includes lists of local distributors. Their pads are a direct fit into the PC velcro head. The farecla pads feel slightly better 'balanced' that the PC pads - I would recommend trying them.

The farecla polishes are really very good - they are designed for DA machines, but be warned, the G3 with orange pad is quite abrasive. This is excellent for cutting back poor paint, but I suspect that it would need to be used with care on laquered finishes (my car is 'flat black' 2-pack, I don't have a laquer coat to worry about).

I never thought that I would get my car looking this good. My sole original intention was to remove swirl marks - the machine has dome a whole lot more than that. The 'depth' of gloss is by far much better than any car that I have previously owned, and the panels now all look the same colour!

Paul G

 

[Aletank]

Not sure if these Hook n Loop (Velcro) pads will be any use - Looks like there for use with Draper Machines

Full List

Lambs Wool Polishing Pad - £1.95

Polishing Sponge Pad - £3.95

Here's the Farcela Pads

PS - Paul, What Polish and Pad Combinations did you use ?

 

[Goldfish11]

Dont Wash Pads!!

Whoops - yes I washed the orange and the white pads. Thoroughly. I thought that I was doing the right thing by washing them (I thought I read that somewhere that they should be washed....) but I could have been wrong!
I have held the pads flat as much as possible (difficult when polishing over radius areas), I actually thought that I might have done the damage by running the machine too fast (full speed).

Paul G

PC Rule number 1 - DONT WASH PADS!

It seems we have found the problem, don't wash the pads!! The only pad I have had break is the one I washed. It does say you can wash them but the ones I have not have been fine and I said Meguiars say dont wash them so maybe they have found this problem.

I use mine and then pop them back in the open bag for storage, when I come to use them again just get them out and use the same wax/polish on them. (Sometimes give them a quick squirt with detailer spray to lubricate the pad) I even write on the back of the pad with a permanent marker the product I have used on them so I dont get them mixed up. If they get a bit caked I give them a brush with an old tooth brush.

I have just done a neighbours VW Beetle this afternoon using my unwashed pads we have done an other 3 hours and they are still fine. I also had to use the machine at full speed but no problems experienced. (Good old meguiars Swirl Remover and NXT)

He is so impressed he is ordering a Porter Cable this afternoon!

(His Daughter decided to polish her Dads car with a "snuggler" with buttons on, loads of deep scratches on bonnet it looked like a re-spray but the porter cable has made them so you can only see them when you look hard)

My failed pad went on the edge of the velco.

Its great to hear about the finish you have got, I still have some very fine swirl in places maybe I should have an other bash with swirl remover but I think I will leave this to spring next year!

In the meantime I fancy another coat of Meguiars NXT. (This weeks favorite!)

 

[Goldfish11]

Not sure if these Hook n Loop (Velcro) pads will be any use - Looks like there for use with Draper Machines

Full List

Lambs Wool Polishing Pad - £1.95

Polishing Sponge Pad - £3.95

Here's the Farcela Pads

PS - Paul, What Polish and Pad Combinations did you use ?

These pads may not be big enough we need 6 inch to be safe. Also the foam structure is important as this can create more cutting action so it would be worth checking if others have used these before buying.

Today on the badly scratched VW Beetle I used Orange pad with Meguiars Swirl Remover, then a quick go with white pad with Swirl Remover and finally a gray pad with the Meguiars NXT.

I will also be interested to hear what Paul used. Autopia.org can also give you lots of advice on polish/pad combinations.

 

[Mambo]

Had the Porter Cable delivered this morning, makes it 5 working days! It's pi**ing down with rain here in east london so I may have to wait until this weekend in Manchester before I start tackling the swirls!